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.

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