Hi Questies,
This post was originally intended to be sent on the day that we left.... that didn't happen. Then I wrote a chunk to send after about a week... that didn't happen. We have now been living this life for 13 days, and it feels like years, and we have been taken pity on and provided with some wi-fi, and laundry, and a hot shower, and some great companionship, so we are taking the opportunity, at last, to tell you about the quest!
We have been thinking about you guys a lot, but we have been basically unable to update any of our accounts and this website, because apparently the first places we chose to explore are miles away from getting cell signal. That isn’t a terrible thing honestly, it’s been a pretty stark transition from the creature comforts of Michael’s house to our lifestyle as it is now, but we are developing a routine and becoming more comfortable with our transient lifestyle and having an amazing time poking around Southern Missouri and the North West of Arkansas!
We have traveled over 1000 miles in our truck with no name, and are both feeling more comfortable and confident in what we are doing. Every day there is so much to see, and it is so easy to go and explore and have fun! And there is so much nature! It's all over the place, just lying around! Zora has spent at least half of the journey pointing at rocks and birds :)
We began our journey by heading South from St. Louis, and briefly dipping into Illinois for a night, before heading West over the Mississippi flood plain and beginning our ascent onto the Ozark plateau. After exploring the region around Wappapello lake for a few days, and weathering a pretty incredible thunderstorm, we progressed to a conservation area around the Current River. We had a beautiful night spent making s'mores and skipping stones on the river. We continued our Westward journey, descending slightly to the area South of Springfield, MO. By this time we were tired and both of us had colds, so we took the luxury of a rest day in the Drury-Mincey Conservation Area Campsite. We enjoyed some hammock time, and experimented with our fantastic little washing machine, which worked like a champ. We also met our first Quest friends, Beth and Mike and their son Isaac, a family who have been on the road in their own truck camper for 19 months. They gave us a ton of useful information, having just come from Arkansas.
So when we felt recovered enough we set off again and made it into NW Arkansas. It is both of our first time here and we LOVE it. For anyone who has ever questioned what, if anything, Arkansas has to offer, just come and check it out. You will not be disappointed. It is beautiful, and wild, and full of lovely people and awful roads :) We stayed for two nights at a campsite on the Buffalo River. It is one of the most special, wonderful places I have ever seen. Our spot, which we had to ourselves on the first night, was surrounded on three sides by the water, which at our spot ran swiftly to the outside of the bend, but remained still as it met the beach by our camper. The cliffs on the opposite bank were enormous and sheer, starkly patterned limestone with water stains darkening the faces, and newly budding trees clinging to every ledge. We stayed for two nights, taking a swim on the second morning, which was COLD! But a lot of fun.
From there we moved on and had our first fuel scare! After a day of finding ourselves on some of the craziest gravel roads we have ever seen, and certainly a bit on the wrong side of what our rig can safely handle, we did the Hawksbill Crag hike. It is a gorgeous 4 mile round trip out to see a bluff which extends like a diving board over a beautiful valley. We got the obligatory photos to prove it (Zora even managed to brave her way out there), of course. However we ended up at the base of the access road after finishing the hike, in the dark, with the low fuel light on, with barely any reception, not much of an idea of where we were, and 40 miles and 2 mountain passes away from the nearest gas station.... needless to say the next hour, grunting our way up mountain roads at 25 mph and coasting on fumes down the far sides, were tense. But we got there! By this time it was very late, and there were no good options for camping so we ended up popping our Walmart cherry and spending the night in the parking lot of the shop in Huntsville. It feels like a right of passage, but hopefully it will be the rare exception, it was not the best night's sleep.
And that brings us to the last couple of days. During which we have met some of the nicest people it is possible to meet. A friend of ours from Hawaii (Hi Janine!) has a friend, Sara, in this neck of the woods, and she connected us through facebook. We managed to get in communication and she invited us to spend the day with her family at their home. It is in a valley only really accessible to four wheel drive vehicles, and it is stunning. There is a little creek where we met Galen, her husband, and her two boys River and Rowan, they were kayaking and jumping into swimming holes, and having the best time. We walked around their property, and admired their home and garden. We shared lunch and got to know each other, walked down to the creek and pointed at more rocks and birds, we established, yet again, that the Welsh are pretty awful at basketball. In the evening we went with them to Galen's parent's house, where we ate a delicious meal, and played with 4 day old chickens. In the evening we were deposited back at our truck, and drove over to Headwaters community school where we spent the night, ready to wake up and do our first day of volunteering!
We will put another post up about Headwaters and what it is, but we were fortunate enough to be able to help out by removing two large pine trees that were too close to the school building. I climbed, which after a winter of sitting down, was a little bit of a shock to the system, and I was very abley grounded for by Zora. It was a a community work day, and we met some great people who had all attended to help get the school ready for the spring and summer. It all went smoothly and safely! I did manage to spear the top of the second tree straight into the ground rather than giving it a nice horizontal landing, but it made a pretty impressive totem pole. We were hosted last night by Rain and David, who invited us up for food and a hot shower, both of which we were extremely, EXTREMELY, grateful for! We had an evening of chatting and drinking wine. And today we are having a morning of laundry, and charging our devices, and writing a bloody essay which hopefully you all have managed to read through :)
Anyway, we are having a wonderful time. We will update our map, and our progress on our quests, and respond to all of your contributions and suggestions that we have seen but not replied to.
Be well all, and see you soon!