Our Journey : Beard's Bluff Park

11/05/2023

November 3–5, 2023 Meandering Across Texas

November 3, 2023

We left our beautiful little spot and headed south and west:

Past fields:

Over the bridge:

Into Texas:

Past ranches:

More water and bridges:

And we landed at Bay Landing RV Park in Bridgeport. It is a Thousand Trails Park and we were able to get in with our RPI membership. What is interesting about many of these parks is that you go find a site and then call the office to tell them where you are. The park has a combination of water and electric or full hookups. We were lucky to be at the right place at the right time for the full hookup site. A young couple was leaving and we pulled in to the site – YEA!

We are finally out of the cold weather. Today’s high was near 80!

Once we set up we took a ride to check out the town and coming back we were greeted with this family!

Stats for today:

Miles Traveled: 262 Miles

Arkansas: AR-32; US-59; I-30

Texas: I-30; BR-67; US-380

November 4, 2023

Not much to report…we just hung out all day! LOL! Sometimes you need those days.

November 5, 2023

This morning we packed up and were on our way heading west.

We could see these huge flags from a long distance. They were on the hill by the American Patriot Ranch. We found out it was a hunting ranch and as we passed we saw some interesting animals.

2023-11-05 A Travel from Bridgeport to Haskell TX (2)

Rolling hills of Texas:

We went thru a few small towns and many of them had murals throughout the town:

Love the buildings:

Mules:

These windmills were everywhere. In our travels today, they went for over 100 miles. Must be windy here.

Many cattle ranches:

And muddy rivers:

Texas Longhorns!:

This is oil country:

The road went on forever:

If you look at the picture above, you can see this longhorn. He is on the right hand side of the road at the top of the hill.

He is HUGE!

We landed at Haskell City Park. We have full hookups for free – first night. It is a nice little city park with over 30 sites. After setting up, we decided to check out the town. It is small and nothing was open – sad… Oh well.

A little history in the park right behind us:

It was nice to have a short day. Tomorrow we are heading to Lubbock so stay tuned and enjoy today.

Stats for today:

Miles Traveled: 125 Miles

Texas: US-380; Avenue C (Haskell)

November 2, 2023 Millwood Lake Dam

Road Trip Day! YEA!

We wanted to check out a few of the areas around the Millwood Dam so away we went!

“Millwood Dam, which impounds Millwood Lake on the Little River, was constructed between 1961 and 1966 as part of a U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) project to control flooding on the lower Red River, into which the Little River empties near the town of Fulton (Hempstead County). The lake created by the dam spills across the borders of four counties—Sevier, Little River, Howard, and Hempstead—and provides a variety of recreational opportunities for southwestern Arkansas. The 3.3-mile-long, earthen Millwood Dam is the longest of its kind in Arkansas.

The dam rises eighty-eight feet above the streambed and impounds a 29,200-acre lake. Timber was left alone within a one-mile stretch of the dam, thus providing an ideal habitat for numerous varieties of fish—especially bass, for which Millwood Lake is famous. Within the lake are 20,000 acres of submerged timber, which provides habitat to numerous species of fish, birds, and mammals. Millwood Lake provides drinking water to a number of nearby communities, including Texarkana (Miller County). Companies such as Domtar, a paper and pulp mill, use water from the lake for their operations.

Millwood Lake is also known for housing the 1,380-pound alligator, which was caught in the lake in 2012.”

1380 pound alligator – WOW!

Our first stop was the bird viewing area on the Bluff:

From another lookout area – our campground was on the right.

Lots of water:

The road and railroad crossing the dam plus the lower road on the other side of the dam. There was also a campground there.

The other side of the dam:

The outflow:

Looking downstream:

These birds were just waiting for the fish!

The three tenors – LOL!:

He was intent on watching something:

There are four birds in this picture – this truly is a birder’s paradise:

Hanging around downstream:

Yikees!!!

No, I did not see any alligators. I did not want to see the 1380 pound one either!

The stairs end in water. You cannot see it here but there is a large cement platform at the bottom of the stairs under water:

It truly is flowing fast!

The storm that came thru earlier in the week dumped over 5 inches of water upstream. I am sure that is why the lake is so high.

Flowers on Beard’s Lake – downstream from the dam:

Beard’s Lake:

This was part of Millwood Steamboat Landing – although much of it is under water now. Check out the alligator sign:

We made a side trip to Ashdown to pick up a few things and headed home. I was able to get this shot of our RV in the campground from the dam. What a great site!