Beavers Bend State Park

Thursday, Nov. 7, 2013—Boxelder to Beavers Bend

Judy cooked breakfast for us this morning—scrambled eggs, bacon, and cinnamon rolls.  We continued our conversations from last night talking about lots of different topics—her quilting, Bob’s grapevines, Bob’s wine, their jellies and preserves, public radio, preferred magazines, computer connections in rural areas, novels, classes over the Internet, etc.  There seems to be a neverending series of topics when we get together.

After breakfast, Bob gave me a tour of his vineyard.  He told me what he has learned in the last year to improve his production and to keep the leaves free of fungus.  We tasted the different grapes which he said are not as sweet now as they were a month ago when he was harvesting them. 

He then gave me a tour on his new mule—a great improvement over the old one he had.  This one has a glass windshield and side windows.  It has a hard roof.  It has two bench seats so that it carries more people, and it has a small truck bed on back.  We went down the road a short distance and then returned.

By then, it was 11:30 and I needed to head for Oklahoma.  Tent sites cannot be reserved at the state park, and since there is a festival starting tomorrow at the park, I knew I needed to get here and get a site before there was a chance for them to be full. 

The trip took me across the Red River just north of Clarksville and then through Idabel and Broken Bow in Oklahoma.  As I progressed, I kept getting glimples of yellow and red trees.  The park, however, is south of the mountainous area I will be visiting in the next couple of days, so I expect to see more color there than I have so far.

I knew I would be in remote areas, so I stopped to get gas and to eat a burger at a Dairy Queen.  I was surprised at the size of Broken Bow.  I remembered it as being smaller than Idabel, but there isn’t a big difference in size.  Both have Wal-marts, and both have small Choctaw Casinos even though they are only 12 miles apart.  Neither is a great town, but each is better than I thought it might be.  The main reason, I guess, is that there are no larger towns nearby.  Clarksville was once the size of these towns, but people started going to Paris and Texarkana because they were bigger and offered more shopping opportunities.  In this part of Oklahoma, there’s nothing else bigger for a long distance.

This is my first visit to Beavers Bend State Park since the 1960s.  My family came here a couple of times on Sunday outings when I was still in school.  It’s a pretty park along a river with rocky cliffs going up one side.  I have chosen a camp site that is at the end of the Dogwood camp ground overlooking the river.  The ground is a bit damp because of the rain from yesterday, but it isn’t muddy.  I can hear lots of ducks in the area, and fallen tree leaves cover the site.  The trees here are either truning yellow or already have yellow leaves.  No one is swimming in the river, because it is now too cool.  The front yesterday took temperatures down to just above freezing last night, and it is comfortable this afternoon only in a thick long-sleeve shirt.  But the air is fresh and the scenery is beautiful.

They were already setting up for the folk festival when I stopped at the office to get a tent site.  There are food booths being set up.  I understand that there will be exhibits, demonstrations, etc., tomorrow and Saturday.  Bob and Judy will drive up and meet me here late tomorrow morning.  We will see the festival, then Bob wants to go to a nearby winery operated by two women.  I’ll stay two nights before heading further north into the mountains on Saturday.

Friday, Sept. 8, 2013—Beavers Bend State Park

I read using my headlamp for about an hour after it got dark last night.  My hands were getting cold being out of the covers, though, so I put everything away and went to sleep at 19:30.  I slept very well except for one problem.  About 4 times during the night there were loud horn noises—a series of 3-4 short honks followed by one lone one.  I kept thinking maybe it was a warning for a bridge raising to let a boat through.  Bob suggested today that it was probably warning that they were releasing water downstream from the dam.  Anyway, it was disturbing, and I will wear earplugs tonight to try to lessen the interruption.

I slept 12 hours, getting up at 7:30 this morning.  I washed, changed clothes, and walked to the festival grounds for the Beavers Bend Folk Festival.  It was only about a 25-minute walk from the campground to there.

I went through the exhibits, surprised that they were already crowded mostly with elderly people and with groups of school children.  There are many demonstrations—making lye soap, blacksmithing, carving, making candles, making ropes, quilting, weaving, spinning yarn, pressing flowers and leaves, etc.  They were fun to watch, but the most fun was to participate in a lesson teaching us to play the dulcimer.  There were 6 of us given dulcimers.  We were shown how to position them, how to hold the pick, how to stroke the pick, how to use our left finger to position for different notes.  Then the woman guided us through playing by telling us the positions for our fingers as we stroked the pick across the strings.  It was easy and fun.  Within 10 minutes, she had us playing while reading from a sheet of music. 

A great Irish band was playing as I waited for Bob and Judy.  They arrived just on time at 11:45 as Bob had said they would.  We went through the exhibits together, then we ate.  Bob and I had pork loin sandwiches (charcoal-grilled pork loin, tomato, onion, lettuce, and a spicy chipotle sauce.  Judy had a box of stir-fried noodles and vegetables. 

Bob and I listened as the Irish band played a second set.  Judy went back inside to do some shopping.  After that, we headed just north of here to visit the Girls Gone Wine shop.  Bob bought us each a glass of wine which we drank on their patio.  There, we continued to visit about various topics.  Around 16:15, we left there, and they brought be back to the campground.  I’ll spend the evening here again.  I’ll read and probably be heading to sleep at an early hour again this evening.  I’ll wear my earplugs tonight, though.