July 30: Mill Springs Battle and more of Cumberland Lake

I'M BACK!!!! YEAH!!!! Boy, I've missed this form of communication. And I have so much to say.

One day last week (at this point in time, last week was a blurr), we went to the Mill Springs Civil War Battle Memorial. This battle was fought almost exactly where we were camped - back when the Cumberland Lake was just a normal river. It was a cold morning on January 19, 1862 when the north and south met here on these beautiful hills - now covered with homes and pastures and fields full of cattle, corn and tobacco. When the smoke cleared, 159 Confederates and 50 Federal soldiers lay dead over these fields and the Union had it's FIRST significant victory of the Civil War and the beginning of the fall of the western theater of this war.

This cemetery is the Mill Springs National Cemetery. It is the smallest active national cemetery in the country. It holds the graves of many of the Union soldiers killed in the Battle of Mill Springs and other soldiers from the time of the Civil Was through today.







This smaller cemetery, a few miles from the national one, is a Confederate Cemetery. On the left are 148 headstones of identified soldiers of this battle but no actual bodies. The mass grave, on the right, is all of the bodies including unidentified soldiers. This cemetery was dedicated in 1997. The big headstone on this mass grave, in part, says "We know not who they were but the whole world knows what they were. These few died far from their homes but they fill heroes graves and glory keeps ceaseless watch about their tomb."

This was just a random photo I took of a headstone of an actual soldier who died during the Civil War. There were many others that stated they served in the Civil War but had died later. There were lots more stops of this historic battle, but that's pretty much all we looked at. A couple were across the lake.








Here's a picture of Larry and me enjoying the evening and a fire in our tight little corner of our campground. We had to walk along the rail and on top of the bench of the picnic table to get back here to our chairs. And another of me sitting outside using my aluminium foil to help my antenna.



We ate lunch one day out on the lake. We ate right at the edge of the shore but it was pretty muddy so we stayed out a little ways - close enough to stand up in cleaner water. These are the bluffs of this beautiful lake. Because the water was down 50 feet, the Corps was burning off a lot of the logs and trees that are along the shores. There was smoke curling up along the shores all day long. And the sunrise over the lake was gorgeous.

And because I wasn't sure I had taken a sufficient picture showing the close quarters of the camp site, I've added another one. We did pull out of this in one try - which surprised me. We had to drive down the hill to pick up the jet ski that was parked in a flat parking lot, then drive half way back up this hill to the dump station that was on the wrong side of our camper, then haul that mess on up the hill. It was quite the camp site. When we went for a walk, it was either up or down and we never did even try to ride the bikes. Larry's knee when out about the second day so our walking even slowed down.





We're now at Barren Lake just southeast of Bowling Green. We set up in a pouring down rain with a blown circuit breaker somewhere so we couldn't run the A/C while we were running around getting the camper ready to inhabit. We're right on the lake so we'll be able to go swimming anytime and jet skiing any time. Last time we had to walk down that God awful hill, swim and then walk back up that marathon of a hill. We were all hot and sweaty by the time we got back to the camper to change clothes. Now we can just lounge around in our swim suits and jump in whenever the mood hits.

Photos of the camp site tomorrow or the next day. It's rained all but about 2 hours here today and it's suppose to rain all day tomorrow. But my computer works and we have local TV plus satelite. We've welcomed ourselves back into the world. We went a whole week without one report on Obama or McCain. And with CW being our only TV, I have a whole new view of TV programs - several I hope to never see again.

July 25: Cumberland Lake Camping

It was very tight getting into this camp site. It took us probably 20 minutes to get backed in. Now we have to step over the picnic table to get to the back of the camper where we have a fire pit and our lawn chairs. I'm not sure how we're going to get out. The turn at the bottom of the hill wasn't even negotiable with the truck this afternoon when we decided to come to laundry.

And the boat ramp is about 400 to 500 feet long (the lake is down 50' while they do dam repairs) and it looks like the first hill on any roller coaster.






Reception is so low here - how low is it? I'm not even going to bother to blog while in camp. We're in Somerset, KY now doing laundry. I'm sitting in the parking lot blogging. We probably won't get out of camp again until we leave here Wednesday. We've already been on the lake and Cumberland Lake is huge. Fifty miles long with a lot of river added to that. We're at the far north end of the lake. They say that people come from all over the country to vacation at this lake. The water is pretty and about 84 deg. We were going to go out today but it started raining. Here's a picture of Larry sitting outside out camper under an umbrella in the rain. I was inside finishing up a murder mystery.




We also don't have any satellite reception and only one TV channel - the CW channel. Larry watched a show last night that would have never watched normally. Couple of guys prancing thru peoples' dreams. Kinda confusing. So we sit and watch Mother Nature and I'm getting a lot of reading done. Larry's bird feeder is feeding several Tufted Titmice, a couple of black and white warblers and I saw one Carolina Wren. The humming bird feeder is active and we saw a chipmunk this morning. Not suppose to be an active area for bears.

We stopped on the way in today at a local corner produce market and got some corn, green beans and peaches. We'll be shucking corn and snapping beans tonight. We will eat here somewhere for dinner today but we'll be at camp for the rest of the meals. The entire campground is built on the side of a hill, so you're either walking uphill or downhill. Great exercise. Not to mention the walk back up the boat ramp to get the truck to back down to pick up the jet ski. Great practice in backing up that short tongued trailer.

Gotta go finish up laundry. If you don't hear from me until next week - you now know why.

July 22: Hanging at Camp

House cleaning was on the agenda for yesterday. Then we went into Stearns so Larry could get a hair cut. Cost him $7 and a $3 tip. Pretty cheap for a pretty good cut. I viewed the video that came with our beard clippers, so maybe I can do it next time. We drove on into Whitley City for Arby's and groceries (we now have cookies). There was a pretty good rain storm while we were out. We'd left the awning out so we weren't sure what we would come back to. But it's Kentucky - the awning was fine. We sat out under the awning while we got more rain. Totally new experience for us.

We went for a bike ride that evening and I took some photos from my bike of Larry riding in the steam that was coming up from the lane into our camp ground. Sometimes it was more like fog - you could see it moving thru the camp sites. Still no wildlife.

Today we hung in close to camp. I filed lots of paperwork and got that off of our table and off the floor. We laid out our outdoor mat over the picnic table to dry. Before today's rain hit, we got stuff put away while it was dry. I cooked pinto beans and baked cornbread for dinner. Went for a walk and now we're in for the night. Pretty dull stuff but I'm really enjoying the quiet life.

In the morning, we're leaving for the next camp ground. It's not too far away but one of our camping neighbors is from that area and he said that if I thought this was in the middle of nowhere, wait until I get to the next one. He said it was really out in the middle of nothing, but it will be on a lake. In fact, the road to get there ends in the lake. We'll probably try to venture into Lexington during that week.

July 29: Our Area

Lunch today was at the old coal mining town of Barthell. The special today was meat loaf or BBQ ribs. We had hamburgers and fries. The place actually served Pepsi and had cherry cobbler for dessert. We were happy campers. Some of the locals came in after church and greeted us. One even stopped to ask how we were doing. Really nice little local place to eat at. To get there you drove down the county road to a lane and then off onto a gravel road that if we'd met a car coming at us - one of us would have had to back up.

From there we decided to do a little hiking. We went down a road that actually has two overlooks. The top one was Gorge Overlook and it was .3 miles back to the deck. The picture on the left is from the overlook. The one here on the right is from Devil's Jump Overlook. At the far right of this picture you can see Gorge Overlook where I took the first picture from.

DUH - YA THINK!!!!
See how happy I look. I was hoping to see another one, but alas, we didn't see any wildlife worth photographing.






Canoers on the Big South Fork of the Cumberland River.


At the end of our hiking, we went back to Stearns for fuel and found that the station was right next to the Stearns Dairy Dip. Hallelujah!!!

This evening, we visited with some of our neighbors and compared health, drugs (perscription), pets and traveling experiences. They offered sweet tea which Larry had, I had my Pepsi with me. They're from around the Nashville area and have a toy hauler that hauls a Gold Wing Trike. They're thinking of going full time so I unloaded some of my books on full timing and a magazine from the Escapees organization. She's ready but he's dragging his feet - how's that for a switch.

We're getting the humidity from the tropical storm that's off the east coast. Just sitting under the trees in the shade causes you to sweat. Stepping into this camper from outside is like stepping into a meat locker - feels real good. It was around 93 here today with humidity in the 60's. Great day to be hiking.

July 19: Camp & Train Ride

We were in camp just one day and a motorcyclist cruising thru our camp area stopped and yelled at us to come see a bear. We never saw her but she had been just at the entrance to the camping area munching on the same type of berry tree that is hanging over our picnic table. One of our neighbors says it's a wild cherry tree and not too edible for us. Then Larry went for a bike ride and saw a doe and fawn in the road past our camping area. This area has a .6 mile road leading back here from the county highway into the actual camp ground. Apparently, the wildlife abounds on that road. We've ridden this road on bike and walked it yesterday - the day of the sighting - but saw nothing, until Larry took that bike ride and saw the deer. While setting up camp Thursday, Larry saw a couple of hummingbirds so I quickly made up a solution to put into my feeder. Didn't take long and we had visitors. Haven't seen a male at my feeder yet but did see one at the camp host's camper. The guy on the motorcycle told us to let the camp host know about the bear and her cub being in the area. Apparently they count the bear sightings in the area. Also saw a turkey tonight on our bike ride.

This morning, I decided to take pictures of the forest at our back window. It's kind of hard to get a grasp of the side of the mountain we're sitting on with a one dimensional picture, but we are literally on the top of this hill with it sloping away from us right at the back of the camper. I took the picture out the back window and then was stepping outside to take another photo (the one on the right that has the edge of the camper in it) when I saw this gorgeous black snake. Didn't get quite all of him because I wanted to get a piece of the fire ring so you would have something to compare him to for sizing. He was probably a good 3' long maybe 3 1/2'. He stopped when I opened the door - I guess he was posing for the photo op. Then as I stepped further down the steps, he took off into the woods. He sure were purdy.




So far, I guess we're not too disappointed in the wildlife in the area. We've still got 4 more days to get a bear photo. The next camp has the same bear alerts so maybe I have a couple of weeks to get one. It's my goal while I'm here. Hope I don't have to track off across the woods to find one.

Today we drove to Stearns, KY to take the Big South Fork Scenic Railway. It was a 16 miles round trip that dropped 600 feet down into the Big South Fork gorge. This railroad used to be used by the K & T (Kentucky & Tennessee) Railway. The company built this town to serve as a hub for the lumber and coal mining in the area. Supplies and workers were also transported on it. The engine is diesel/electric. By 1976 the company sold out to Blue Diamond Coal Company who later transfered the land over to the National Forest. Today, the area tries to preserve the heritage of this old system that was very big in its day.







We went thru one old mining town, Barthell. We're going back there by truck tomorrow for lunch. It's only about 2 miles from our camp ground. In fact, the mine that the train stops at is called the Blue Heron Mine or Mine #18. There's suppose to be an antique car museum here in Barthell, too.





At the end of the track was (heat & humidity) an open museum (on the right) showing photos from the past as well as a model of what the town looked like in its hayday. We walked to the concession stand first and had some hot dogs and sweet tea. Then walked to the top of the coal tipple (on the left). The coal cars from the mine ran along that high bridge and dumped into the tipple to be sorted by size. Larger hunks were ground for more sizing. Then they were dumped into several different coal cars by what ever size came out that chute. You can see 5 cars under the tipple in this photo. The concession stand was the other side of the tipple. Quite a walk for a hot dog and tea. The photo of the museum and the train was taken from the rail way at the edge of the tipple.

July 17: Blue Heron Camp Ground

It was a fun adventurous drive here. About 3/4 of the way to our new location, Larry decided he needed a Big Mac (hasn't had one in months). We pulled into a McDonalds that was in a shopping center so we had lots of room to park. He got back into the truck and I drove so he could eat. We drove out the steep driveway and onto Hwy. 27 and got stopped by the curb - I turned too sharp. Tried to pull over the curb but the truck would not budge. Tried to back up - same thing. Got out and looked. I had buried the jet ski hitch into the steep asphalt drive as the trailer came up onto the highway. Meanwhile, I'm blocking the two north bound lanes of traffic. Nothing embarrassing there. About the time I decide to call 911, a motorcycle cop shows up to help--said someone had already called us in. At just that same time, a wrecker drives by and turns around to see if he can help. Larry's theory is that when we get pulled up over the curb, it will lift up the hitch and all come free. Now another officer (lady) has shown up in a car to help direct traffic. Larry gets into the truck just as the wrecker decides to start pulling. We still had the truck in Park. Made quite a bit of noise. Larry got out and explained to him that he really did not want to be in that gear to be pulled--I didn't hear the conversation, but I'm hoping that's how it went down. In the meantime, we've drawn a crowd that was going into McDonalds. This guy said he had 30 years experience in this sort of stuff and we needed to be pulled backwards to get unstuck. We were just going to drive it further into the asphalt by being pulled. I told him Larry's theory but he didn't look too convinced. Larry put the truck in drive and the tow truck started pulling. The trailer came up over the curb and, indeed did lift up the hitch and pulled the jet ski right along into the street. And the gentleman standing behind me said "Well, he just made a lier out of me!" and off he walked into McDonalds. The tow truck driver didn't take any money (probably hoping to get away before we discovered that the transmission was broken) and the officer said Wal-Mart could cover the expense of having the divot repaired in the drive. Off we went, me still driving, trying to determine whether the transmission was indeed still intact. So far, it seems to be working properly.

This camp ground is indeed very quiet. I haven't even heard any birds; however, the Cicadas are out and quite loud, but not nearly as loud as the tree frogs. If we were tent camping, we would not be getting any sleep tonight. We BBQ'd for dinner and went for a bike ride (still have a healing blister on my big toe). We hooked up all our lights for the first time and here's a picture. Hanging from the awning are trailers (like small light blue Air Streams) and cars (Larry says they look like Metropolitans) and there is rope lights on the ground. We are able to park the truck and jet ski in the handicapped accessible camp ground next to us because the attendant said no one would be there for several days.


Tennessee and Kentucky seem to have this really unusual phenomenon - no wind. Our campfire smoke goes straight up. We can leave our awning out over night. We have to swat the bugs away. And best yet, when we get all hot and sweaty - no breeze to cool us off. Kansas is looking better all the time. When they do get a breeze of 5 to 10 MPH - they call that winds. If the weather man says tomorrow will be windy, we expect a breeze to help cool us off and deter the bugs.

My signal here isn't too bad - just a little slow. I'm not going to have much to blog about because we plan to hang here and explore the immediate area. There are some more falls we can hike to (less than a mile and after the blisters heal) and a scenic train ride. There's a raging river somewhere close by that we want to go look at. AND, I'm really hoping to see a black bear up close. Larry put up the bird food tonight and put away the BBQ grill so as not to attract them. Hope when I do see one that I'm coherent enough to grab the camera and not wet my pants.

July 16: Cades Cove

After eating breakfast out (something we rarely do - and it wasn't that great), then getting into construction traffic that took us 30 minutes to go 5 miles, and then turning on the wrong road, we finally made it to the Cades Cove drive. This time we saw the Smoky's from the valleys looking up into the mountains.

Our first stop was Laurell's Falls. Another 1.3 miles walk one way but the brochure said it was flat with a 200' gain. I'm not sure how you do that, but my brain saw flat and we went for it. I now see how that's done. The path was asphalt - flat. However, the trail went up, and up, and up. Yeah, I was pooped by the end of the trail. The young man that took our picture didn't include the falls so I took one of that. Larry decided to stand by the "Danger - hazardous cliff" sign to get his photo taken (the yellow sign behind his feet). There were lots of people at this falls and lots of them down at the bottom playing in the pool that was there. We started our 1.3 miles back down the mountain.


The drive to Cades Cove was absolutely beautiful. My words can't begin to describe this wonderful, luscious valley. There was a stream constantly running by the roads leading into the cove. We saw lots of deer and there was a bear spotting but everyone out taking photos scared it off.







Our next stop was John Oliver's cabin. John Oliver arrived in the cove prior to 1820 and bought this land in 1826. It remained in the family until the park was established more than 100 years later. There was a 1/4 mile walk back to this place. Yes, I have blisters on my feet tonight and can hardly move. It'll be another Tylenol PM night.




Driving down this lane was full of pull overs. Actually all the roads in the Smoky's have lots of pull overs so you can get out to see the view or the wildlife. There were two Baptist churches in the cove and this lane took us withing 1/4 mile of the Primitive Baptist Church - which we didn't drive down. We did meander on down the road to this Methodist church. The original church was built by J. D. McCampbell in 115 days for $115. He later served many years as its minister. In 1902 it was replaced with this one. The Civil War closed down the Primitive Baptist Church "...we was Union people and the Rebels was too strong here in Cades Cove."; but the war and Reconstruction split the Methodist Church. The cemetery outside the church had many old headstones and some new ones that surprised us. The three in a row are babies, either born dead or died that same day. There were a couple of others but I couldn't get them into the same photo. They had the same scripture that I had seen in the cemetery where my Dad is buried: "Budded on earth to bloom in heaven". The deer was seen on the other side of a newer grave.

Our last stop was at the Cades Cove Visitor's Center and Cable Mill Historic Area. There was a home, blacksmith building, smokehouse, corn crib, sorghum mill and furnace to convert it to molasses, and two barns. One barn was a cantilever barn and both were drive thru barns. The overhang in cantilever barns provided shelter for animals as well as storage space for farm equipment. This type of construction originated centuries ago in Europe.

There was also a mill. This mill operated as both a grist mill and a sash sawmill in about 1870 and into the 20th century. It stopped operating when it could no longer compete with the newer circular disc saws with toothed edges, powered by steam engines.

There were many more cabins and buildings within the cove loop but Larry and I were about old-time-cabined out. It was a beautiful drive and I would highly recommend it to anyone who comes into this area.

Tomorrow morning we will be heading north into Kentucky. We'll be at the Blue Heron Corp of Engineer Campground close to ----- nothing. We will be halfway between Williamsburg and Monticello. Closest small town is Stearns - for any of you that want to know specifically where we are. Also, we'll be in the Big South Fork National River & Rec. Park. We went grocery shopping tonight on the way home to stock up for the next week. I think there will be lots of home cooking for awhile.

July 15: White Water Rafting

The little finch is still tap, tap, tapping at our window. Larry tried to approach with Cuddles thinking they could make friends. He got about a foot from it and it took off. I tried to get closer to her to get a real close up and got to within about a foot and she took off. However, the predator cat, you know, the one that could eat it, was allowed to get right up in it's face (you'll probably have to click on the picture to see the bird on the other side of the window). Mother Nature is weird.


Today, Larry has been allowed to peck back on the window at her - she taps back like she's mad at whoever is on the other side of that reflection.

What a day!! I'm worn out. Didn't know a leisurely raft trip down a river that normally is about 1' deep could be so tiring. The Pigeon Forge River is a controlled level river - they only allow enough water to flow from the dam to keep the fish alive downstream. They start making electricity from a lake in N. Carolina around 11:00 am every morning. By letting water run thru the generators, they release lots of water that raises the Pigeon Forge River by only about a foot but increases it's speed tremendously.

We arrived in Hartford, TN around 10:00 am, got equipment (life jackets, helmet and one ore). Then road a school bus full of people with about 9 boats strapped down on top over to the N. Carolina state line. When we stopped to back up to the water, the front of the bus was in N. Carolina and those of us in the back stayed in Tennessee--that's how close we were to the next state. On the trip up, we got our lecture in safety: what to do when ejected from the boat; how to grab the rope if thrown; how to sit properly in the boat. Our instructor said it was pretty much guaranteed that someone would go into the water on every trip so I was getting really excited. He said there were class III and IV rapids on this river - with Niagara Falls being a class VI. Again, I'm getting really excited (scared?). The only thing that kept me going was another white haired woman who looked older than me - I knew I had to hold up our decade's honor.

The first dunking was very cold. The water was 64 deg. and the air temperature was only about 80. But after that, I didn't even notice the cold - it was really pretty comfortable. I almost went in once when the boat was going thru some rapids and stopped abruptly against a rock. The poor little girl on the other side of me got nailed by my flailing around but we sailed right on thru and no one went in. Larry had to grab a small ring that was on the inside of the boat right at the front where he was once or twice. He sat in the front because, according to the guide, that would be the place that got the wettest. Well guess what, the whole damn boat got wet. Somewhere along the way, we were all allowed to get out and swim. I sat on the side of the boat because I knew I'd never get back in. We were with 4 young ladies that wore long culottes, so I assumed they were from a religious group that didn't like to show much leg. They were all college age.

Some of the rapids were called marvelous things like Lost Guide (class IV), Vegamatic (class III), Big Rock, Power House, Duck & Run (ran under some overhanging trees), and many more. It was 5 1/2 miles long and took us about an hour to go down. I'd do it again, but it will have to be sometime way in the future. I'm going to be doing good to walk tomorrow.

We came back and ate, again, at the Old Mill. Larry got the Country Fried Steak again but I got the Chicken & Dumplings this time. Got a picture this time. The part you can see here is the grinding mill and their general store. The restaurant is behind the trees.





We came home and crashed. I'm thinking it was the hard work of the river that drained me (not to mention getting up before 9:00) - not the carbohydrates of the Chicken & Dumplings combined with mashed potatoes, corn chowder and corn fritters. AND, then ice cream for dessert. Probably not enough sugar generated there to make me collapse.

Tomorrow we'll finish our trip thru the Great Smoky Mountains.