1:00 am (February 4), the cab picks us up at the house, an hour’s drive to the airport, five hours on a cramped KLM flight to Amsterdam, two hours to find our next flight, more room, much better food, two movies and very little sleep on Delta for 9-1/2 hours, only one of our suitcases made the plane, an hour’s ride to the RV storage facility, and we are finally at our RV home. 

What was interesting was the technology involved in tracking the luggage, knowing immediately that it made a later flight from Amsterdam to Atlanta, being informed by Delta that it has arrived, and following its way on a map (via computer) to our RV (we got delivery at 9:00 pm the same day).  In a combination of what can be called Uber and the post office, Delta utilizes a service called Roadie which matches things that need to be delivered with folks who just happen to be driving that way.

The weather was very nice during the two days we spent at the RV center while we got over our jet lag and stocked up on supplies.

February 8^th, 2019 – It is so Cold in Hot Springs, Arkansas

As we needed an extra day in Atlanta to rest and finish a few projects on the RV, we made a two-day trip into one on Thursday, covering 578 miles.  It’s supposed to be an 8 ½-hour drive according to Waze but with stops, not traveling over the speed limit (which we’re convinced Waze assumes you do when it estimates travel time), and a very heavy downpour of rain, it took us 11+ hours.  We were glad that we took the advice of our neighbors in the 43-foot RV next to us and left Atlanta really, really early.  Out at 4:00 am, we missed all the traffic of going through downtown Atlanta, gained an hour crossing the Alabama state line (from Eastern to Central time), and missed rush hour in Birmingham.  Both Memphis, Tennessee and Little Rock, Arkansas were easily traversed.  We stopped at about 7:00 am at a gas station/rest stop in the middle of nowhere to fill-up, daven, and eat brunch.

The bad news but mostly good news:  At a gas station (somewhere else) our RV had a minor disagreement with a guard post pole; it only dented a piece of trim which should be easily repaired.  We ended up (at the end of our long ride, but still mid-afternoon because we were smart (?) enough to leave at 4:00 am) at a beautiful KOA (Campgrounds of America) in the middle of the woods with full hookups, electric-water-dump connections, and plenty of space between campsites.  We will be here for Shabbat too.  However, the weather dropped by almost 40 degrees F in one day (so we were told when we arrived at the park), to -5 Celsius at night. The really good news – so far, our furnace and cold weather options on the RV are keeping us comfortable and preventing the water hoses from freezing.

Day 2:  A Visit to Hot Springs National Park

We took a campground shuttle to Hot Springs National Park, and were introduced there to a bit of Americana.  Hot Springs National Park is unique; unlike most of the national parks, which we usually think of as being fairly large and totally in nature, Hot Springs is in an urban environment.  It is a geological wonder: rainfall seeps into the rocks, travels deep into the earth where it percolates downward, and increasingly warmer rock heats it at a rate of about 4 degrees F every 300 feet.  Eventually, the hot water, at an average temperature of 143 degrees F, travels up through faults leading to the surface to form a hot water stream.

American Indians, the Spanish who first came to the area, settlers, and tourists have found that bathing in the natural, pure hot water to be relaxing and beneficial to health problems.  In 1803, the U.S. acquired the area in the Louisiana Purchase from France, and in 1832, the government set aside this parcel of land to protect it as a natural resource, calling it the Hot Springs Reservation.  It was declared a national park in 1921. On a side note, there was an ongoing debate with Yellowstone as to which was the first actual national park. It was settled as such: Although Yellowstone was the first declared national park, established in 1872, Hot Springs claims the first area ever set aside by the U.S. government to preserve its use as an area for recreation.

A city was built around the streams for travelers seeking the benefits for what ailed them.  Bathhouses were built, and through the 1940s Hot Springs was a sought-after destination for people with health problems of all kinds.  The waters were thought to be a miracle cure for almost any ailment. Today, there are two bathhouses/spas that are open, a third was turned into the park’s Visitors Center, a fourth into a brewery (the only brewery in a national park), and a few other buildings are undergoing renovation.

We spent the about five hours at the park – taking a tour of the Visitors Center, a former bathhouse which is also a museum in which many of the original rooms have been preserved, visiting the bookstore/gift shop, walking down the Grand Promenade, and taking a hike through some of the surrounding area (the park has many short and longer hiking paths).

We also filled our water bottles from one of the fountains that are found in the park.  People, we are told, come from all over with empty bottles (we watched a few fill up gallons and gallons of water to take back with them); the water is that good and it is free.  The park collects about 700,000 gallons of water a day for use in the bathhouses and drinking fountains.

Returning to the RV in early afternoon, we prepared for Shabbat. Did we say it was cold in Hot Springs?  For the last three days the temperature has dropped to below freezing at night and just above freezing during the day.  This is called winter camping, and we survived.  The van stayed warm and the pipes did not freeze.