We’ve spent a lot of time in Northern New Mexico – Taos, Santa Fe, Red River, Las Vegas, Cimmaron, Clayton, and everywhere in-between. While it’s beautiful there, we’ve always been curious about the mountains further south, so we arranged an extended weekend for exploration. The plan was to do the usual Colorado trip, then head south to explore the area around the Lincoln National Forest. It was time to break in one of the new cars as well and with a kid and relatively responsibility-free weekend, it didn’t seem right for the new Hyundai Kona to sit at home.
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Downhill Marathons are for Dummies
It was the year of the half marathons. That was the plan anyway. We had made progress – Austin in February, Michigan in April and now it was time to accomplish Nevada. Conveniently, a work trip at the end of May allowed us to book a flight a few days prior, and we were able to register for the Mt. Charleston half, a race organized by a group called Revel. This worked out well, since Mt. Charleston was on our hiking bucket list. Having spent some time in exploring Red Rocks about nine months ago, we were familiar with the area.
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A Trailer in the Desert
When you’re looking for a reasonably priced place to stay in the middle of an expensive area, a trailer could be an option. Discounts can be found when a place is not securely attached to the ground and the bathroom is the size of a marble. That’s how we ended up spending Labor Day weekend in a space not much bigger than a refrigerator.
The purpose of this trip was to explore the area around Las Vegas without venturing onto the Strip, or anywhere else in what is probably our least favorite city in North America. We’ve heard of this fantasy land of mountains and red rocks and wanted to find out if it actually existed as advertised. Hunting through AirBnB, we located and booked a trailer (mainly due to lack of other options) on a property owned by a cranky old man and considered possible fates: chopped to pieces by property owner and buried in the desert; murdering each other due to lack of space during a four-day / three-night time frame; or get eaten by wild desert animals.
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Bugs, Dolls, and No Good Food
When we first started traveling together, our time was extremely limited. There were kids at home, work obligations and school schedules. Free weekends were few and far between, and on the rare occasion there was one, we had a tendency to simply zone out and recover from life. Planning trips was a challenge. Not just because there was so much going on at home, but accounting for the travel time, the trip expenses, the reliability of vehicles – it was a monumental task.
One year prior, we had explored east Texas, which included several ghost towns, abandoned buildings, and some creepy graveyards. It was fun, educational and as required, allowed minds to unplug from life obligations. When we were planning our trip to Oklahoma a year later, we were hoping for a similar getaway. Instead of southeast, we looked our neighbor state to the north. We stumbled on an isolated farmhouse about an hour south of Oklahoma City. This would allow for time to decompress away from home while exploring an otherwise unknown area. A remote destination; we thought surely it would be similar to the east Texas trip – full of off-the-beaten-path exploration items.
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The First (Accidental) Tripping on a River
Arkansas was more of an accident than an organized adventure. Mid-2011, we found ourselves with an unexpectedly obligation-free holiday weekend (this is normally how the trips start) and debated our options. We had taken a few short road trips, mainly in Texas, and one quick trip to Santa Fe, NM, which involved air travel. Up until now, free time was limited with two school-aged kids in one house, full-time, chaotic work, school and sports schedules, and life.
The goal was to do something different, go somewhere new but within driving distance. A cabin in the woods sounded appealing, but … Texas. “Cabin in the woods” options are limited. We considered Oklahoma again, but since we had some extra time, one state further out seemed manageable. Neither one of us had ever explored Arkansas (or even been there), so the Ozarks it was. Searching the ever-expanding Internet, we found a tiny cabin on VRBO (exciting newness in the ancient year of 2011) which fit the requirements. Located in a town called Snowball, smack in the middle of the rolling hills of Arkansas, it looked like a promising fit for a weekend escape.
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graveyardsandghosttowns 