Now that I had moved all my remaining belongings 650 miles and crammed them into storage, I had time to visit with the family around Paragould. We had some good get-togethers with lots of food and some cook-outs. Some bicycle riding with brother-in-law Danny and sister, Carolyn, was good exercise and a lot of fun. We explored some local areas over the weekends. All this made for a busy couple of weeks. It was a lot of fun and passed quickly. Danny and Carolyn and their son Dewayne and his family are sure pleasant people to be around. The are all very hospitable and ready for fun.


It was time now to head about 90 miles away to Batesville, Arkansas where three of my brothers live . Batesville is a nice little town of about 9,000 in the foothills of the Ozark Mountains. Actually, most of the family live 8 or so miles out of Batesville, but all are in the general area. I had a good time riding bicycles with a couple of the nephews (Kyle and Chris) and doing a little bowling in town, lots of eating and not much work. This retirement stuff is good.


Weekends usually meant a trip somewhere. One such Saturday found us in Mountain Home enjoying a court square singing. Brothers, Jerry and Johnny and their wives Debbie and Karla went along, and nephew, Kyle. A group photo of the family was taken by this storefront. Other weekend trips included Branson and Mammouth Springs. These trips were always filled with lots of laughs and new experiences. They will always be fond memories for me from now on.


I enjoyed several camping and hiking trips, also . One such trip was in Heber Springs, Arkansas. I went camping with my brother, Paul and his family. We worked in some bicycle riding, which was something to remember, especially with 8 year old nephew, Nathan. I will always remember this little 8 year old putting all his energy into riding that little bike. He would ride as hard and fast as he could up the hills and when it got more than he could handle, he would get off and push to the top and then jump right back on it. I wish I could have taken a picture of him riding those hills, but I will always have the picture in my mind. He never complained or gave up. We had so much fun.


A highlight of the trip was going hiking a few miles away at Sugar Loaf Mountain.


(From Wikipedia) Sugar Loaf Mountain, rising 690 feet (210 m) above the fertile valley formed by Little Red River (Arkansas) in the center of Cleburne County, Arkansas, is an erosional remnant . It stands as a monument to the eons of time when the river was patiently carving out the valley from the surrounding hills. Because the huge rocks at the top of the formation lie in flat layers and were not folded by continental drift, they cap the mountain on which they lie. Through the centuries less resistant units of sandstone, silt stone and shale eroded away, leaving the atoka formation which the white man called Sugar Loaf.Exactly where the mountain first got its name is a question nobody can answer today.


The first pictures are of Paul (brother) and Nathan (nephew). The next pictures are of the same hike a few weeks later with Kyle (nephew).

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