Alabama and back to Kentucky (July 2012)

As planned, we stayed at Diamond Caverns in Park City, KY until July 15.  We left the camper in storage (actually just had to leave it on the site and plugged in) and drove down I65 past Bowling Green, Nashville, and into Alabama to Hidden Cove RV Park in Arley.  This park is so far off the beaten path that we barely had cell service.  We got registered into the cabin which had a nice view of Lewis Smith Lake.  This lake is probably the clearest lake I have ever seen (unfortunately we do not have any pictures showing the clarity of it).  I did talk to some folks that were swimming in the lake and they told me that when the lake was created, there were some landowners who refused to leave their property.  The story goes that the authorities went ahead and flooded the land and those landowners subsequently perished (I am not sure this is really true).  The official report of the dam construction states:  "The projected flood zone was sparsely populated, although Clear Creek Falls—actually a pair of falls about a quarter mile apart in southeast Winston County—was a popular recreation spot for generations. In 1853, a post office was established near the falls and a small village, later known as Falls City, developed. But well before the dam's construction the town dwindled, a victim mainly of its remote location. In 1953, the U.S. Postal Service abolished the Falls City post office altogether. It is unclear from historical records just how many families were displaced by the dam project. In addition to buying out residents, the company also paid to have 78 graves relocated from four cemeteries that were in the dam's flood zone." 

View of Lewis Smith Lake

Cabin at Hidden Cove RV Park, Arley, AL

We were very disappointed in the cabin.  It was dirty, had broken electrical outlets, outlets that had shorted out, a stove that we couldn't light, and ants everywhere.  Our daughter, Cathy, arrived on Monday and by Tuesday, we had enough when the power went off and no one was around to fix it.  We packed up and drove back to the camper parked at Diamond Caverns.  On Wednesday, we had to call Hidden Cove to cancel our remaining days--their reaction was "the cabin is old".  That may be but it is no excuse for poor maintenance.  We will not return to that campground.  I don't know if we would even be able to get our camper into any of the sites.  Since we have been back at Diamond Caverns, we talked to some other folks who also had some trouble with reservations at Hidden Cove in Arley.

The rest of the week with Cathy and her dog Hallie was enjoyable.  Cathy and I toured Diamond Caverns, one of many caves in the area besides Mammoth Cave. 

Entrance to Diamond Caverns

Cathy waiting for tour to start

Cathy in cave

 Various pictures from inside the cave:

Vastness of the cave!

An altar in the cave--weddings were performed here at one time.

Susan on the way back up the steps!

If you look closely, you can see a drip of water.

Looks like a tree stump!  This one has been polished and
therefore will no longer grow.

This is similar to the previous picture but has not been polished
and is therefore still growing at a very slow pace.
It takes thousands of years for the formations to grow.

We also drove around the national park and saw several wild turkeys and deer. 

Mostly we just sat back and enjoyed visiting while trying to stay cool in the continuing hot weather.  

Cathy with all three dogs--Duke is under the blanket and Abby and Hallie are on top!

Cathy left to return to Southern Indiana on July 21. Since then, Pat and I have not done a whole lot.  We did visit the Corvette Museum in Bowling Green.  When we first met, Pat had a 1982 Corvette so I had to take a picture of him next to the one at the museum.  He sold his when we started our family and built a house in Tecumseh, MI.  Needless to say, Corvettes are not very good family cars!

On August 2, we leave Park City and return to Charlestown, IN for a few days before continuing our trek north in search of cooler weather (also to visit family and friends)!  We have lots of plans for August and September, so stay tuned!!

EASY LIVING!

Start of Summer Travels (July 2012)

Well....We decided to move up our departure date so that we could make a quick trip up to Indiana to help daughter Cathy move from one apartment to another.  We probably would not normally do that but since she will be student teaching this fall and we will be helping her, we decided it might be a good idea.  Anyways we left Willis, Texas on July 1 and stayed one night in a new campground in Simsboro, LA.  The campground is actually pretty nice with spacious level sites and built on a hilly terrain.  If it had been cooler, we would have enjoyed sitting outside on the deck to watch the ducks on the pond.

From Simsboro we made another overnight stop at Natchez Trace RV Park just south of Tupelo, MS.  We somewhat retraced our drive from last fall by going through the area that had been devastated by tornadoes in April, 2011.  It is amazing how much regrowth has occurred in just over a year.  Here are pictures from last year and the same area now.  There is still a long way to go and it will take years for it to be completely reforested.

October 2011

July 2012

When we arrived at Natchez Trace RV Park, the trailer wheel on one side had a terrible squeal.  We thought it might be the brakes or an axle so we made an appointment for the next morning at an RV dealer in the area.  It turned out there were two problems--one had to do with a part of one of the brakes that had come loose (probably due to some of the rough roads in Louisiana).  They were able to fix that problem.  The other one (the squeal) apparently is due to the drums being egg-shaped.  This is a problem but not one of an emergency nature. 

We were finally back on the road by ten or so and headed north from Tupelo.  Our original plan was to follow the Natchez Trace Parkway all the way to the end but with the delay and not wanting to have problems on the Trace, we went north to I-40 and then across to I-65.  We arrived at Diamond Caverns RV Resort in Park City, KY at 5:30 for another one-night stop.

The next morning we got on the road and were continuing north towards Louisville when a car passed us and pointed up towards our roof.  We had inadvertently left our satellite up and had not visually checked it.  The power had gone out on our camper because of the hot weather and when that happens the satellite control turns off.  To put it down, we have to turn it on and have the satellite dish go through the motions of being put up before we can stow it.  Fortunately we have a generator and we were able to pull off the road and stow the dish.  Never a dull moment!!

We finally arrived at Charlestown State Park in the early afternoon and had an opportunity to relax for a day before Cathy's move.  Of course, it had to be the hottest days of all time but we managed to get her moved on Friday evening.  That allowed us to relax on Saturday and enjoy lunch at Texas Roadhouse with son John.

We pulled out of Charlestown early Sunday morning to beat the hot temps as well as the storms that were forecast and arrived back at Diamond Caverns by 10 am.  Now we can really relax!!  The storms did come through last night but not too severe.  I heard that this was the first rain for the area in six weeks. The park has been emptying out this morning--I guess people were here for the week of the fourth and are headed home.  We will be here until July 15 when we leave the camper in storage and head to Alabama to spend a week in a cottage with Cathy.

Ah the joys of EASY LIVING!!!