Millwood State Park, Ashdown, Arkansas

9-26-2024 to 10-10-2024


        It's a dog's life!!  It has certainly been an enjoyable two weeks at Millwood State Park. We both spent a lot of time in our camping chairs watching for birds and alligators. I did my morning routine outside and Scott took his naps in the hammock. 

    
         Millwood Lake is designated by the National Audubon Society as an Important Bird Area (IBA). We saw several varieties of our favorite bird, the blue heron. Also several types of Snow Egrets. 








            Lake Millwood also has over 300 alligators, according to Park Interpreter Chloe, who taught a class on Alligator Antics. A knowledgeable person in the Marina Store told us she thought there were over 1000, including ones in the river on the other side of the dam. We saw a lot of alligators in the river. This alligator picture was taken on the one afternoon we saw a lot of them in the little inlet near our site. 


        Our afternoon hikes were very pleasant.  We saw armadillos, deer and red bellied woodpeckers, in addition to all the birds.


         Just after we got to the park, a dangerous invasive bulrush plant was discovered. Our section of the lake was cordoned off by a barrier in the water.  No boats were allowed in. Staff sprayed all along the edges of our inlet, killing the grasses and lilly pads along the sides. 


 
        The mechanical challenge of the week has been the CRV (not RV) slowly losing its battery charge. We got the battery tested in Ashdown, and it was fine. We haven't figured out what's causing the leak. Scott has been testing the CRV battery charge every morning. It has consistently been low. He runs the car for 20 minutes to charge the battery. Who knows what's causing this. 

        Another puzzle is our internet router. We think it is overheating for some reason. Scott set up a little fan to cool it down. We also unplug it and use the park internet unless we want to watch TV. 

        One day we drove to Hope, Arkansas, to see if the roads in that direction were RV friendly for our next journey. We drove from Hope to Texarkana, where we got my bike seat and kickstand fixed. 


        

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