Eureka Springs, AR
April 19, 2019
We picked up our de-winterized Eleanor in Springfield, MO and headed to Eureka Springs, AR. It was only 2 hours away. I put "Turpentine Creek" in the GPS and off we drove. Little did I know that I mapped us to a tiny gift shop with the same name in the downtown mountain own of Eureka Springs -- not the wildlife refuge outside of town. We had a very scary moment trying to get down the tight and steep mountain roads to get back out of town. The Airstream bottomed out and we had to utilize our skid plates - it was terrifying! People were staring and pointing. Whew! 18 minutes later, we were at the correct destination - we won't make that mistake again! The Wildlife refuge was amazing! We got set up, let our blood pressure return to normal and went on a trolly tour of the park. We also explored the enclosures. At 5, we saw a behavioral training exercise that they do to teach the big cats to take vaccinations without sedation. It was fascinating! They use meat (donated by Tyson) to train the big cats to lean their bodies against the fence. The wind was CRAZY and Jude ended up throwing a frisbee at the wrong time - it caught in the wind and was carried between the enclosure and surrounding fence. It was red and the tiger thought it was a piece of meat. He started growling and it sounded like a "moo". The volunteers rescued the frisbee and we learned a lesson about where to throw it next time. We tried out our new griddle and made Hibachi steak and fried rice. It was so windy that it took a while, but it was delicious. An eventful day!
We picked up our de-winterized Eleanor in Springfield, MO and headed to Eureka Springs, AR. It was only 2 hours away. I put "Turpentine Creek" in the GPS and off we drove. Little did I know that I mapped us to a tiny gift shop with the same name in the downtown mountain own of Eureka Springs -- not the wildlife refuge outside of town. We had a very scary moment trying to get down the tight and steep mountain roads to get back out of town. The Airstream bottomed out and we had to utilize our skid plates - it was terrifying! People were staring and pointing. Whew! 18 minutes later, we were at the correct destination - we won't make that mistake again! The Wildlife refuge was amazing! We got set up, let our blood pressure return to normal and went on a trolly tour of the park. We also explored the enclosures. At 5, we saw a behavioral training exercise that they do to teach the big cats to take vaccinations without sedation. It was fascinating! They use meat (donated by Tyson) to train the big cats to lean their bodies against the fence. The wind was CRAZY and Jude ended up throwing a frisbee at the wrong time - it caught in the wind and was carried between the enclosure and surrounding fence. It was red and the tiger thought it was a piece of meat. He started growling and it sounded like a "moo". The volunteers rescued the frisbee and we learned a lesson about where to throw it next time. We tried out our new griddle and made Hibachi steak and fried rice. It was so windy that it took a while, but it was delicious. An eventful day!
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