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This podcast began because of one simple thing – my curiosity. I discovered Hot Springs Village, Arkansas in September 2018 when Rhonda, my wife, and I first visited. We booked an Airbnb inside the Village some months earlier having never heard of Hot Springs Village. I wanted to find someplace within a 6-hour drive of Dallas/Ft. Worth. The Ozarks have been a long favorite of ours. Not Branson, but prowling around the trails around Table Rock Lake. Big Cedar Lodge cabins were always a preferred stay. Problem…it’s 7 hours plus, depending on traffic.

That led me to Google around for someplace that had hills, big trees, trails, lakes, and the kind of nature we loved up in the Ozarks. Eventually, I stumbled onto Hot Springs Village, Arkansas, but I was confused. I’d heard of Hot Springs, Arkansas, and wasn’t interested because I knew it was touristy. I wasn’t looking for touristy. We weren’t interested in leaving DFW to find “things to do.” We just wanted to relax, walk trails, and deepen our connection with each other (we celebrated our 40th wedding anniversary in January 2018).

I read up on Hot Springs Village before searching Airbnb. Wait a minute, what? It’s a gated community? It’s a P.O.A., whatever that is? It’s 26,000 acres? There are multiple golf courses and lakes? We don’t golf or do lake stuff, but we enjoy looking at golf courses and lakes.

I decided to book an Airbnb basement suite, separate from the owner’s residence. It was a queen-bed suite with a bathroom and it was one of the many lakes, Lake DeSoto. We booked it for four nights, I think.

September arrived and we were off to Arkansas, our first real visit to the state since we’d been married. We had some church friends in Little Rock, but neither of us had spent much time in Arkansas as adults. Both of us had been there with our families when we were growing up so we were familiar enough with it because Rhonda grew up in Texas while I grew up in Oklahoma, Texas, and Louisiana – so we’re both from this neck of the woods.

We walked miles of trails during that first visit.

We spent hours in conversation navigating various challenges and opportunities in our life together.

We oggled the trees, hills, lakes, and golf courses. Well, a few of them.

We enjoyed the quiet. The peace. The dark night sky. The wildlife.

We enjoyed a few local eateries.

We enjoyed nearby Lake Ouachita State Park.

Along the way, we had formed far more questions than we had before arriving. I had no idea about this place where we’d just spent 4 or 5 days. All I knew was that I needed to find out more. Mostly, I wondered why I had never heard of this place and why more people weren’t visiting. Thoughts of one day living here never crossed my mind. That would happen a couple of years later.

But first…

Another idea crossed my mind almost immediately after we got back home to DFW.

As we entered 2000 I was podcasting. It wasn’t even yet called podcasting. Most of us referred to it as audio journaling because before blogging was blogging…we called it journaling. I put my first audio online in 1999. Audio has played a prominent role in my life – first with my love of music. Then my love of the gear required to play my favorite records. By the time I was 15 or so, I was working at a local stereo store selling speakers, receivers, amps, preamps, and turntables. That was over 50 years ago and few things have changed when it comes to my passion for audio. Except that now I’ve added video to the passion.

Dennis Simpson had been our Airbnb host in 2018. I didn’t know him. At all.

But I knew I needed a resident inside Hot Springs Village who would help answer my questions. I trolled the Internet and it seemed fairly clear to me that Dennis might be “my guy” to co-host this podcast I had in mind. I had pages of notes. I had already purchased the domain name, HotSpringsVillageInsideOut.com. I had a clear vision of what I wanted the podcast to be – and to become.

I emailed Dennis, inviting him to join me on a Zoom call. It took awhile, but I finally heard back from him and we scheduled our Zoom call.

Within 5 minutes I had briefly explained what I wanted to do, and why. My why was two-fold: a) to satisfy my curiosity and b) to shine a positive light on this place that had stolen my heart. At the time there were a few social media ninnies who were shouting insult after insult about the place and it made no sense to me. Dennis quickly agreed to join me in this venture.

June 2021. We launched. That was 1028 days ago.

Now that you know the backstory I have a request – I want you to join me on my quest to satisfy my curiosity about Hot Springs Village, Arkansas.

Many of you have never been to Hot Springs Village before.

Many of you do not currently live in the Village. We surmise that most of you don’t. Yet.

Some of you are interested in visiting to enjoy the golf, the lakes, and the peace.

Some of you have already decided that you’d like to make the Village your home so you’re exploring land and houses.

Some of you – like me – have a home here now but you’re still armed with questions because living here is unlike any place you’ve ever lived before. Mostly, in all the best ways, but our beloved Village isn’t perfect. It’s ideal for most of us who choose to come here though.

Many of you are at that stage of life where you’re navigating what the encore chapter of your life might look like. Retirement. Reducing your workload. Reducing the stress of living in a metropolitan area. Or all of the above.

Hot Springs Village Inside Out is aimed at helping you figure it out. Rather than try to guess what your questions are…we’d rather know specifically so we can prepare shows to help answer your questions.

In the coming weeks and months, Dennis and I are going to up our game because YOU deserve it. Many of you have been with us from the beginning, but recently we’ve experienced strong growth. It’s only because our subject is so terrific – Hot Springs Village, Arkansas. We hope to do it more justice in the future!

Thank you for watching and listening to our show. We appreciate all of you!

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