Sardis Lake to Hot Springs

Friday, October 28, 2011

We were up this morning and ready to leave John Kyle State Park, on Sardis Lake, near Sardis, MS at about 8:00 am.   It had been a fairly unusual night.   When we pulled into the park last evening it was clouding up and had started to rain a little.   We had gotten pretty well settled in for the night and it started to rain reasonably hard.   It continued to rain throughout the night, sometimes really hard, and the wind blew.   The trees we were parked under shed acorns and cones/seeds which smacked the roof of the campers and sounded like someone was throwing rocks at us.  This morning, there was water, water everywhere, running between the camp sites and puddles in low spots in the drives.  

The campground was pretty wet in the morning

A small stream to cross on the way to the restrooms

When we checked in we asked about the laundry facility. We were told “it is what it is.” And that was no understatement. After checking it out, we decided to wait. The showers looked okay, but remember looks can be deceiving!  It served us okay, and we’ll have a lot of fun memories from our trip!

We made it out of camp and only had to drive through a few light showers this morning.   Are our angels working overtime, or what?

We headed west on route 315 from Sardis to route 49 and crossed the Arkansas River into Helena, AR.  Mississippi made a lasting impression on us! The last ten miles we drove before crossing the Mississippi River was old concrete, and we really bounced across it. Clack, bounce, clack, bounce at each seam.

Crossing into Arkansas

A large barge on the Arkansas River

We made a stop at the tourist information center in Helena.   We were finally able to escape without Pam and Bill giving us one of everything in the center.   They were very nice and very helpful.   When we told them we had been on the Natchez Trace and that the fall colors were beautiful, Pam said “You ain’t seen nothing yet, wait till you see central Arkansas” and gave us a copy of the Arkansas fall color report.  They mentioned the area around Hot Springs would be really pretty.

We asked about somewhere to get some breakfast, and Ray’s Dairy Maid was the choice. Well, it turns out it was the only choice along our route, and although we did turn in to the parking lot, we left just as quickly. Some of the small town places serve great food, but we just couldn’t accept it.

We continued west on route 49 to Marvell where Wilma and Betty spotted a laundromat, so we pulled in and they did laundry and cooked breakfast/brunch of biscuits, hash browns and salmon, from our last trip to Astoria, OR.

Our multipurpose stop in Mississippi

After the stop we were back on the road headed south on routes 1 and 195 to the Arkansas Post National Historic Site.   This site was an early trading post at the confluence of the Arkansas and Mississippi Rivers.  The post was originally an Indian village then, starting around 1670, it was controlled by the French and Spanish at various times then the United States.    Of course there were a couple of cancellation stamps to be had.

Wilma and Barney at the site

We viewed the video and looked around for a while then struck off for Pine Bluff then on to Hot Springs, AR.

Large bales of cotton recently harvested

After a quick fuel stop in Hot Springs we continued on to Lake Ouachita, where we are now camped at the Army Corps of Engineers Crystal Springs Campground, just out of Crystal Springs, AR.  We plan to hole up in the rolling caves and have a down day tomorrow.  We’ll see how it turns out. According to what we’ve seen so far, the Natchez Trace Parkway wins hands down with the spectacular fall colors.

Catch you later---The Bedrock Bunch.

Leaving the Natchez Trace

Thursday, October 27, 2011

We were up and departed from the Pickwick State Park Campground near Corinth, MS at about 8:30 am and headed back to the Natchez Trace Parkway to continue our journey south toward Tupelo, MS.  We made a stop on the parkway at the Bear Creek Picnic area for brunch.  Eggs, hash browns and pancakes are a little better than subsistence rations like the hardtack biscuits and salt pork that some of the frontiersman has to live on.  You can tell we are suffering!

A short distance down the parkway we stopped at the Pharr Indian Mounds.  A number of Indian burial and ceremonial mounds are located along the trace with accompanying information.  Some of the mounds are reportedly as early as 800 to 1000 BC.  Needless to say a lot of the information on them is conjecture, but it is very interesting.

This is one of many burial mounds we saw.

We also stopped at the ruins of a Chippewa Indian Village and read about how they defended themselves and built dwellings for the summer and winter.   There was also a stop at a sunken spring, where water was dripping into a sinkhole 10 to 15 feet deep, that was accessible from the surface and near the trace. 

Fred going down into the spring 

Barney deep into the cave

We popped off the trace to get a cancellation stamp at Brice’s Crossroads Visitors Center.   A very talkative and energetic 90 year old young lady named Ruth made us welcome, and made the cancellation stamp available.  Then it was back to the trace.

The last stop was at the Natchez Trace Visitors Center near the exit for Tupelo, MS.  There were a bunch of stamps which were acted upon immediately.  There was a short, well done video that was narrated by someone who was obviously a local based on his accent.  It was very good.  The VC also had a good deal of historical information on the trace and the various Indians, frontiersmen, postal service and military uses.  We exited the trace on route 6 got fuel and found a Wendy’s and headed to a state park for the night.  This is the John Kyle State Park on Sardis Lake in Mississippi. We got a geezer discount, so the price wasn’t bad. After getting set up, we see there are Corps of Engineer campgrounds nearby, and we have liked those in previous stops, but this will work for one night.

Our campsites at John Kyle State Park Campground

Check back for more from the Bedrock Bunch chisel.

b

Retracing the Trace

Wednesday, October 26, 2011

First of all, we want to welcome our newest follower. Angie, we are happy to have you along for the ride. 

It was a full day we had today! Leaving Davy Crockett State Park about 8:30, we took off for the Natchez Trace Parkway. We wanted to spend as much time as possible on it today. The fall colors are quite stunning and we just ooh and ah all along the way. It is hard to remember that just out of sight are small towns all along the route. The road just meanders down the tree lined corridor, with very little to mar the scenery. There are small signs when coming to a crossroads that leads to a town, but absolutely no advertising signs. It really is beautiful this time of year.  If you stop and walk around a little you have to watch out for the plop, plop of acorns falling. They can really ping off the roof of the cave mobiles, and would make your head slightly uncomfortable if they bounced off it. And with a slight breeze, the leaves fall like snowflakes. So pretty!

We stopped at most of the turn outs along the way, and about 10 we stopped at a picnic area for our breakfast, then continued on over the Alabama border.

Wilma and Betty at the border

We stayed on the Trace Parkway for a few miles in Alabama, then turned off and soon crossed the border into Mississippi. We were headed to the town of Corinth, Mississippi, to visit the Shiloh National Park Interpretive Center.

Control of this major rail crossroads was a key part of the battle between the Union and Confederate armies.

  There were two stamps available at a VC in downtown Corinth, so we stopped and got those before going out to the Interpretive Center. The lady at the downtown VC was pretty much set on giving us one of about every brochure they had, so we came away with quite a bag full of them.  She even told us we ought to go get a slugburger at one of the local drugstores that also still had a real soda fountain. No, they didn’t contain slugs, although the idea made me shudder. Evidently they cost a nickel way back when, and a nickel was called a slug. We decided against making that stop, but we did check out the train crossing just behind the VC, where tracks from two different lines crossed. Control of that crossing was fought for during the Civil War.

Finally at the Interpretive Center, we got our parks passport books stamped, watched a couple of short videos, and toured the museum and some outside displays. The Interpretive Center is very nicely done, but all of the statistics about the war can get very depressing. So many young lives were snuffed out, but slavery was also an awful thing that needed done away with.

Betty and Wilma stamping

While in town, we stopped at Subway for lunch, and then headed off to Shiloh National Historic Battlefield in Tennessee. Going by a city map the lady at the downtown VC had given us, we took a rather back road scenic route to get there, and a time or two thought we might not be where we should have been, but got there anyway! We do get into some small adventures when we travel.

We were quite surprised at the size of Shiloh NP. The battle there lasted for just two days, but thousands lost their lives there. The park is quite large, and during the driving tour you see field after field of monuments and artillery, and back off the road there are many more. I think you could get lost in there if you hiked around very much. It was late in the day when we arrived, so we couldn’t watch the video, but did get our books stamped at both the VC and the bookstore. Note the picture of Betty dressed up in reproduction garb they have available.

Captain Rubble is ready for battle

One of MANY monuments at the site

Preacher Fred delivering his sermon

Betty trying to stay awake listening

We did part of the driving tour of the park, but cut it short so we could find a campsite before dark. There is a state park about 20 miles away, Pickett Landing State Park, still in Tennessee,  and that is where we are set up for the night. It isn’t as pretty or as nice as the park we stayed in last night, but it will do. We had a quick soup and veggies supper at the picnic table, but had to light some torches in order to see. Good night from the Bedrock Bunch. We will leave Tennessee behind tomorrow, and see more of Mississippi.

The Natchez Trace Parkway

Tuesday, October 25, 2011

What a beautiful day it was today. We did just a little bit of shopping before leaving WalMart this morning, then found our way out of Shelbyville, TN, headed for the Natchez Trace Parkway and in particular, the Meriwether Lewis Monument.  We have greatly enjoyed driving some of the back roads in Kentucky and Tennessee. There are some massive estates here, and some of the classic horse stables featured in movies. It has been interesting to see. 

We weren’t on the Trace Parkway very long before arriving at the Meriwether Lewis Monument, but it was a beautiful drive through the fall colors. We checked the ranger station, but it was closed, so we walked around the grounds a little, checking out the small cemetery, and the gravesite and monument for Meriwether Lewis.  We then drove down to the campground just to see it, and then down to the end of the road at a small creek, and had our brunch at a picnic table there. 

The Fall colors are spectacular.

We ate lunch at this little picnic site.

This small creek ran right by our lunch site.

Heading back up the road, we stopped at the maintenance shed to see if we could find anyone. We did find ranger Josh, and he agreed to go back to the ranger station with us so we could get our passport book stamps. He was very nice and very helpful. We sort of opened the floodgates, and he had to close the station and get out of there before the place was inundated with people.

The rustic building used as the ranger station.

Betty had a brochure that listed a nearby golf course, so we headed over to Hohenwald to check it out. We liked what we saw, and the price was really good, so we played a round. It is a nine-hole course, and was really a lot of fun. We didn’t lose near as many balls as we had at the course we played in Utah.  So now we can check Tennessee off of our golf list. We should have taken the time to play in Kentucky. We’ll just have to come back to this area.

Barney about to power it down the fairway.

Betty is after a birdie.

After golf, the David Crockett State Park was on our radar as a good place to stay tonight. We have been off grid a couple of nights, so wanted power and shower tonight.  It is on route 64 near the town of Lawrenceburg, and is a very nice park and the price is reasonable, so we’re tucked in for the night.

Towards the end of the day in our campsites.

 We are in the middle of Amish country here, so might do a little looking around before getting on down the road.

Someone at the golf course had told us of a different campground, and we started to check it out, but found ourselves at an 11'0" underpass, and we are pretty close to 12'. Check out the picture of that! Anyway, we decided the state park was probably a better bet, so backtracked back under the low clearance underpass, and held up traffic while we paused for the pictures! Off on the shoulder there is a lower track that allows the higher clearance vehicles to get through. But we've heard of several incidents where the driver just forgets, and plows into the obstacle. In fact, we witnessed one such event when leaving the St. Louis Arch this last spring.

The Rubble-mobile coming under the bridge

The Flintstone-mobile on the dirt track

Bedrock Bunch will chisel out more tomorrow.

w

Mammoth Caves to Stones River

Monday, October 24, 2011

 

We were up with the turkeys and got a fairly early start, around 8:00am, from Mammoth Caves Campground.

Are you thinking Thanksgiving dinner?

We headed south on I-65 to Bowling Green, KY where we made a stop at the National  Corvette Museum.  There were no cancellation stamps available there even though it is a national museum; maybe it’s because it has nothing to do with the National Parks system—probably should write our congressman.  We were among a number of old fogies who were drooling over the collection of Corvettes.  It was really fabulous.   There is more information there about Corvettes than you can possibly absorb in a month, let alone a few hours.  It was really enjoyable.  If you want to you can take delivery of a new corvette at the museum, since the GM Corvette assembly plant is across the road, a stone’s throw away.  We got through the museum, including the gift shop and stopped across the street for a quick brunch before we headed south on I-65.  



The front of the building

Wilma and one of the early Corvettes

Barney and Fred. Notice what it says
between us.

Betty driving the simulator

We turned off of I-65 and took a number of numbered routes to the town of Gallatin, TN just northeast of Nashville.  Gallatin’s claim to fame is the plant of G. F. Puhl.   Puhl put the wastepaper recovery system together for Pacific Press.  Barney had dealt with Greg Puhl, the owner since 1983, just before the Press moved to Idaho.  Greg was kind enough to take us on a tour of his facility and introduce us to some of the people we had dealt with by telephone over the years.    It was a very interesting tour.  Lots of changes in the recovery systems have been made in the 25+ years since the Press bought its system.

Barney and owner Greg Puhl

Touring the facility

From Gallatin we headed for Nashville, TN and the Grand Old Opry Hotel and Convention Center for a quick drive through tour.   Fred had been there during his tour in the Press Sales Department for meetings and wanted us to at least see it.  That is just what we did on our drive-through tour.  We never got out of the rolling caves.

The next stop was the Stones River National Battlefield and Cemetery near Murfreesboro, TN.  We got there at shortly after 4:00pm and the VC closed at 5:00, so the beating of cancellation stamps in passport books sounded something like a woodpecker tapping on a hollow tree.   They had a well done video of the Stones River Battle.  We made a quick stop at the cemetery where about 10,000 Union and Confederate troops were laid to rest after the two day battle.

After a short stop at a local Taco Bell we continued south to Shelbyville, TN where we are encamped in a lovely Wal-Mart parking lot for the night.

More tomorrow.

b

Abraham Lincoln

Sunday, October 23, 2011

There was a sliver of moon that didn’t light up the pathway to the facilities building, so we had to resort to a flaming torch to see our way as we went to take early showers this morning. There were a few stars visible then, but by the time we hit the road it was mostly overcast. 

Leaving the really nice Canal Campground, we made our way north just a few miles to Interstate 24 and headed east. We soon turned off onto the Western Kentucky Parkway and traveled 76 miles through what appeared to be sparsely populated area before stopping at a rest area/service area on the parkway. Of course there were towns along the way, but they were not built up along the intersections as much as we usually see.

Breakfast was fixed and served at the rest area, and it was only 11 am. We must be a little off our non-schedule to be eating that early!

We ate at the Roadside Inn again today.

Continuing on for about an hour, we turned off onto route 84 for a “short cut” over to the Abraham Lincoln Historical Park. It is a grey road on the Kentucky state map. You shouldn’t take the grey roads!  It was very narrow and winding. The first portion was only 11 miles, but felt much longer. We crossed over Interstate 65 and continued on a little way before the signs headed us out to the Lincoln Boyhood Home unit. Not knowing for sure if we took the correct off out of the roundabout, we meandered on down the road thinking we had gone the wrong way. Wilma looked it up on line and found we were okay, and we finally came to the Knob Creek Farm. It was a pretty setting and the ranger there gave her speech, and told us quite a bit about the farm area. She brought the stamps and ink pad out of her tiny little log cabin so we could stamp our passport book pages. There were other visitors coming and going, and she would repeat her speech to each group. She must get tired of hearing herself! Maybe being a ranger isn’t so glamorous.



Betty is looking at the actual garden planted by Abraham Lincoln Himself :)

We then went back to the birthplace site where the main VC is. There we got our books stamped, watched the movie, saw the small museum area, and toured the grounds. We made our knees a little tired by climbing the 56 steps (representing the 56 years of his life) to the memorial building where his birthplace cabin is reconstructed. The memorial building has 16 pillars, windows, and rosettes on the ceiling, all representing that he was the 16^th president.

Betty and Barney on the steps.

Abraham Lincoln Memorial Building

The actual spring where the Lincolns got their water.

We also went down to the spring where they got their water, and over to the Nancy Lincoln Inn. You probably couldn’t have purchased anything in the gift shop if you had wanted to because the clerk was glued to his headphones and computer, and didn’t seem to have the slightest interest in selling anything!

Going back to I-65, we headed south to Mammoth Cave National Park. We got our stamps at the VC and some smashed pennies at the hotel, then went to find a campsite. The campground is very pretty. The trees are all different colors, and many leaves have fallen, making quite a thick carpet on the ground. The restrooms are nice and clean, but the concession building is where the showers are, and they leave quite a bit to be desired. But we are tucked in for the night, and looking forward to another great day tomorrow.

w

Land Between the Lakes

Saturday, October 22, 2011

We slept in this morning and ate a leisurely breakfast of scrambled eggs, turkey sausage, hash browns and biscuits, at 11:00.  Maybe it was brunch.  At any rate it was good.  After breakfast we set off for the elusive passport book cancellation stamps that were lurking in the area.

Wilma, Betty and Barney at our camp table.

What a great breakfast!

We headed south on the main north/south road in the Land between the Lakes (LBL).  The road is called “The Trace”, which we are told means “path” in French.   Our first stop was at the North Visitors Center, where we were able to capture the first of the elusive passport book cancellation stamps of the day.  We looked around and picked up a few additional pieces of handout literature.  We continued south on The Trace to route 79 then east to Fort Donelson National Battlefield near Dover, TN.  The battle for Fort Donelson was a fairly important Union victory that changed the course of the Civil War.  The Confederate General Simon Buckner surrendered a garrison of approximately 13,000 troops to a former West Point classmate, Ulysses S. Grant.  We watched a very well done video and collected several stamps for the passport books.  The ranger at the VC was very knowledgeable and very helpful.

Betty reading some history about the fort

General Buckner served at Fort Donelson

Many of these tiny buildings kept the soldiers
from freezing

They even had a small fireplace.

We went on to Dover, TN to the Dover Hotel, which is part of the National Historical Site.  It was there that the surrender documents were signed.

The Dover Hotel

We headed north on The Trace and stopped briefly at the south Visitors Information Center then on to the Golden Pond Visitors Center.   There was a good deal of information on the “Trail of Tears”, which was the relocation of Native Americans from their native lands, east of the Mississippi to the “Indian Territories”, west of the Mississippi River.  Part of the “Trail” came through this area of Kentucky and Tennessee.  The VC also told of the Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) and the way they moved families and whole towns from their land to clear the area where the reservoirs now are located.  It’s a pretty sad commentary on how the government treats individuals.  There was also information of the iron works in the area that was quite interesting.

Great Western Furnace built in 1854 to produce industrial iron.

The up side is that the Land between the Lakes is a beautiful area that is open to all sorts of outdoor recreational opportunities.

Then back to the Canal Campground where we are staying in the “Primitive Area”.   We have water and electric hook-ups, a restroom with showers, and a lovely view of an inlet on the reservoir.  We aren’t sure why it is called “Primitive” unless it is the fact that our sites are in a forest of oak and ash trees.  Oh well, another mystery of life.

Good night from the Bedrock Bunch.

b