Turtle on Trail
Fish Teeth Wow
Eiffel Tower
Donuts & Leeches – Yum
Green Bug
Tennessee June 6-14
Land Between Lakes
Those of you who have been following us might remember we spent time in Warm Springs GA. summer home and museum for FDR. There was a whole list of programs that he created as part of his New Deal, one of them was the Tennessee Valley Association (TVA). I am sure most of us have heard of the TVA and have some understanding of what it did and still does. Where Jane and I have spent the last week has allowed us to experience firsthand how part of this program works. Our campsite is right on the Tennessee River and a few miles to the west of the Cumberland River. For years these rivers would flood the surrounding areas and in 1937 is was so severe it destroyed several towns. One of the original efforts of the TVA was to dam the Tennessee just north of where we are in southern Kentucky, that dam, the Kentucky Dam, created the Kentucky Lake. The Cumberland was dammed just a short distance from the Kentucky dam it is called the Barkley Dam and it created Lake Barkley. The peninsula in between the two lakes a 30 mile narrow strip is called, get ready, The Land Between the Lakes {LBL} It is a National Recreation Area run by the Department of Agriculture. By the way both rivers drain into the Ohio River just a few miles from the dams. The Ohio then drains into the Mississippi.
The dams created by the TVA helped to minimize the annual flooding problem and at the same time created a nice recreational area.
Of course, the project was not without conflict as several hundred homes, (3 towns!) were flooded and families we forced to move, Eminent Domain. In this case the project does seem to be for the “greater good”.
TY
PS: We stayed for the entire 8 days at Piney Lake Campground which is by far the best camp site ever. Right on the water, which we swam in several times.
Tics Tics Tics and NO Tocks
We certainly have had our share of tics while in TN. Seems like we just walk outdoors and the little buggers jump aboard and hang on. Ty takes a 3-mile hike and comes back with 3 ticss – that one tic a mile. I wake up from a deep sleep and find one crawling around on my stomach – must have decided Ty was not good enough. Yuck! We mention the tick situation in the good ole’ boy coffee shop and Bobby Bo says “this ‘ere is a baaad seson for tics.” No kidding! Billy Bo say “u gotta use rubbin’ alcohol all over yer arms and legs before yer go out, then agin when yer come back before yer shower (they shower? Really surprised me). That’ll do it”
LOOK OUT – Low Clearance 11’ 0”
Think it was Hal and Lois Leslie that warned us about the east and the low bridges and we found one. Lucky for us, we had to turn left and not right to get to our campground, but by the looks of it not as many were as fortunate as us; including a big beautiful 5th wheel that pulled in next lot over with its roof flapping and air conditioner hanging off. Or the class C that was actually stuck. Guess those drivers didn’t see the warning sign – Low Clearance 11’ 0”. When we left that campground, we had to divert our directions about 30 miles in order to avoid the low bridges.
Natchez Trace One Last Thing
If you ever get the chance to go to Natchez Trace don’t pass it up. We really enjoyed our time there. The biking is terrific, the hiking is great (minus the tics) and we even found a great swimming hole. So if these are activities you like to do, then NT is a place to go.
We camped at the Natchez Trace 1000 Trails RV Resort – one of our freebies and had the nicest neighbors. That is one of the bonus’ about our travels is the people you meet. Jena and Kendall Stow (forgot to get picture) that are going to settle down in the area as soon as they found a place. Their children will soon join them and then they will be one happy family again. Makes me really miss my family, especially the Sunday Fundays. Anyways, nice folks, we enjoyed our campfire chats and wish you much luck and happiness in your adventure. Hope we didn’t wake you when we pulled out at O Dark Earlly.
RETIRED
Have officially retired the “Colorado Poking Stick”. For those of you who have camped with us, we have always used a nice long stick that we picked up on our vacation to Colorado back in 1985. The pokey end always got a new foil wrap, yearly and was only used to poke the fire around. Decided that the stick is getting pretty old, and the pokey end flares up readily, hence, the retirement. It is now proudly hanging in Wanda, forever to travel with us.
Places We’ve Been
We love the suggestions of places to go, so keep ‘em coming
- Muscle Shoals – can’t remember who told us to be sure not to miss this spot, so we went. Not sure why we shouldn’t miss it, but we did find a great restaurant on the water and we got a great waterfront table. So that was worth it.
- Campsite – Think we hit the jackpot with the last campsite in TN. Piney Lake, which is a USDA (dept of agriculture) Forest Service area. It has full hookups and our first come first serve spot is right on the lake! The back of our rig is all windows and this is a back-in site so we are sitting in paradise. Campfires almost everynight.
- 2 of the dams of the Kentucky Lakes – Barkley Lake Dam and Kentucky Lake Dam
- Hikes: Land Between Lakes has some good rolly up and down trails
- Bike Rides: Land Between Lakes also has some good roads for biking, and also Natchez Trace. Would suggest Anthem riders look at the Trace, however, lodging is a problem.
- Historical Places: Capital of Tenn. which is in Nashville, bunch of civil war battlegrounds, and cemeteries.
NEXT UP
Meeting brother Willy and bride Pam for our annual RV Trek across America. This time will be doing the Bourbonucky Trail in Kentucky and may swing south for some Tennessee Whiskey as there is a trail there too.