What about http://www.tpwd.state.tx.us/spdest/findadest/parks/lake_bob_sandlin/

Cooper Lake SP between Sulphur Springs and Paris has nice cabins. The state park and cabins are only about 15 years old and modern.

Beavers Bend in SE OK is great for fall color. This is an older state park but in a beautiful area. They have cabins as well.

Lake Murray and Chickasaw National Recreation Area--both just off I-35 in southern OK are nice as well.

I'm afraid burn bans may be a fact of life for a while.

Thanks Connie. I was worried about the burn bans, but noticed in today's paper that some of our local counties have lifted the ban as of yesterday. (We had some substantial rain the last couple of days.)

We've done Beavers Bend before, and it was lovely. We stayed in one of the cabins. We had one big problem... that 6:00am wake up call by the very loud horn declaring the dam was opening. That will make you sit straight up in your sleeping bag, trust me! hahah

But the rest of your suggestions look promising. Thanks bunches!

a little further north is Queen Wilhelmina State Park in Mena, Arkansas.

http://www.queenwilhelmina.com/

Wilhelmina is a good one. It is in Arkansas but Queen Wilhelmena drive is a joint OK/AR thing.

Better is Mount Magazine, Mount Nebo, Petit Jean, and Buffalo River. These are all in Arkansas, but really awesome. I prefer most of them in the spring when the waterfalls are amazing. Fall Foliage will be gone by then, and this year isn't going to be that great anyway. These are all just a bit further than perhaps what you were looking for, but worth it IMOP.

Guadalupe National Park is an interesting place in TX-again a bit further drive.

Thanks Jill and Spiro- I'll keep those in my list. But for this trip, we needed someplace closer.

We are actually heading to Dinosaur Valley State Park. Been once before. It was great.

Looking forward to some cool sleeping weather!

Are you in Spiro, Spiro?
I LOVE SE Oklahoma and the whole western side of Arkansas.
Last time we were driving up 37, we saw 3 black bears crossing the road near the Red River!
I'll be paying attention to this post for my own trips!

Yes for 44 years. Bears though are somewhat of a rarity. I have only seen them a couple of times in OK.