Breshear Tx to Little Rock, and Hot Springs NP, Roadfood X 2

The farm we stayed at in Tx, Bee Happy Farm, was loaded with chickens, cows, horses and a dog. Our dog Sammy was a nervous wreck, constantly pulling on his leash or trying to get out of the van, so we left early after buying some grass fed beef from the environmentally conscious farmer. We decided to see Hot Springs National Park, our 8th NP this trip. It was about a 3.5 hr drive. It’s not like any NP we’ve see before. Here is the visitor center….

Here is the main drive through the park….

This is called Bath House Row. There are hotels with baths fed by the hot spring all along this side of the street. A creek fed by the springs used to run roughly down the street. Now all the water goes to the baths or to fountains. Here’s one of the springs left available for visitors to experience…

Water wells up from deep below and emerges from cracks in the rocks along the side of the “mountain”. It’s a tall hill really, an ozark mountain. It reaches 140 degrees but is in the 120’s here. I couldn’t hold my hand in it for more than 5 seconds. At one time this was a place to come to restore health. There are signs everywhere such as Babe Ruth visited here, or Stan Musial came here to recover after an injury. Seems like celebrities stopped coming in the ’50’s. You can still drink the water. People were lining up with multiple 5 gallon jugs to fill. The water seeps in, travels very deep, then is forced out from several springs. The journey takes 4,000 years! There is forested hill on both sides of the strip with hiking trails and a scenic drive. Here’s the view from one…..

We ate lunch at Stubby’s BBQ in Hot Springs, a roadfood.com legendary rated spot. And tonight we ate at Doe’s, another legendary rated place. Doe’s is a steak place, it was incredible.

Sleeping at Cracker Barrel tonight. Peggy not ready to go home but I am. No firm plan for tomorrow. Could make it home if we drive hard, or could take 2 days.