Murfreesboro, AR

There is a public diamond mine in Murfreesboro, AR. The only public diamond in the world. We’ve never been to a diamond mine, and this being the only public one in the world, we figured we better go check into it. Also, Murfreesboro is in our ‘general direction of Sioux Falls, SD’ path.

We headed towards Crater of Diamonds State Park (the only public diamond mine), figuring we’d have no problem just calling an RV park on the way there to find a place to stay. Well, that was our first bit of ‘eh’ luck – we did have a small problem finding a spot to park our butts. Kind of. The State Park’s campground was full. The next closest RV park was full. So, we decided just to head up into the Northern end of town and hope that there were some spots in the first come first serve areas of the COE parks on the lake.

And there were – in Old Cowhide Cove! And even better – there were no old cowhides there. That would be gross and I would hate that.

We had initially thought that we’d only hang out in Murfreesboro long enough to go try our luck at digging up a diamond at the only public diamond mine. We never found any diamonds. We did, however, keep waking up at our diamond of a spot (heh, get it?) in Old Cowhide Cove (where there are no old cowhides) and deciding to just ‘hang out for another day’.

Our campsite was quiet. And spacious. And far from any road. And backed up to a fishing lake. Lucy was allowed outside (supervised – because she’s a dumb cat). And relatively low cost. So we just kept staying. And working. And reading. And walking around the area. Because there wasn’t much else to do in the area – but I think that’s why we found ourselves wanting to stay.

When we’re somewhere new, we find ourselves very pulled to go check out everything the place has to offer. Not that we ever can do everything a place has to offer. But, the temptation to try is there. And we’re always somewhere new. So we’re always tempted. And sometimes, you just want to SIT. You know? Like on the couch. With a book. Or Netflix. And your cat. And do nothing. And not feel the temptation of doing anything.

Well, if you visit Murfreesboro for more than a day, you might also find yourself more than okay with sitting outside and reading a book with your cat. Or sitting inside and watching Netflix with your cat. Because after you go case yourself in mud while attempting to be the one who finds a diamond, you will likely have difficulty finding much else to do. Also, looking for diamonds is mad boring. (And Jake’s opinion on this matter does not matter, for the record.)

You could drive all the way around Lake Greeson, photographing the various COE campgrounds on the lake to upload the photos onto Campendium so that future Lake Greeson explorers know what they’re getting into when they are searching for a campsite. And then you could get lost on unmarked roads for 3 hours while doing that and cover your jeep in dirt and have to eat the reserve car snacks because you are certain you’re going to die out there and it’s always best to eat all the car snacks if there is a risk of getting lost and dying on the backroads of Arkansas for several days so that you don’t have any food for your days of being lost.

Or you could not do that because it’s not very fun. Instead you could just go to the only public diamond mine and then just hang out. Also, you could not go to the Mexican Restaurant in town because when you order a Vegetable Burrito you will wait a very long time before being given a tortilla stuffed with refried beans and that fake nacho cheese stuff that tastes delicious but shouldn’t be eaten in copious amounts due to heart attacks.

Also, probably stock up on groceries before you go to Murfreesboro and the only public diamond mine because foodstuffs are a bit difficult to procure, and you don’t want to be stuck having to eat the Vegetable heart attack Burrito.

And then, with your stockpile of food from a town that has more than a discount grocery ‘store’, you can just lay in your bed and stare out the window and the fish jumping and eat your snacks. That you bought somewhere else.

And then after paying the self pay box at least 5 separate times and staying for 11 days you can leave and head to Oklahoma City to stock up on Sumo oranges because you are going through severe Sumo orange withdrawal and have a desire to spend all of your money on oranges.

Or maybe that’s just us.