July 4th Holiday weekend.
I just have to say, July has been very busy!! Between family trips, rock concerts, and camping, it has been practically non-stop. But I have enjoyed every minute. The first thing I want to do is give a shout out to my great-nephew. Over the 4th of July holiday weekend we went to Franklin to celebrate his successful completion of boot camp with the Marines. I could see instantly that the experience had added a layer of maturity. In the picture below he is with his Grandpa in the middle and a good friend of Eddie's on the right named Ron. Ron was a former Marine as well and he presented Zach, my great nephew with a challenge coin that he had received from a General that he served with. It was very cool to watch how much Zach treasured that.
July 25th -- July 29th
Now, I don't think I will ever outgrow, or get tired of going to see the bands that I grew up listening to. This was a picture taken at the Three Dog Night concert on July 25h. I have to tell you that for guys that are in their late 70's they still are rock the house.
So, the next morning, in spite of being a little short on sleep we got up and got the camper ready to go and off we went to the Corp of Engineers park at Gamaliel, AR. This campground is on Lake Norfork, which is a managed lake from the Norfork river dam. I like Corp of Engineer site for numerous reasons, they have the needed amenities but are not as expensive as State parks, especially with my discount.
I would absolutely stay at this campground again, but the next time we go to this area I am probably going to look at some of the other Corp sites as well.
The next day, the 27th, we drove over to where the White River joins the Norfork River so that Jim could fish for trout. He caught a few small ones that he released back into the river. The point you see on the right is where the two rivers meet. Me, I chilled on the bank with a book :-)
Now that brings this post to the bird story. I have never seen this happen before, but I guess there is always a first time for anything.
This little bird was hysterical. In this picture it is maybe 6 inches from my feet. He hung out in camp with us for at least half an hour. Jim got out a small piece of bread and offered him a little bit of it. The bird literally flew up and took it from his fingers. It decided to give both of us a gentle peck on our toes and one time, (I did not see this), Jim said it landed on his knee. What was really interesting is that the entire time it was hanging out with us, there was a summer tanager that was hovering close by to keep an eye on it. I have no idea why, but it was interesting.
Both of them appeared to be juveniles. If anyone reads this and has an idea of what may be going on, I would be very curious. When the cowbird decided that we were becoming a little boring, they flew off together.
On Sunday, we got up early enough that we could attend church at the Mountain Home Christian Church and then indulged in a very pleasant lunch at Jamie's Local Flavors Restaurant.
On Monday we took our time breaking camp and then we headed home. I had to snap a pic of the lake from the truck window because we had way too much traffic to stop.
You know you had a good time, when you get home and the first thing you think is can we go back in a couple of days. And on your last day in camp you think, I would not mind staying the rest of the week.
