Oct 7, 8, 9
Just outside of Mountain View Arkansas is Blanchard Springs State Park. Musicians gather to play bluegrass Mountain View’s town square in the evenings.
The Caverns are fantastic. Check www.mbr.com for the review of Syllamore Creek Trail. One of the best in the state.
Camping in the State Park is wonderful, but limited. However, there are plenty of hotels and some cabins available.
3-1/2 hrs from Memphis in the Ozrarks.
** whine **
I can’t make it. 
sounds great! this would be a great time for my employer to send me to Little Rock. I wish I could go. Just hanging out with you guys again would be worth it. I hope to see you at NAUCC
-Eric
I can’t wait! I’ve been looking forward to this fall rendezvous ever since we gathered in East Tennessee last fall. I hope that the folks from Oklahoma, Arkansas, Missouri, and farther away will make the trip to enjoy this event. The more the merrier!
I think that we are going to have a large group from Memphis. Though, I believe that this will be the first MUC event that Richard will miss. What, oh what in the world are we going to do without him!?
Tommy
I just want to remind everybody in the lower Midwest / Mid-South that we will be gathering in Blanchard Springs, Arkansas for a camping weekend of MUni, caving, bluegrass music and uni-camaraderie. We will gather on Friday, October 7th at Blanchard Springs State Park through the weekend. Come one, come all for another MUCster event.
Tommy
Earlier today I spoke with the Ranger’s office. The very nice woman said that we should have no problem finding a campsite. When I told her that we’d probably have a pop-up camper and several small tents, she thought it’d be ok for all of that to be on one site if need be.
I’m planning on arriving at the campground around noon - 1 pm Friday.
We’re in a White Ford Minivan (Look for look for the yellow-diamond unicycle sticker in the back window) pulling an old beige pop-up camper.
You’ll enter the park at the top of the hill (mountain). You go down down down and turn left at the T-intersection. As you cross into the campground, turn left again. The best campsites are in an area on the other side of a ford (barely submerged concrete bridge). That’s what we’re shootin’ for.
Pot luck dinner Saturday night (We’re doing a hamburger-noodle caserole). Pot luck Breakfast Sat and Sun. I’m in charge of pancakes. Tommy’s doing OJ and eggs. We need meat. Those kielbassa style sausages are better than bacon. Easy to cook, less mess. Try to remember paper towels and paper plates and cups, etc.
Oklahoma will be represented.
Wow! We had a great weekend that began, for some of us, on Friday. Several of us managed to escape work/school to enjoy an afternoon of swimming and frivolity in the beautiful Ozark National Forest and the Blanchard Springs Camp Ground. Phil, Davis, Marquise and Denzel arrived just ahead of the entire Maxwell crew to get us back-to-back camp sites. Charles arrived about dark and Rody and I were not able to arrive until about 10:00 p.m. We stayed up another hour chit-chatting and transitioning to our new home in the Ozark Mountains.
The next morning, after an amazing full-blown breakfast of pancakes, eggs, sausage, bacon, etc., etc., we had a birthday celebration engineered by Rody and the Maxwells. Rody had a t-shirt printed for all of us with a Greg Cravens designed silk-screen featuring a caricature of me riding my uni and the words, “Tommy’s Fifty!”
We then took a beautiful, full-group ride up the mountainside with our hikers/runners bringing up the rear. This was Davis’ first off-road experience and he did wonderfully and was right in the thick of the action at all times. After a brief reminder about basic orienteering we returned to the camp after a blazing downhill run where we enjoyed a quick picnic lunch and the cutting of the most amazing birthday cake ever! The Maxwells had a birthday cake created as a replica of the Ozark Mountains complete with trees and angel food mountains. T-Max used his extensive art background to hand-make a unicycle centerpiece for the cake that was made from his kid’s toys using a torch and a flathead screw driver. It is really cool and now serves as my dashboard reminder of the event. Both, the cake and the cake uni center piece are true works of art! James and Doug from Oklahoma then joined us after a 6 hour drive from as Oklahoma City and 4 hours from Tulsa. The afternoon was filled with some world-class MUni action for five of us while the rest of the expedition either enjoy the beauty and quiet of the camp and the mountains or caught rainbow trout and swam. This day was full of firsts for many of us. Denzel and Marquise caught their first fish. Davis’ first off-road ride. It was Charles’, Doug’s and my first ride in the Ozarks. We had our traditional MUni Rendezvous pot luck on Saturday night with Phil’s campfire baked blueberry cobbler winning most of the praise.
On Sunday, following the same breakfast extravaganza as the day before, we headed over to a trials play ground were a few of us toyed with natural and man-made trials obstacles. We then took a group tour of Blanchard Springs Caverns. After an amazing lunch of assorted camp goodies, including steaks (Yes, steaks for lunch, thanks to Doug!). Davis, Marquise, James, Tom, Doug, Rody and me set out to do a short, 2-hour MUni ride before heading home. The arduous climb was well worth it as the descent was fast and furious. Again, Davis stole the show as he climbed and he persevered through several UPDs that would have shaken the teeth out of most of us. The next time you ride with Davis give him a MUC, “Atta-Boy.”
We all bugged-out by 4:00. As I rolled into Memphis my thoughts were with the Oklahoma boys. These guys had as much as 3 more hours of driving in front of them. Special thanks to James and Doug for making the trek to play with us. As always, a good time was had by all. Pictures will be posted on the MUC site as soon as I get a chance. up-load them and T-Max sends me what he took. I look forward to our next MUni Rendezvous.