Hanging Out in Arkansas

After digging for diamonds we ended up staying at an RV park in Murfreesboro for a while. It’s funny how things work out. Our original plan was to leave Maryland, go to MN and get an RV, then head to Arizona for the winter. Well when we got to MN we couldn’t find an RV right away. We had a quite a few we were going to look at from Craigslist then they just “disappeared” when we got there. But I believe things happen for a reason and it seems like part of the reason for the delay was to buy a tire for my cousin’s van. The old tire was showing metal and there could’ve been a serious accident.

Then we got to AR and we were just going to dig for diamonds then leave. But we never got any leads for work in AZ so we hung out a little longer and Joe ended up helping the owner of the park get his shower house done (almost done anyway). Then out of the blue Joe contacted somebody we did business with years ago and asked if he had any work and thankfully he did. So now we are in Texas, but in this post I’ll finish telling about our time in AR.

While at Murfreesboro RV Park (great people there by the way) we had quite a few campfires. Jadyn really likes helping daddy build them. The owner of the campground also owned a horse that Jadyn got to ride and Joe practiced some Parelli Natural Horsemanship on.

Joe was able to do some baking which is one of his passions. Here we have a loaf of bread and one morning he made biscuits.

Joe is proud of one of the toilets he installed. :o) He also painted, did some wiring, and installed sinks.

He also worked on the RV. He had to tear out and replace the ceiling in the loft because it was rotten.

New ceiling. I’m going to get some fabric to put over the plywood.

He also installed our new water heater – the EZ101 tankless-on-demand. He was so happy to have hot water he took a picture of the steam in the shower. :)

While daddy was working on different projects, Jadyn and I had fun taking pictures of each other. And we got a good picture of ice crystals that formed on some rocks one morning.

 

                          

And here we have Jadyn posing in front of our little Christmas tree. :0)

                                  

I have to say I am really enjoying being warm. I think we are going to become Texans. :o)

Digging For Diamonds

After we left Beaver Lake, AR we drove through some very pretty country on our way to The Crater of Diamonds to become the world’s wealthiest RV’ers. :o)

All we had to do was dig up a few big diamonds, no big deal, it was there for the taking. And anything we dug up we could keep.

After spending the night at an RV park we headed out early to start digging. It was such a beautiful day although still  a bit muddy from the recent rain.

Once out on the diamond field we started scanning for anything shiny, then we started digging. We filled up a 5 gallon pail with dirt and rocks, then took it to the water tables for cleaning.

Joe scooped the dirt into the screen to be washed in the (cold) water.

After the mud was washed off it is put on the table for examination.  We carefully looked through each pile for anything even slightly resembling a diamond.

At the end of the day we took our stash to the examiner to see if we were famously rich……alas, we were not.

                            

But, we did have fun trying. And I think Jadyn had the most fun getting to play all day in the dirt. :)

                                   

Joe did try his luck the next day while we waited in the RV.

He rinsed his boots and equipment off, approached us with a big smile because…………..

………he brought us home some very pretty rocks. Not diamonds. :o)

That diamond mine will continue to give up it’s treasure for hundreds of years so we will go back again. And since we have learned some awesome tips from the professional diggers (that is their full time job), we will have incredible success next time. Right? Right!

Update from Arkansas

I've been really busy here in Arkansas since my last post. I've been working on a shower house for the owner of the RV Park for a free site. Plus working on our RV fixing a ceiling and installing a tankless water heater. It is so nice to take a hot shower now.

When we first got here a few weeks ago I went out to The Crater of Diamonds State Park to hunt for diamonds. It was a really muddy out there but Jadyn didn't mind. After going there for three days I decided to take a break and research how to find them. I've been talking to the hardcore miners and have learned some good tips. I'll go back out there soon.

We are planning to start posting video logs soon to our blog, so stay tuned...

Cold, Cold, Go Away

We finally left the soon-to-be-frozen North and are currently in Arkansas where it is THANKFULLY a lot warmer than Minnesota. We drove VERY curvy roads at about 25mph through the Ozark mountains to a quiet campground in the woods. After finding a place to park we got hooked up, then we scouted out the encampment. There were a few RV’s here and there and a structure with canvas flaps that whipped around in the wind.  The leaves soared high into the sky on air currents like buzzards and then fell back dancingly to the ground. Jadyn was like a Mexican Jumping Bean when she spotted the playground, so of course we had to stop there for a little bit.

The campground overlooks Beaver Lake and because it’s off-season it’s not very populated.

We like to hike and explore so we walked down to the lake with our french press full of coffee and two coffee cups.

While drinking our coffee we enjoyed the beauty of the lake, then Joe and Jadyn threw rocks in the water while I sat on the dock absorbing the energy of the place.

                          

On our way back to camp we collected walnuts that had fallen from the trees, then we cracked them open and ate them.

I am very thankful that Joe likes to be creative in the kitchen. He whips us up lunch in no time and he likes to make bread (spelt bread in this case).

                              

What a nice way to end the night – a game of cards (crazy 8’s).

          

Not sure where we are headed next. It might be to southern Arkansas to look for work. We’ll see.