Our Bean Fest weekend...

Last weekend was the annual Bean Fest in Mountain View, AR. Since we had never been before and since Fall was in full force in the northern part of the state we decided to get out of NLR and take in the sights, sounds and tastes of the mountain folks of AR. So, Norman and I and two other couples (Betty & Terry Reese and Judy & Danny Douglas) headed up there on Friday around 3:30.( Side note * This was the day after we had torrential rains in our area. We had to reroute our trip due to some of the roads being closed because of flooding.)
Danny had arranged for our lodging and we were to stay in the American Eagle Cabins about 8 miles outside of Mtn. View. None of us had seen these cabins other than on their website. So, armed with our trusty Google directions and maps we head for our destination. Originally, we thought we would eat before we got there but with the evening hours approaching quickly and darkness descending on us, we all agreed we would like to find our cabin (which was actually a 3 BR 2 bath log house) before it got dark.
The scenery along the way was gorgeous. We get to Mtn. View and turn onto Herpal Rd as the directions said. This was your typical two lane curvy road which was not too bad. However, the farther we went the more narrow the road became until it evolved into a very narrow, deeply rutted gravel road. Norman said that it was worse than some of the roads at their deer camp. It would have been good to have had a 4-wheel drive for parts of it but we were able to maneuver it by going very slowly. The previous day's rain did not help the situation. We went through some areas that were pretty deep and all the advice the weather men give about "not going through deep water if you can't see the bottom" kept running through my head. The good thing was that these roads were not gooey mud, but hard gravel roads.

Scenery along the way to Mtn. View

We get to a fork in the road and could see cabins down below so we figured this was the place. Below is the picture of what we had deducted was our cabin.

We drive up and there are two bulls with long pointed horns standing in the yard.

We have finally arrived! We all pile out and start looking around. Wow! This was a really neat cabin. Pretty soon we begin noticing some strange things about this cabin...like a back pack was sitting in the carport, a boat and motor was also under the carport, the back screened in deck looked a mess with buckets and mops on it. We decided to check the doors because the lady told Danny that the door would be open and the keys on the table. So, we all go streaming into the house. Immediately, we were taken back by all the personal stuff that was in the house and the mess that was in the sink and on the bar. Norman goes to look in the bedrooms and bathrooms, and Danny wonders farther into the house.
It quickly became very evident, we were in the wrong house!!! Thankfully, no one was home and we didn't get shot. Judy said, "I can hear it now, the neighbors are going to call the sheriff and report at B & E in progress." She works for the NLRPD and could just imagine what her co-workers would think. We all got back into our cars and had many a laugh the rest of the weekend as we thought about the fact that we just walked right into someone's house and what the ramifications would have been if someone had in fact been in there! Visions of the story of the Three Bears comes to mind.

So we load bacl up and get out our directions one more time and re-read where we were supposed to go. As it turned out we needed to go farther down the gravel road. Finally we see our cabins! Then we see the road to the cabins...it looks like this....

Ours is the second one from the right. Norman and I waited until we made sure Danny could make it through the high water before we launched out into the deep.

They made it!

And so did we!!
We unloaded and decided that rather than go back in to town to eat and then have to find our way back in the dark, we would just have the grilled hamburger meal we had planned for Saturday night. We thought we were in good shape because they had a grill on the back porch and we had the charcoal... but then we realized we had no lighter...not even a match. (That is what you get when you have three non-smoking couples.) Thank goodness we had a nice neighbor who helped us out!
After we ate we tried to get our Scene It game to work but again had technical difficulties in getting the TV to work with the DVD player(this same situation happened when we tried to play it at Danny and Judy's). WE couldn't find the remote control for the TV which was necessary to make it all work. So, we pulled out our Spinners game (a fancy domino game) and enjoyed an evening of dominoes.

Below is a beautiful picture of the sunset which was out our front windows.

This is what the river looked like out back...it was way out of it's banks.

The next morning, the water is still deep.

This is looking off the front porch across the valley.

It was beautiful inside...hardwood floors with the rustic log motif.

And a fireplace, which we got the neighbor to light and then had to turn it off when the smoke alarms began going off!! Oh yeah!

This is a little blurry but you can see what a gorgeous place it was. We had plenty of room and didn't feel on top of one another.

Here we are at the Bean Fest sitting around enjoying one of the groups of pickers.

It was a beautiful day...temps were just right!

There is a video down at the bottom of this group of men picking and singing just to give you a little taste of the music we got to hear.

This is Sunday morning waiting to leave for church at Flatwoods Baptist.

The water had receded about 5 feet but still had a long way to go until it was back to it's normal level.

Our crew checking out the water level of the river.

This was a wonderful weekend of rest and relaxation with some great friends! So glad that we were able to have the time away.