Kevin’s great Aunt and Uncle live in Arley, AL and we were fortunate to be able to plan our trip to spend a few days exploring the area and visiting with them. I’d never been to Alabama before (Roll Tide!). 
We had a relaxing time visiting and enjoying some Southern hospitality.
Eloise and Kevin tried their hand at fishing on Smith Lake (We saw tons of fish, no bites tho!).
Eloise convinced the whole gang to play mini golf at the campground.
Eloise and great “Uncle Jimmy”
After our time in Alabama we were headed west to Arizona. On the way we stopped in Arkansas to check out Hot Springs National Park. 
The park is located in down town Hot Springs AR where a town was built around these ‘soothing thermal waters to heal and relax’. It was an interesting piece of American history.
Fordyce Spring where you can see into the hot springs below
We saw several locals and tourists filling their own glass bottles with hot springs water (which was allowed and encouraged by the town) and wished we had thought to do the same! It was neat but it was a short stop. That afternoon we decided to leave and drive straight through to Arizona. (In retrospect that may have been a bad idea…Yawn!) We Left Hot Springs AR at 2pm and arrived in Quartzsite, AZ at 3pm. 1400 miles of driving in 25 hours. Around 11pm somewhere near the border of Oklahoma and Texas I had my first lesson in driving the rig. It was surprisingly easy to drive forward however I won’t be backing it up any time soon! In total I drove about 4 out of the 25 hours of driving time and Kevin did all the rest like a champ.
Thanks to Kevin for snapping this oh-so-flattering pic of me napping in the truck
Eloise and Eliza (and me??) slept most of the way and are professional road trip babies. We were all glad to have arrived safely and were ready to soak up the beautiful Arizona sun and scenery.
