{"id":747,"date":"2009-08-04T21:36:10","date_gmt":"2009-08-05T01:36:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/snapshotchronicles.com\/roadtrip\/?p=747"},"modified":"2009-08-04T21:36:10","modified_gmt":"2009-08-05T01:36:10","slug":"a-day-of-nothingness","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/snapshotchronicles.com\/roadtrip\/2009\/08\/04\/a-day-of-nothingness\/","title":{"rendered":"A Day of Nothingness"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Welcome

Welcome to Buffalo National River<\/p><\/div>\n

One of the many claims to fame of the Buffalo National River area is the lack of modern development.\u00a0 There are no hotels or chain restaurants in the immediate area.\u00a0 Nature is the most important resident and for people who want to enjoy the great outdoors, this is the place to be!\u00a0 The trees and brush were such rich shades of green.\u00a0 The trees were so thick and dense that Dennis wouldn\u2019t even send the boys into the woods to get firewood, knowing they\u2019d return with nothing but ticks and jiggers\u2026if they returned at all! \u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

I thought about many ways for us to pass the time in Arkansas.\u00a0 We could visit this\u00a0quaint little village we passed about \u00bd hour outside the campground.\u00a0 There were several hiking trails for us to explore. \u00a0The boys wanted to fish ever since we missed our opportunity in Montana. \u00a0\u00a0Our campground neighbors told us the best fishing was just off the bridge about 5 miles down the road.\u00a0 I must have been really tired that morning because 5 miles seemed so far away!\u00a0 The fact of the matter is that neither of us really wanted to drive anywhere.\u00a0\u00a0 I was tired of hearing that one can of baked beans hit the cabinet door with every corner. \u00a0With 85% of the trip done, we had clocked an unbelievable 6500 miles but that extra 5 miles just seemed over the top.\u00a0 We really wanted to do absolutely nothing.\u00a0 So that\u2019s what we did \u2013 nothing!<\/p>\n

\"Floating

Floating on the lazy river<\/p><\/div>\n

Our campsite was only a stone\u2019s throw from the river\u2019s edge.\u00a0 Dennis took the boys, the chairs and the fishing gear to a small beach area right around the corner.\u00a0 I took my time, pretending to do something productive like read or write but it was 85 degrees and humid.\u00a0 I\u2019m no dummy.\u00a0 I put everything away, put on my bathing suit and met my men for a day of nothing.\u00a0 \u00a0The river was calm, the sun was hot and the water was refreshing.\u00a0\u00a0 For a while, we had the whole beach to ourselves.\u00a0The kids were in their glory to break out the fishing poles one more time. \u00a0After an hour of trying their luck the traditional way, the boys channeled their inner Survivorman and tried to catch fish with their hands.\u00a0 One guess on how that turned out!<\/p>\n

\"My

My seat<\/p><\/div>\n

The rest of the day was just more of the same – swimming, fishing, snacking, chatting and sunning.\u00a0 Repeat. \u00a0\u00a0By late afternoon, we were so relaxed we knew we had to move soon or we\u2019d never have the strength to make it back to the camper.\u00a0 We took the traditional slow pace of the south to a whole new level. It took us at least 4 hours to shower, dress and have dinner.\u00a0\u00a0 As we all know, the only way to top off a day like this was with a campfire, s\u2019mores and a bottle of wine.\u00a0 We were nearly comatosed by 9 o\u2019clock.\u00a0 When the boys went inside to play video games, the contentment level of the family had peaked.\u00a0\u00a0Still committed to our nothingness, Dennis and I stayed in the same spots we planted out butts after dinner.\u00a0 The night was so dark it was impossible to see 2 feet beyond the fire.\u00a0\u00a0 The sounds of the tree frogs and crickets played like background music.\u00a0 I closed my eyes to take it all in when suddenly I heard a noise like I\u2019ve never heard before.\u00a0\u00a0 Now, I have not been face to face with a mountain lion or cougar or any big, ferocious, wild cat that could rip you to shreds\u00a0with one swipe of a paw\u00a0but trust me when I tell you the sound is unmistakable!\u00a0 It was loud.\u00a0 It was close.\u00a0 It was pissed off.\u00a0 And I was outta there!\u00a0 The past 12 hours of pure relaxation were erased in seconds flat as I flew off my ass and hauled to the safety of the RV.\u00a0<\/p>\n

As a teen, I was a huge fan of the slasher movies, not for the fear factor but the absurdity of them\u00a0made me laugh.\u00a0 But for the first time in my life, I could relate to the useless victim who tripped 5 times running into the barn or the guy who couldn\u2019t turn the car keys in the ignition before the hatchet hit.\u00a0 In less than 5 feet, I almost knocked over a chair with Dennis in it, hit the picnic table, tripped over the extension cord\u00a0and fumbled miserably trying to open the RV door.\u00a0 True to the horror movie ritual of my youth, there was a least one audience member laughing their way through the whole scene.\u00a0 Still cracking up when I reappeared from the RV a couple minutes later, Dennis told me he had never seen me move that fast!\u00a0 We heard the cat roars in the distance a few more times but there was no recovering.\u00a0 I spent the rest of the night inside with the kids.\u00a0 Dennis enjoyed the fire just a bit longer before it started to rain.\u00a0 It rained all night and well into the morning.\u00a0 Packing up in the rain was no fun.\u00a0 Our day of nothingness was officially over and it was time to head out to Tennessee.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

One of the many claims to fame of the Buffalo National River area is the lack of modern development.\u00a0 There are no hotels or chain restaurants in the immediate area.\u00a0 Nature is the most important resident and for people who want to enjoy the great outdoors, this is the place to be!\u00a0 The trees and […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[108,63,27,109,35],"tags":[],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/snapshotchronicles.com\/roadtrip\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/747"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/snapshotchronicles.com\/roadtrip\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/snapshotchronicles.com\/roadtrip\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/snapshotchronicles.com\/roadtrip\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/\/snapshotchronicles.com\/roadtrip\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=747"}],"version-history":[{"count":8,"href":"https:\/\/snapshotchronicles.com\/roadtrip\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/747\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":775,"href":"https:\/\/snapshotchronicles.com\/roadtrip\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/747\/revisions\/775"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/\/snapshotchronicles.com\/roadtrip\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=747"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/\/snapshotchronicles.com\/roadtrip\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=747"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/\/snapshotchronicles.com\/roadtrip\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=747"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}