Mike Takes a Bath

I know what you are thinking.......Mike goes shopping, Mike takes a bath........what happened to Mike? Perhaps it is time to return home. But today we were on Bath House Row in downtown Hot Springs, Arkansas and what else could I do except visit a 1912 bath house that was still in operation. The Buckstaff is still providing services like they did many decades ago so the experience consisted of a whirlpool enabled bathtub with cooled down 100F natural hot springs water, followed by a one person steam room, then hot packs on a bed and finally a needle shower with water coming at you from every conceivable direction.......all of this with no clothes on in a men-only environment. Rhonda had a similar experience on the female side of the facility. The staff didn't seem amused with our bodies so I suppose they have seen much worse over the past 99 years.

The water from the hot springs is apparently 4,000 - 6,000 years old having traveled 8.000 feet underground over most of those years and then quickly being returned to surface level through crevices, arriving at a temperature of 147F. The water is continually tested and it's purity is renowned for both healing powers and drinkability.....once it cools. There is an abundance of water so fountains are available in various parts of the city where the locals fill their 5 gallon jugs and use the water in their homes. I filled my water bottle and had to be careful not to burn my hands.....I'll wait till tomorrow to check out the healing powers. In the afternoon we wandered around the downtown streets and it was amazing to see steam coming out of the ground in so many different places. There are lots of health rehabilitation facilities in town but many of them are looking very dated as thier business has suffered with faith in modern medicine supplanting the aura of the hot springs.

Tomorrow we begin our long journey home. The evening temperatures are dropping rapidly....even the lure of a final campfire couldn't keep Rhonda outside for very long this evening. We will need to get the camper van winterized in the next day or so to avoid any damage from ovenight freezing.