Our Alto R1713 in Florida

Our Alto R1713 in Florida
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Tuesday, May 1, 2012

2012 - Apr. 29 - Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art in Bentonville, AR

We left the rally at Devil's Den on Sunday morning and headed for Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art in Bentonville, AR ( http://www.crystalbridges.org/ ). This is the world-class museum founded by Alice Walton, the daughter of Sam Walton, the founder of Walmart. This place is absolutely phenomenal. Even if the buildings were empty, it would be worth the trip just to see the architecture. The five centuries of American artwork in the permanent collection is mind boggling and there's no general admission fee!

I'll let the pictures do the talking, but they can't do it justice.











 



















2012 - Apr. 24-29 - Mark's House on Lake of the Ozarks and Aliner Rally at Devil's Den State Parkl, Arkansas

We left the house on Tuesday, April 24 and headed for the South Central Region Aliner Owners Rally at Devil's Den State Park in Arkansas. It's over 500 miles to Devil's Den, so we decided to take my friend, Mark, up on his offer to spend some time at his house on Lake of the Ozarks, near Sunrise Beach, MO. We got to the lake house around 4:30 and popped up the camper. We slept in the camper so as not to mess up a bed in the house.

So, on Wednesday, I did a little maintenance to earn our keep. I installed a couple of new storm door closers, replacing the ones damaged when the wind blew the door open sometime in the past few weeks. Mark gave me the new openers before we left home and I installed them in about twenty minutes. We spent the rest of the day lounging on the boat dock watching the ducks and the fishermen.

On Thursday morning, we headed for the rally at Devil's Den State Park in Arkansas, arriving around 3:30PM. The official first day of the rally was Friday, but there were several early arrivals. We had met most of the people at previous rallies, but there were some whom we met for the first time.

Somehow the rally was designated a Spam (the greasy stuff that comes in a can) event, so there was a Spam tasting session on Friday night. Luckily, I was busy helping a friend with a computer problem and got there just after the last samples had been eaten and just in time for the rice and beef tips. Marsha got there in time for the tasting. I asked her how it was and she said, "I didn't get sick!"

Saturday, after morning coffee and visiting, six of us hiked the Yellow Rock Trail which had a total elevation change of 400 feet at its highest point before we started back down. We got back in time to prepare for and attend the potluck which included some twelve Spam-based entrées. Believe it or not, the several that I tried were very good!
Other than the above, the rally was pretty much the usual: sit around, shoot the breeze, eat some food, then do it again.

See the pictures below.