Hot Springs, AR (Lake Catherine SP) to Atoka, OK (Boggy Depot SP)
We set off relatively early this morning. We didn’t have any rain (I think…) but the dew, mist, and fog were so heavy that we might as well have had light sprinkles all night. The inside canvas of the penthouse top and windows of the van had tons of condensation on them. We got to see the campsite we had driven into last night and were pretty pleased. That particular state park had tons of construction going on and when I stopped to chat with the women working the visitor’s center, they told me that they were installing 50 amp and sewer connections on the other two loops.
But! We discovered a great benefit to camping in state parks in Arkansas. The campsites are half-price during the off months of Dec., Jan., and Feb. Including tax, we paid a whopping $9.22.
We set off through the fog and took off for Oklahoma. We’ve pretty much decided that staying in “developed” campsites with electricity is important for this time of year. The weather can change so fast that we often need the heaters to keep from getting very cold at night. Hot showers are also a bonus of staying in state parks and such. Otherwise, we’d be perfectly happy to boondock in the national forests and such.
The forests and mountains of Arkansas ended pretty quickly and gave way to barely rolling hills in Oklahoma. Since we didn’t really have anything else to do today (no phone calls for work, national parks to visit, etc.) we made record time over to Boggy Depot State Park in the southeastern corner of Oklahoma. We actually arrived while it was still light out!
We drove through their “RV” sites (sewer, 50 amp electric, and water) and then headed for the “developed” campsites that have electric and water. We drove by the ranger’s office, but no one was there and there was a sign on the door saying to call the sheriff or a different state park that was about 20 miles away if you needed anything. And by the looks of it, that sign had been there for ages.
We weren’t terribly impressed with the park in general. The spaces are very close together and it would be pretty crowded during the high season. However, since we were the only person on our loop, that didn’t matter. However, the bath house on our loop was locked up and the one a short walk away was in very poor repair. Usually, I’m not at all squeamish about such things, but I wouldn’t use this one.
So we set up camp and didn’t worry too much about paying (no fee boxes, even). Sometime after dark, a ranger pulled up so I gave Jay some money and he went out to pay. After chatting for a bit, he came back and gave me back the money. Turns out the ranger was from the OTHER state park about 20 miles away and he made a run down once a day to check on things. 
Apparently the ranger for our state park had quit and they hadn’t replaced him yet. The other ranger didn’t want the extra work of filling out more paperwork, so he let us stay in the site for free after finding out we were only staying one night and leaving early the next morning. Yay!
We’ve decided to aim for Carlsbad Caverns National Park in the south of New Mexico rather then heading directly to Albuquerque, so that will change our route a bit tomorrow. We decided to go and see Carlsbad and maybe Roswell before dropping in on Jay’s family.