We drove from San Antonio to Ardmore, Oklahoma.  There is a certain element of planning when the weather is in the 90's.  You don't want to arrive at the hottest time of the day and start a 10K walk.  That's just not fun.  So, we positioned ourselves in Ardmore, about a half hour away from the Chicasaw National Recreation Area to get our Oklahoma walk done.  Not only did that work beautifully, but there's a Starbucks in Ardmore, too.  Life is good. 

This part of Oklahoma, unlike the panhandle (which is the only part I had ever seen before) is very hilly and lush.  Yet, every once in a while, a cactus pops up in the grass, reminding you that you're on the edge of the desert.  

We walked in the woods, then walked around Veterans Lake.  The lake is a great place to get some exercise -- paved, three miles around -- but could really use some shade.  

Probably great in the winter.  A little tough at 90 degrees.  

After CNRA, we went on to Fort Smith, Arkansas, checked into a hotel and spent the warm evening walking around the neighborhood of our hotel and checking out the starting points of the available walks.  Unfortunately, at the Holiday Inn Central in Fort Smith, the clerk at the registration desk didn't have any idea what a volkswalk box is, so we went on to Van Buren.  Described as an old established neighborhood on the Arkansas River, restored to Victorian glory, we thought it sounded pretty interesting.  In the relative cool of the morning (mid 80's), we started out to find that that walk was seriously oversold.  Not much restoration has been done or is going on.  

On to Hot Springs National Park.  What a lovely turn of events.  The weather was in the low 80's, breezy, sunny and the town was really cute.  The National Parks have restored the old baths from the 1920's and the rest of the town has kind of followed suit.  OK, there are lots of tourist shops, but it's far nicer than Van Buren!  Nice enough that we actually talked about coming back and spending some real time there.  They have hiking paths in the surrounding hills/mountains!  Very pretty area.  Boyhood home of Bill Clinton, for what that's worth.

They also have a microbrewery (first one we've found on this trip) with good beer and they serve good food.  Too bad we didn't have a walk there, eh?  Oh well.  Got a stamp in my National Parks passport book.  We're on the way to Louisiana.  We may do a walk in Natchitoches or press on to Baton Rouge. We're also planning to spend some time in New Orleans taking a tour or two.  Looking forward to it.