We started our vacation at Cedar Blue for the weekend, then headed to
Broken Bow, OK for Monday through Friday and ended the trip back at Cedar Blue
for the weekend.
Upon arrival at Cedar Blue on Thursday night we found our cement patio
all poured and most of the metal roof completed. YEA!! It was so awesome to see most of the work completed. There is some trim work left on this project
and cement needs to be poured in front of the storm shelter but all is now
usable. We hung up our colored lights,
moved the fire pit into the middle of the patio, setup the new rocking camping
chairs as well as the hammock and got the grill set in place.
John and I still have projects to do but they are all things we can
take time to do. We need to build some
fencing around the patio so the girls can run free on the patio and we don’t
have to worry about them taking off. The
outside of the new room and our shed will need to be painted so they
match. John is going to build a folding
table for the inside of the room that can be used as a buffet table, a game
table or a dinner table and finally, we will need to do some landscaping. Whew, that’s a bunch but it’s always good to
have projects.
On Monday we headed to Broken Bow and stayed in a small private RV park
across from Beavers Bend State Park. We
decided to take our waverunner with us so had to tow that separately with the
jeep as the RV, jeep and waverunner all hooked together was longer than the 65’
limit. It was still cheaper to drive the
jeep then rent a waverunner. The SE part
of Oklahoma is absolutely gorgeous. It’s
hilly with lots of very tall trees. You
feel like you are in another State. 
John
had done some internet searching for jeep trails and sure enough the forestry
service has tons of roads to do 4-wheeling on.
We got some maps and advice from some nice ladies at the park service
and off we went on Tuesday morning.
After traveling several miles on gravel roads we took a turn onto a side
road and bam, boy did we hit the jackpot for our first time out
4-wheeling. This was a narrow road with
weeds growing up between the tire lanes as high as the top
of our jeep
engine. It was a 3.2 mile road and very
slow going. We crossed 15 creeks with
the last one being quite a bit bigger than the others. We crawled over large rocks, down steep
terrain, through water and then steep climbs up the other side. Part way down the road we encountered a truck
coming out. We both had to really crunch
to the sides to pass and were able to chat with the two guys in the truck. They were very nice and told us they lived at
the end of this road and we were welcome to turn around there as that was the
end of the road and check the place out.
They had a couple of cabins and a large garden. It appeared from some signs that they allowed
hunters to join them as there was designated hunter parking. Not sure if the hunters can stay overnight
but they obviously can park there. The
forest was gorgeous and we had a great morning driving through it.
That afternoon we headed out to the lake with the waverunner and were
awed by the beauty of this lake. There
are no houses or businesses other than a State lodge and a marina on it. It is surrounded by thousands and thousands
of very tall trees. There are several
islands throughout the lake that are also tree-filled. Over the course of two afternoons, it took us
about 3 hours to check this lake out with just a few short stops to swim. The State Park is also gorgeous and I’m
thinking this may be a new favorite place to visit in September. The tourists are mostly gone so the lake has
almost nobody on it and we didn’t have to contend with others on the trails
with the jeep.
On Wednesday we did some more 4-wheeling in the morning and hit the
lake in the late afternoon. Our time on
the trails got a little interesting in that we thought we were lost. The maps we had weren’t great and I thought I
knew where we were. But then we started
heading in the opposite direction I thought we should be going so we turned
around. We found a road that appeared to
be a dead end on the map so we decided to check it out to see if that was in
fact where we were. Part way down the
road here was a forestry service employee out in the middle of nowhere!! An answer to prayer. He had a great German accent and was very
helpful. It turned out that we
originally were headed the right way. We
just hadn’t gone far enough. We eventually
came to the Glover River which is supposed to be the only free flowing river
left in Oklahoma. It apparently is not
dammed. 
After lunch we took the girls and explored the State Park a bit more
and then got back out on the lake with the waverunner again. This was going to be the last hot day for the season I
think and it was nice to be able to do some swimming and riding around the
lake.
On Thursday we woke up to lots of rain.
It was a nice gentle rain for most of the morning and much cooler
weather. Instead of mid-90’s it was in
the low 70’s. We explored more of the
park in the afternoon and found some gorgeous places along the Mountain Fork
River that runs through the park. There
are lots of places to tent camp or park the RV along the river. The park also has a swim beach on the river,
horseback riding, and you can rent canoes, kayaks and paddle boats. There was also a place we found where folks
were fly fishing. In addition, the park
has a very pretty lodge that overlooks the lake where you can rent rooms as
well as lots of cabins throughout the park.
I’m sure this place is absolutely mobbed in the summer but in the Fall
it is almost empty and a great time to visit.
We will definitely be back.
I will end the weekend by getting my feet wet with the Board of Directors for our Cedar Blue park that I was recently elected to. Tomorrow we meet to get us newbies up to speed and my first monthly board meeting with the property owners next weekend. Keep me in your prayers.
