Saturday, April 24, 2010

Here I am back again after a few days, I don’t know where the time goes but it flies by and when we haven’t done anything very exciting it is hard to find something to write about.

On Thursday we drove up to Bardstown with a stop at Abraham Lincoln’s birthplace. Well, at Lincoln’s memorial the visitor centre and memorial building were closed for renovations so we didn’t see too much, sure wish they would put a CLOSED sign out so that people could avoid the drive to see nothing!

Bardstown had a neat downtown and a lot of museums, all of which were more than we were willing to pay. We parked downtown and walked around and through a couple of shops but there was nothing that caught our interest so we headed home.

When we got back we decided to check out Mammoth Caves and thought this was where we had toured a cave many years ago. When we arrived at the Visitor Centre we realized we hadn’t been there before so went in to see what tours were available. As it turns out this is National Parks Week and we could get an introductory tour of Mammoth Cave for free – we sure weren’t about to say no to that. The tour was starting in about 5 minutes so I hurried out to the truck to put on my running shoes and leave my purse in the truck as I had been told no purses were allowed on the tour. I was just grabbing my camera and case when John came along and told me that there were no camera bags allowed either – go figure! Needless to say neither of us took our cameras as we weren’t about to hike through a cave for an hour with them swinging from our wrists.

The tour was very good and as always, the guide turned out the lights for a couple of minutes, it is hard to imagine how black dark is!! This is the first cave we have toured where there weren’t stalactites and stalagmites so it seemed quite different from that point of view.

On the way back to the truck after the tour we chatted with a couple of women and lo and behold shortly after we got home they pulled in to a small motorhome across the road from us, they had come in after we left in the morning so we hadn’t seen them. We ended up chatting again for quite a while and they had a tour of our airstream, they offered to trade rigs but we politely declined the offer.

Friday morning was pretty quiet then in the afternoon we decided to go to Glasgow and do a final Wal Mart shopping and I also wanted to get a much needed pedicure. On the way home we stopped in Park City to fill up with the cheapest diesel fuel we had seen - $2.869/gal. We then drove by Diamond Cave and yes, this is the one we toured about 14 years ago and sure enough the rv park is still across the road, sure made us feel better to figure out where we had been so many years ago.

This is election time in this part of the country so the landscape is covered with election signs but the ones we found most interesting were the signs to vote for so and so for County Jailer – sure would like to see that job description!

Somewhere during the day we had heard there were tornado warnings out for this area for Saturday so we decided to head out on Saturday morning instead of sitting around waiting for a tornado to come through the area, so when we got back on Friday John got us hooked up and ready to pull out in the morning.

This morning dawned bright and clear and it was sort of why are we heading out, but, oh well we’re hooked up so let’s go. We had a good drive to Auburn, IN with very little traffic through Louisville KY and Indianapolis, IN and we had nice weather until about the last hour when it was overcast and then rained. We are now at Fireside Resort at Auburn and when we were checking the woman mentioned the tornados in the Bowling Green KY area, okay, we’re sure glad we left that are as Cave City is only a bit north of there.

We arrived about 4 this afternoon and the rain had stopped about the time we arrived but it has just now started to pour again, at least we are cozy and dry in our little home on wheels and will enjoy a quiet evening. Again, we don’t have cable TV so might even watch a movie tonight for something different.

Today we lost another hour and are finally back on Eastern Standard Time - the first time we have been in the same time zone as home since last September!

And so ends three more great gifts of days and we look forward to another great day tomorrow.

Wednesday, April 21, 2010

Today we broke a week long record – we had no rain! Today was another gorgeous, warm sunny day – sure hope the weather continues like this for the next few days.

We had a great trip from Tupelo to Nashville along the Trace with very little traffic and lots of flowers along the side of the road. For years when coming through Tennessee and Kentucky at this time of the year there are thousands of little red flowers along the roadside and we never knew until today what they were – turns out they are crimson clover and they are so pretty. We stopped at a lot of turnouts along the Trace today so it was a leisurely drive but we did get to Nashville around 1:30 in time to miss rush hour traffic.

Crimson Clover


Fields of Flowers


Along the Trace


This sailboat had just come under the bridge over the Tennessee River and had to lower its mast to get under the bridge.


Then we watched this tug with the barges, it was six barges long and we had no idea how many wide it was but it was quite amazing to watch it go by.





Tennessee was in full bloom and all the trees have their spring leaves but Kentucky is just coming into bloom, still it is real pretty.

Dogwoods In Bloom


Alabama/Tennessee State Line


Life On The Trace and Old Trace



Merriweather Lewis of Lewis and Clark fame died along the Trace and is buried there so we stopped to see his monument.


Downtown Nashville


We are at Singing Hills RV Park at Cave City, KY and will be here until Sunday. This is a Passport America Park and doesn’t have an “it” factor but at $14/night with full hook-ups and wi-fi we aren’t going to complain. There is a nice Phaeton Motorhome beside us and the fellow was talking to John for a bit and gave him a new set of leveling blocks and refused any money for them, now wasn’t that great of him. He is part of a Ministry, not sure what that is all about, so John will make a donation to the Ministry in appreciation.

There is no cable TV here so guess we will be on the computer and reading in our spare time.

Tomorrow we plan on touring the area a bit so we are hoping for a nice day and good weather.

And so ends another great gift of a day and we look forward to another great day tomorrow.

Tuesday, April 20, 2010

Here it is catch up time again, last night we couldn’t get on the internet hence no blog but at least tonight we seem to have fairly decent wi-fi.

Monday morning it rained briefly about the time John was hooking up but fortunately he didn’t get soaked, just slightly damp. We had rain off and on for about the first hour of travel then the sun came out and it turned into a beautiful day. We were mainly on back roads, no interstates, going to Vidalia LA so it was a nice peaceful, pretty drive.

We arrived at River View RV Resort shortly after 2 p.m. so had a nice relaxing afternoon.

Our Site at River View RV Resort


This is a really nice park right on the bank of the Mississippi River looking across to Natchez, MS and you can see the tugs pushing the barges up and down the Mississippi River, they go a lot faster heading down towards the Gulf as they are going with the current but they are a lot slower heading up river against the current. This is a Passport America Park so it was $20.05 for the night with a nice paved pad.

After we got set up we walked for quite a ways along the walkway on the top of the levee hoping to see some river traffic but all was quiet at that time. We found a swinging bench under a shade so sat for a while but still no river traffic so gave up and walked home. On the way back we did see a red fox along the path in front of us but he was too fast for me to get a picture.

This is a picture of the riverboat casino at Natchez - for any Greg Isles fans you will have read about the casino in his books. Unfortunately this was as close as we got so not the greatest picture.



We came back and sat outside and all of a sudden I could see the top of a tug so we grabbed our cameras and made a dash for the levee but it was traveling downstream and moving pretty quick so I had a hard time getting a picture.

Going Down River


Later we heard this one going up river and again dashed over to take a picture but it was getting dark so again not a great picture. We were surprised at how little river traffic there was as the last time we were at River View (6 years ago) there was constant traffic – guess a sign of the times.

Going Up River


This morning it rained briefly just before John went out to get things put away but it only lasted a couple of minutes then cleared off and turned into another gorgeous day, warm day.

We picked up the Natchez Trace about 40 miles east of Natchez and had a nice drive to Tupelo. The Trace was in pretty tough shape just west of Jackson and for a bit after Jackson then it got better and was a good drive the rest of the way to Tupelo.

The leaves have just come out on the trees, the Dogwood is in bloom, there are lots of patches of red clover along the side of the road and the flowering shrubs are beautiful making everything very pretty and springy – my favourite time of year.

Flowering Shrubs


Right after Jackson we drove for 8 miles along the Ross Barnett Reservoir, a 33,000 acres reservoir created from the Pearl River. There were a lot of fishing boats on the reservoir as well as a few fisherman casting from the shore, we wondered what they were catching!

Ross Barnett Reservoir



We stopped at an Information Centre to pick up a brochure of the Trace and a map of Mississippi and there were two elderly dollies manning the centre, the one was real chatty and said she was 91 years old, imagine! The other one was probably about the same age but she was very hard to understand when she talked, they sure wanted to visit so it was kind of hard to get away from them but they were a really cute pair; John figured we were probably their only customers for the day!! We read later that the Information Centre is run by the local Chamber of Commerce and staffed by volunteers.

Part of the Original Natchez Trace



We arrived at Campground at Barnes Crossing in Tupelo about 4 and have a nice long pull through site with good wi-fi. This is a strange park, the sites are on all different levels but at least we have cable TV and wi-fi. At $29/night it is kind of pricey but on the other hand there aren’t a lot of parks in the area so you take what you can get. There is another park that is Passport America but they don’t honour the PA from March to May and they have no wi-fi so we picked this one as they are both about the same price. We sat outside and enjoyed the late afternoon sun for a while before coming in for dinner. John is now watching TV while I am getting caught up with this.

Tonight's Site at Campground at Barnes Crossing


And so ends two more great gifts of days and we look forward to another great day tomorrow.

Sunday, April 18, 2010

We have just enjoyed a couple of quiet days and haven’t done anything very exciting. Yesterday morning it rained off and on then cleared up in the afternoon so we won’t complain too hard.

Our Site at Northshore RV


Our View of Lake Livingston


Someone Was Flying This Neat Kite Yesterday


I did laundry yesterday so that is out of the way for another week. The internet has been really hit and miss here at the trailer so I took my computer and iPod over to the laundry room and logged into the office and had a good signal so got a lot done while my laundry was doing.

When I came back from the laundry I sat outside and read for quite a while – a very quiet, lazy day.

Today we woke up to rain again but thankfully by noon it had stopped and partially cleared off. Early this afternoon we took a run up to Livingston and fueled up and picked up a couple of groceries, diesel was $2.829/gal ay HEB, the best price we have seen for a while.

When we got back I put the groceries away and did a few inside chores then sat outside with my Kindle for a while. John has the truck ready to hook up in the morning but can’t do it tonight as we are really on a down slope here so no way can he get it hooked up and leveled off again.

I have the inside ready for travel so we should be able to make a quick get away in the morning, now we just have to hope it isn’t raining for John to hook up. We have a reservation at River View RV in Vidalia LA for tomorrow night, it is now a Passport America Park so will be $20 for the night, I do like that!

There are still wild flowers along the side of the road, it will be interesting to see how much farther east we go before we lose them – they sure are pretty.

And so ends two more great gifts of days and we look forward to another great day tomorrow.

Sunday, April 18, 2010

We have just enjoyed a couple of quiet days and haven’t done anything very exciting. Yesterday morning it rained off and on then cleared up in the afternoon so we won’t complain too hard.

I did laundry yesterday so that is out of the way for another week. The internet has been really hit and miss here at the trailer so I took my computer and iPod over to the laundry room and logged into the office and had a good signal so got a lot done while my laundry was doing.

When I came back from the laundry I sat outside and read for quite a while – a very quiet, lazy day.

Today we woke up to rain again but thankfully by noon it had stopped and partially cleared off. Early this afternoon we took a run up to Livingston and fueled up and picked up a couple of groceries, diesel was $2.829/gal ay HEB, the best price we have seen for a while.

When we got back I put the groceries away and did a few inside chores then sat outside with my Kindle for a while. John has the truck ready to hook up in the morning but can’t do it tonight as we are really on a down slope here so no way can he get it hooked up and leveled off again.

I have the inside ready for travel so we should be able to make a quick get away in the morning, now we just have to hope it isn’t raining for John to hook up. We have a reservation at River View RV in Vidalia LA for tomorrow night, it is now a Passport America Park so will be $20 for the night, I do like that!

There are still wild flowers along the side of the road, it will be interesting to see how much farther east we go before we lose them – they sure are pretty.

And so ends two more great gifts of days and we look forward to another great day tomorrow.