June 14 & 15: At Camp

Yesterday and today, we have pretty much stayed around camp. We did go into N. Little Rock to the Texas Roadhouse so Larry could have his prime rib. While we were there, we dropped by the Peabody Hotel to see the ducks. They come down the elevator at 11:00 a.m. and then spend the day swimming and eating until 5:00 p.m. when they are paraded back down the red carpet to the elevator to their Duck Palace on the second floor. There is a Duckmaster complete with black tux slacks and bright red jacket and braids who gave us a brief history of the ducks in the Peabody. It started as a joke in 1933 when duck hunters came back to the hotel empty handed except for their live duck decoys (legal in those days). After drinking too much they released the ducks into the hotel fountain. The other guests thought it was great and so they remained there until 1940 (being replaced occasionally) when the general manager decided he'd like the ducks put up each night. One of the bellmen was a former circus animal trainer and got the job of teaching the ducks to march in and out of the lobby each day. They march to John Philip Sousa's "King Cotton March". This all started at the Peabody Hotel in Memphis and they have carried that tradition to the one here in Little Rock and another one in Orlando. The little girl with the stick is the Honorary Duckmaster for the day.

The Mayflies that were cute and almost fairy like when we got here, have now become a nuisance. Every time we walk out the door, we are attacked by hundreds of them. We have to clean ourselves off before we can even get in the truck or back into the camper. They're on all the windows as we look out - sorta reminds me of Alfred Hitchcock's "The Birds". To go on a bike ride, we have to clean them off of the bikes which takes a little while. In the photo of me, also look at all the ones on the truck. When we went to town, they stayed on the truck up to about 30 -35 mph, then they started blowing off. I looked up the history on the little flies. They "bloom" out of the water once a year. Their life span is from 30 minutes to a couple of hours. Their whole objective is to reproduce in that time frame. They lay thousands of eggs on the water that drop to the bottom. Mayflies are totally at the bottom of the food chain. The fish like the larvae and then the flies as they try to rise from the water. The females die on the water after laying eggs - the males die shortly after mating. This is why fly fishermen try to make flies that look like Mayflies. As near as I can tell, the birds don't like them. If the spiders don't like them, they have a lot of web cleaning to do or they're having a feast. There are over 2500 species worldwide with 630 being in the U.S. There are several web sites devoted to them including one by Purdue University. Apparently the Mayfly is important because it is very susceptible to pollution. If the Mayfly population is high, the water quality is good. Let me tell you, obviously the Arkansas River is in great shape.

And then we went for a late evening walk. I was hoping to get a photo of a live, on-the-hoof, armadillo because we've seen several on other walks and bike rides thru the week. None tonight. But I did get a photo of where the river and our little back water come together. The Arkansas River runs on the other side of that point that sticks out into the water. Notice all the humidity - you can see it against the far trees. The storm clouds are from a system in N.W. Arkansas that's suppose to move this way tonight or tomorrow. Then when we got back to camp, there was a beautiful sunset, so I took several of it.

Tomorrow morning we head for Memphis and BBQ.