The next state was Arkansas, but first I needed to get some food and water. After losing all my money at the casino in Bossier, I didn't have much of a stomach to ask for a dinner or breakfast comp. I drove around the Bossier/Shreveport area looking for a distilled water dispenser (a machine which puts out a gallon of filterred water for 25 cents if you have your own container), but could not find one. They just do not have those machines...I guess it's a Texas thing. After driving around for a while I gave up. I filled up the Cresseida at a Race Trac and headed out.
Now, I had to stop at a Wal-mart to pick up some water, drinks, and snacks. In Arkansas, I doubt if there are many K-Marts or Target since this is Wal-mart's home state. It's difficult to imagine a dominating force in the North American economy started off in this state, and not some state like California, Texas, or New York. Other than Sam Walton, founder of Wal-mart, the only other notable people from here are the Clintons, the previous President and First Lady.
Because I only got a few hours of sleep last night, I was sleepy during the drive through Arkansas in the early morning. I checked the Rand McNally to check for a safe place to stop, and saw Gillogly State Park. When I arrived, the park was closed until 7:00 am; so there was about an hour wait. I drove down the road and found a dirt lot pull out and slept for a couple of hours. Oddly, a truck stopped by and I rose my head and they turned and left. Not sure what that was about.
I woke up and brushed my teeth in the dirt lot, and headed back down the road to Gillogly State Park. It didn't look like a big park at first, but it was very nice. The county road into the park looked kind of shoody. No entrance fee and the bathroom had very clean flush toilets and hot water showers. Since it was a Sunday, not many visitors were around. Of course, I took advantage of the showers since it has been a hot sweaty 2 days of driving. (I don't drive with my air conditioning on.)
The park had 6 large primitive camping sites with fire wood and one trail. The Spring Branch trail was approximately 2 miles and ends at a big pond behind the visitor's center. The first 3/4 mile is very, very beautiful. Probably one the most beautiful state park trails I have taken. The rest of the trail was so-so. This would have been a nice place to stay last night instead of sleeping in the casino parking lot.
Well, of course I took a shower, and I found out what I forgot on the trip: a towel. If other Arkansas State parks were like this, then that's a very good sign. Also, each state park in Arkansas had it's own unique entrance sign, not a brown sign with the park name.
After a long day of driving through Arkansas, I stopped at Lake Pointset State Park late in the evening and set up my tent next to a couple using a van. Earlier, I stopped at Jacksonport State Park, but they wanted $14 for a campsite- they cater to RVs. I probably could have set up a tent in the overflow for $8.16 but decided to head on out and settled at Lake Pointset.
Along the way, I saw a Wal-mart in Newport, Arkansas, which had oil changes for under $12, which is incredibly cheap since buying 5 quarts of oil and an oil filter is approximately $11. Unfortunately, I had already changed the oil immediately before the roadtrip and had only a few hundred miles since the change. Later, there would be many other stores offering the $12 oil change in this state.
