Our Mountain View Weekend!

 We are having such a good time here in Mountain View, Arkansas!

While we are not camping or tenting - it IS the very same place Louis Dean and his family used to come as soon as school was out in May and spend the summer.

He and I have been here a couple of times before - a brief visit on our way back from Branson in September 2005 - and again a couple of years later when we 'camped' in the big van I used to have.

A queen sized mattress fit in it perfectly.

We are snug in a cute little cabin - newly built and right across from where we were in when we stayed in the van.

That larger building with the red roof is the Pickin' Shed and that's where Louis Dean will be playing with other musicians tomorrow night in a jam session.

Friday: Sight Seeing and music!

I walked in Nita's shoes all day Friday and they were a comfort to my feet as well as my heart.

It's really beautiful here.

This is an actual 'highway' and Louis Dean says we have driveways at home that are wider than this! 

We visited many of his old memories.

He knew Don Mellon, the original owner of this country store.

He sold it some years back but it's still a cool place to visit.

Have I mentioned that Stone County is dry? 

As in no alcohol sales at all.

There are displays of what I always think are wine bottles - and it IS wine bottles - but not wine!

It's pure clear grape juice and I need to buy a bottle before we leave.

This is the daughter of the couple who now own the store and Louis Dean is telling her about some of his visits here with Don Mellon. 

As we were leaving, she went over and got a post card of Jimmy and Cleda Driftwood and gave it to Louis Dean and thanked him for visiting and telling her some of his stories.

We sat on the front porch for a few minutes before we left drinking our old fashioned soda drinks and eating a little of the old time candy we bought.

We drove on up the road to Anglers Restaurant......

THE one and only place that you can get a margarita or a beer!

They make a VERY good margarita!

Of course, Louis Dean ordered a chicken fried steak and it was delicious!

I had a Pig Salad with pulled pork on top!

We ordered a huge slice of carrot cake to take back to our cabin along with enough leftovers for our supper that night!

The Anglers Restaurant is part of the Anglers Resort and is right on the White River.

Such a beautiful place!

We went back to the cabin and took a good nap!

Friday night's entertainment was at The Meeting Place and featured Pam Setser  and her band.

She live streams on Facebook every Friday night so we will be tuning in!

It was really DARK when we came out to go back to the cabin.

Internet is spotty here and I couldn't get a signal for my Waze direction app to tell us how to go.

Now Mountain View is a tiny town and nothing is very far away and yet neither Louis Dean nor I have the least bit of a sense of direction!

We lot lost. On a dark and twisty road that was taking us out of town.

I managed to turn around and drove back in search of lights and found a McDonalds where I parked and picked up a signal to guide us to the cabin....which was 1.3 miles from the Meeting Place!

Saturday

Saturday was a 'loafing' day.

We slept late and took our time doing this and that.

I began working on my book again and started Chapter 27 writing 723 words. Not much of a dent but I brought a heavy bag of my handwritten diaries with me and read through one (1990) and will read  another one (1991) tonight before I go to bed.

Louis Dean played music - we did get some of his notes printed off in the RV office!

He's loving these Mountain View Days!

We found a place to eat - the Spah Grill - where he ordered hot wings!

Again - we had enough leftovers for Saturday night supper!

There's a trail through the forest behind the RV Park that leads you to the Ozark Folk Center.

We walked up there and checked it out but it was too late in the day as they would be closing soon.

We made plans to go back on Tuesday.

We ate our supper at a picnic table under a tree and watched the lightning bugs as the darkness fell.

The days have been wonderful and we have slept well every night.

Sunday: Blanchard Springs Cavern

We drove to Blanchard spring Caverns after eating lunch at The Skillet - a restaurant set up on a hill that is so steep I felt like the car would start rolling backwards.

We arrived just in time to get tickets for the 1:20 Drip Stone Trail Tour.

Absolutely amazing!

This formation is called the Opera House.

Back in 1963 when they were preparing and developing this for the public to tour, they had to hire someone who could light dark places. Cave lighting wasn't on anyone's resume back then and they ultimately hired a Hungarian who was famous for lighting opera houses and you can see this does resemble one.

So what's the first thing you see in this formation?

One of the workmen doing the excavating back then had been a soldier in Vietnam and said this looked just like a ship he was on. It's the only officially named formation in the cavern.

Our two tour ladies both grew up right here in Mountain View and they were wonderful!

The Caverns closed in 2000 for repairs and then the pandemic happened.

They JUST now reopened in August!

Back to the cabin for our afternoon nap and then we were off for our Sunday night entertainment!

The Jimmy Driftwood Barn was where Louis Dean and his grandkids played.

They used to sing, play and dance right there on this stage with Jimmy Driftwood sitting on the end of the first pew watching and clapping for them!

Louis Dean recognized these four musicians from his days here in the past.

This is the area the performers would wait in for their turn to play back during the summers Louis Dean spent here. You can still sign up to play just like they did then and he said the next time we come, that's exactly what he's going to do!

Only two more days here and then we leave on Wednesday to go down to the ranch.

I checked the WAZE directions this afternoon and it is routing us back to DFW area to get to Waco.

We decided to take the longer route through Tyler.

That means we must get up and get out of here early but only after it's daylight!

I sure don't want to drive Highway 9 in the dark!