This is one of our favorite places ever.
We left Stillwater, OK, Lake Carl Blackwell campground, day before yesterday.
The entire time we were there we were the only people in the Beavercove Campground. It is a “primitive” campground (meaning we could drive to get water and showers, and there were porta-potties and trashcans.) “Primitive” means different things in different places.
We drove to Robber’s Cave State Park in Oklahoma, only to find that they were in the midst of their fall festival. We didn’t know all this meant, but it was clear that part of it included carnival rides. And another part involved lots of people. Carnivals and lots of people are not our thing.
We got the heck out of there. Went to Lake Wister State Park, in Oklahoma instead. Lots of people, still, but not as much of a carnival atmosphere. We camped there for the night, in a small campground with many other RVs. It was a nice place, very pretty, but not what we seek. No hiking seemed to be available, so we only stayed one night.
Tonight we are in a National Forest campground in Arkansas. Cove Lake, Ozark National Forest. The campground is run on contract to a nice couple. This is a great way of doing business because the couple is invested in making the place profitable and well taken care of.
We are the only people in this loop of the campground, the other loop being far enough away that it feels like a different campground. There is water here, pit toilets, bear-proof trash cans, picnic tables, etc.
Last weekend 200 people were expected here. But the folks running the campground had to cancel them. Can you imagine the amount of money that was lost to these nice people, and to the state of Arkansas because of the shut-down?
Those 200 people stayed home instead of spending money in Arkansas. The Tea Partiers wanted to destroy Obamacare, without offering any other plan for insuring the millions of Americans who are uninsured. Their way of doing it was by hurting people like the folks running this campground who have worked several years making this business a good one for them. Way to go Republicans.
Tomorrow we will hike around the lake here. Today we hiked to an old Civilian Conservation Corps camp—a short hike of 2 miles, but so interesting to see the foundations of the old structures that the young boys built.
What do you suppose this was? We had no idea. A window? But why a window? And a window to what? We could find no evidence of a structure close to it.
This campground and lake clearly reflect the CCC. You can see it in how it was constructed. What an incredible federal program it was. Maybe John Boehner and the other Tea Partiers would appreciate America more, and understand it better, if they had spent time as young men high on these mountains, planting trees, and creating legacies for generations to come.
When we hiked around the lake we arrived at the dam that was built by the CCC. The architecture is obvious. Strong, sturdy, and lasting.
This is a terrific campground, one we will be sad to leave. But leave we must, to continue on, to find more evidence of the work of the federal government during the 1930s, and what can be done when a country works out its problems instead of has people willing to shut it down to prove some type of vague point.
The CCC, as well as Social Security, were widely hated because they were seen by some as "socialist." And how much we all benefit from these programs. The people in Arkansas are still reaping the financial benefits of a federal work program that ended 75 years ago. In a few years it will be like this for Obamacare--people will wonder what all of the fuss was about for a program that enabled millions to get health insurance, that prevented insurance companies from refusing to enroll you because of "pre-existing conditions," and which enabled college students to remain on their parents' insurance plans long enough to become financially stable themselves.
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