Miss Smudge let me sleep ’til 6am today — a real bonus, considering her customary wee-hours demands. When we came back indoors, I poured my first cup of coffee and picked up my phone to see what I might’ve missed overnight.
Notably, up on Mountain Two, the local boys had a late-night get-together.
Then I thumbed up my newest smart-phone app and switched on the air conditioner in the cabin.
Yup, we can control this AC from anywhere. It lives on our wi-fi network and reports temp both inside and outside the cabin. Sure, security is a concern, but we have that taken care of — neither the feds nor the CCP will learn anything about us through this device.
I turned on the cabin chiller not because we expected to be working in there today, but to find out how it’d perform with reasonably cool (73°F) air to start with. It responded immediately and kept things in the mid-70s most of the morning.
As the sun began beating down on the metal roof, however, our little 12,000 BTU window unit was challenged. (Remember, there’s no ceiling yet and no insulation in the space.) The AC was still winning, but by 3:30pm (96°F outside, 89°F inside) we had the information we needed and shut it down.
I have no doubt that we made a good choice here. Color us pleased, possibly even thrilled.
With it being a Sunday, Deb and I checked a few familiar items off our list — laundry in Gassville (the laundromat wasn’t busy at all), then vape supplies in Mountain Home, and finally groceries (curbside pickup) and gas ($2.859) in Flippin. Between the last two errands we had about 90 minutes to kill.
Rather than return to The Mountain only to leave again less than an hour later, we set off in search of another mini-adventure. This time we turned from US 62/412 in Baxter County onto Arkansas 126 south. Our destination: Buffalo City.
So-named for its location, where the Buffalo River flows into the White River, there’s not much to Buffalo City (population 26). Route 126 was smooth and breathtakingly scenic, though, careening down to a public-access area on the north bank of The Mighty White.
We didn’t lay eyes on the confluence of the two rivers today — that was around a bend and out of sight downriver. What we did see was unexpected.
Across the river from where we stood, Turkey Mountain meets the White River in the form of a sheer rock face. Known as Stair Bluff, it towers 270 feet over the water — absolutely spectacular.
The picturesque bluffs at Buffalo Point, by comparison, which were instrumental in our falling in love with this region, top out at 160 feet above the river. These cliffs at Buffalo City took us completely by surprise.
The river access itself wasn’t packed with people, though the lot was almost full of pickups with empty boat trailers. A couple of families picnicked on the grassy bank. A dozen or so anglers had lines in the crystal-clear water. Two fellas in particular were landing cutthroat trout at a rapid rate, one after another.
Deb and I rolled away an hour after we’d arrived, glad that we took the time to make a detour. We’ll come back again soon.
Take care of yourselves, Patriots. Stay calm. Stay sharp. Stay free.
#WiseUp #LibertyOrDeath #Ungovernable
#LetsGoBrandon #FJB