Rubicon Ridge

Good morning from Hot Spring, Arkansas.  

 This is a view out the front door of our room.  It is pretty much right on the lake.  The weather is pretty cold right now and the lake is super low so not a lot of people around.

 This is our one room condo.  Bed, TV that we couldn't figure out how to work, a kitchenette area and a small bath.  It was all we needed for the weekend.  Bed was comfortable and the shower was hot.

 Breakfast at Cracker Barrel!

 This was the third day and only a handful made it to breakfast!  The Rest met us at the park.

 Me and my sweetie.

 Tauntaun flexing.

 Heading out on the trail.  We didn't get to the third badge of honor yesterday so went back to the Hot Spring ORV park to hit the last trail called Rubicon Ridge.

 Beginning of trail on top of the mountain.

 View were very pretty from the top.

 This is so hard to see and it looks like flat ground but this was actually about a 30 degree decline.  It was very steep.

 Our satellite image maps that we use and record our trails riding on.

 Just a neat picture of the Jeeps through the trees.

 One of our friends getting wenched up after he got into a tough spot.

Over all Rubicon Ridge a level 3 and under normal circumstance wouldn't have been too challenging but after the rain fall a could of days ago, the rocks were super slippery and posed some challenges for us to get up.  All in all it took 9 jeeps a little over 2 hours.

 Next we headed to the scenic drive off of Bathhouse row to take everyone through that route.

 Very pretty!

 And we drove up to the tower and visited the gift shop.  After that we headed back into town to park and grab some lunch.

 Jeeps parked together in the parking garage.

 Burgers for the win!

 Bubba Lu's was very good.  Good burgers, milkshakes and onion rings!

 The original plan for today was to go overlanding through the national forest. Since we needed to get the last trail in at the park it was almost three o'clock before we headed out again.

 We got a good three hours in and got to see some pretty sights.

 At a little parking area that we flagged to come back and camp at one day.

 A little turnaround where we all parked.

 Overlook.

 Love this pic! The Jeeps as the sun started setting.

 It was a little chilly!

 We got going on the train and it got dark so we headed back out but had a little night time driving.

 Have never seen this before.  Lost and Found Tree!

After we got back to town we headed back to Superior Bathhouse Brewery for another pretzel!

 Pretzel and Beer Cheese dip. Best Pretzel ever.

 And on top of that our server stayed 30 minutes after closing to give us a tour of the building.

 Very neat!

And nothing better than ending the day at a DQ for some ice cream.

Heading home tomorrow!

Snake and Fun Run

We spent the day at Hot Spring ORV park just outside of Hot Springs, Arkansas.  This park has three Jeep Badge of Honor Trails that we wanted to try out. 

 First stop, breakfast at the Pancake Shop, a little local diner that is on Bathhouse row.  Here is most of our crew minus just a few today.

 First trail is called Snake - it is a level 2 so not too bad.

 Top of the mountain at the end of Snake.

 Funny boy photobombing

Tauntaun!

Next we drove Buckhorn trail that took us to the North side and to the beginning of Fun Run.  Now Fun Run is a level three which is not too bad but yesterday it rained so trails that wouldn't be so tricky normally made the rock very slick and a couple of climbs were impossible for even the jeeps with front and back lockers.  So they got a lot of practice with the wrenching and this trail specifically took a lot longer than it normally would have.  Sorry no pictures :(

 We got off the trails just a little after 5pm as it was beginning to get a little dusk and headed straight to Dinner. Mr Whiskers for the win.

 Catfish, Shrimp, oysters and even ribs and of course my favorite hush puppies.  Everything was very good.

 Of course a foodie pic for you, but seriously, it was very good.

 Couldn't fit everyone at one table but here is the big table

And the rest.  Missing just a few.

We actually headed back to our condo and called it a night and were asleep before 9am.  Now that feels good!

All in all we had a great day.  We didn't make it to the 3rd BOH trail today but the plan is to do it tomorrow!

Houston to Hot Springs, AR 11/23/18

We headed out early this morning and met up with the BCJC club in New Caney, TX to caravan up to Hot  Springs, AR. 

 I still always feel bad leaving the kids but it is so nice to have adult time with my husband and go at our own speed.

 Lunch break was at Jucys Hamburgers in Marshall, Texas.  Claimed to be home of the Best Burger in  Texas.  Burger was good, fries were ok and the onion rings and milkshake were great.

 Next pit stop at a gas station so the ones pulling campers could gas up.

 When we got to Hot Springs, everyone separated, some had to set up camp, some find their hotels and we needed to check into our HomeAway condo.  It was not ready yet so headed to check out some of the restaurants we had flagged to try out.  We headed to bathhouse row and took a drive up in to the national forest.  There was a fun scenic 3.5 mile loop that we explored and we found Bambi hanging out.

 As we traveled, the fog started coming in and visibility got less and less as we traveled.

 There is a tower at the top that we will need to come back to.  Even if we had climbed it, it was so foggy we wouldn't have seen anything.

 Visibility getting worse :)

 We found our condo and and got checked in and headed back to Bathhouse row to meet everyone for dinner.  We parked next to this Jeep named CoolWhip which we thought was a cool name.

 Bathhouse row area was decorated for Christmas!

 Quartz stone we found.

 We walked over to one of the Hot Springs to check it out.  You can see the steam coming off behind us.

 The water was hotter than a hot tub would be, it was pretty hot!

 Dinner was at the Superior Bathhouse Brewery.  TheybBrew their own beers with the local water.  Hot pretzel was AMAZING with the beer cheese dip.

 After dinner and our fun photo bombers in the back. 

Tomorrow we run 3 badger of honor Jeep trails!