Discover America 2025

From the Hot Springs National Park, I headed west towards the Chickasaw National Recreation Area in the middle of Oklahoma. The drive was almost entirely on two-lane state roads in both states. And it was also entirely in the Ouachita National Forest in Arkansas and then the Choctaw Nation and Chickasaw Nation in Oklahoma. Also, almost every bridge over a mostly small river was named after a Choctaw World War I or II “Code Talker.” The Army used these Choctaw soldiers to send messages during the wars because they used the Choctaw language, which was indecipherable to the Germans. Starting in 2018, the Oklahoma Department of Transportation renamed 23 bridges after the 19 Choctaw Code Talkers from World War I and four from World War II. The first bridge so named was dedicated to Joseph Oklahombi. I also looked up why the state was named Oklahoma. The name originates from the Choctaw phrase “okla humma,” meaning “red people.” The name is derived from the Choctaw words “okla” (people) and “humma” (red), with the Choctaw Chief suggesting the name in 1866 during treaty talks with the federal government. 

I arrived at the Buckhorn Campground within the Recreation area and of course struggled to back the trailer into my campsite. We then took a short hike within the campground towards the lake. Gipper was very excited and pulled mightily when he saw two boys swimming in the lake. I unleashed him and he ran straight into the lake. He played his favorite game wherein I threw the stick some 20 yards into the lake and he swam to retrieve the stick. It is the only fetch game where he actually returns the item to me. (Shout out to Ashleigh who taught him this game in the Potomac River.) The two boys asked if they could play, and when I told their parents he was a very friendly dog, they gave their permission. Gipper fetched it about a dozen times, occasionally jumping into the water before seeing where it landed, causing him to swim a little in circles.

Madison was very jealous, but I don’t trust her yet and didn’t let her off the leash. She was afraid of the beach in South Carolina and a stream in Arkansas, so I was surprised that she seemed to want to go into the lake. I didn’t have my camera, so I couldn’t take pictures or videos of Gipper playing in the lake, but I went back without them after they ate dinner to take a few shots of the lake. The park and the campground are very nice.