June 13, 2013: Land Between The Lakes

We were up early again, but too late for a sunrise photo.  It was 79 degrees at 6am with high humidity and a strong breeze, nixing our planned early morning kayaking.  Instead, I sat by the edge of the lake, had my coffee and caught up with this journal.  We decided to take a hike around Hematite Lake in the central part of the peninsula because the breeze was making the heat bearable. On our way to the lake, we asked if there was any possibility of getting the same campsite for another night and the answer was a surprising YES! 


Hematite Lake from the shady trail

The Lake hike was about 2 1/2 miles and we saw geese, egrets, and blue herons.  We startled a deer who bounded right across our path, which startled us.


Evidence of beavers at work

We had to get creative (wet, muddy feet) in a few spots where a beaver dam caused a major flood, wiping out the trail and a very necessary bridge over a marshy area. 



Pretty? Fungi

 

Hematite Lake about 1 mile long
 

 

We looked, but never saw an Eagle

 

June 12, 2013: Land Between the Lakes

 We are still waking up East Coast time in this central time zone.  I wanted to get on the road north to Land Between the Lakes (LBL) before it reached the forecasted high of 90 degrees, but fate was against us.  Jack had a slow morning, so we didn't get on the road til around 9, then we decided to stop at the local Factory Supply store to get our leaking waterproof cargo bag replaced.  We keep the boat and its gear on the bottom of the bag and it was swimming (haha) in water, but that was okay because it IS a boat!  But, my clubs were on top of the boat and my golf bag and everything in it was damp and icky, which was NOT okay.  The replacement bag looked good, so we unloaded all our stuff from the old bag and repacked it in the new bag.  By then, it was 10am.  Then I plugged the wrong data into the GPS, so we went 1/2 hour out of our way making it 11:30 by the time we entered the Land Between The Lakes National Recreation Area southern Welcome Center and it was already 90 degrees.

After getting my required fix of every pamphlet about the area known to man, we took a short nap, had some lunch and headed north on the Trace.  The Trace runs up the narrow peninsula between Lake Barkley and Kentucky Lake beginning in Tennessee and ending in Kentucky. 

It was way too hot for the hike I had planned, so we found some indoor entertainment -- a planetarium and observatory about halfway up The Trace.  We watched a fascinating film about the IBEX explorer that is mapping the edges of our solar system.  Then the guide put up the night sky and showed us how to find various stars and constellations for that evening.  It is an excellent place for stargazing at light pollution is minimal.  A nice, cool, afternoon in the air conditioned planetarium.

Our campsite taken from our kayak

We finally hit a stroke of good luck by getting the last electric site at the LBL campground right on the lake.  While Jack napped, I set up the kayak and launched it from the beach right behind the RV and took a little tour along the shoreline that we share with a small sandy swimming beach a few campsites away.  Then Jack and I went out together, but the wind came up, so we didn't get far.



Enjoying a snack lakeside

I made some appetizers and we sat on the shore enjoying the lake.  After an air conditioned dinner in the RV, we returned to the lakeside to watch the sunset.  

Once it got dark, the tree frogs and cicada type bugs got humming and by the time we went to bed, there was a thrumming roar around us.  Went to bed at 10 and it was still 89 degrees.

June 11, 2013: Nashville Area Golf

We spent the night at Montgomery Bell State Park, a half hour southwest of Nashville.  This is a Tennessee Resort State Park with a conference center, villas and an 18-hole golf course that is one of the best in the group of courses that make up the Tennessee Golf Trail.

Our tee time was 9:50 and the temps were in the 80's when we arrived on the first tee.  The course was in fabulous condition, one of the best I have ever played.  It was even better when I parred the first hole.  We quickly caught the twosome in front of us and they asked us to join them - a nice couple, Bruce and Janie, from Nashville.  She was just getting back into golf after not playing for many years.  The temps quickly climbed to 96 degrees with very high humidity and we were all struggling, but Janie and Jack had to quit because they were feeling so poorly.  The heat affected me as well, so I only kept score on hole #1, #4, and #14.  Then again, that isn't too different from the way I typically score in our Tuesday/Thursday group at home.  The course was beautiful was lots of trees, wide fairways and undulating greens, but we didn't appreciate it the way we should have because of the heat.   It is definitely on our list of places we would like to visit again.  Anyone up for a golf trip to Tennessee?

Because we were so exhausted, we decided to stay right at the park again.  We returned to the campground and found a nicer site than the night before right next to a babbling brook.  We took a nap, showered, and felt so much better that we made a quick run to the grocery store.

After dinner, there was a knock on our door, and it was Bruce and Janie.  They were staying in the same campground and had come to warn us that Janie had found two ticks.  We shared RVing stories for a while and had a pleasant evening.  It was still in the 80's when we went to bed, so had to run the AC all night.

June 10, 2013 The Hermitage

Front Entrance of The Hermitage

 We entered the central time zone in central Tennessee on US route 70 west towards Nashville.  We have visited Nashville before and toured the legendary country music sites, but had not stopped at Andrew Jackson's home, The Hermitage.  A beautiful mansion with original furniture and even some original wall paper, it served as the plantation manor house of business as well as hosting between 25-50 guests a night.  Priveleged guests got to sleep in one of the two guest beds, but most had to roll out their sleeping rolls on the floor, but a hearty breakfast was served to all. 

Andrew Jackson was a highly controversial and complicated president:  He was an impressive military war hero, but forcibly removed Indians (Trail of Tears is just one example) from lands east of the Mississippi to make more room for white expansion.  He aggressively promoted democracy for the "common man,"  but owned about 100 slaves at the Hermitage.  He was pro-slavery, but anti-nullification.  Jackson's democracy was limited to white men, but his legacy was the concept of democracy for the common man which was adopted by women and non-whites as their birthright, too.

We enjoyed a fried chicken and melt-in-your-mouth biscuit dinner at the famous Loveless Cafe, southwest of Nashville before settling in at our campground in Montgomery Bell State Park.



Andrew Jackson's Grave

Slave cabins

June 9, 2013 American Museum of Science and Energy

 After driving through Great Smoky Mountains National Park, we spent last night in Pigeon Forge.  Pigeon Forge is the slightly upscale tourist town on the Tennessee side of the park while Cherokee is the older, campy tourist town at the North Carolina entrance to the Park.

We took a scenic route through the mountains northwest to Oak Ridge, Tennessee, "The Secret City."  In front of the American Museum of Science and Energy was a sculpture from the World Trade Center metal fragments. 

The museum documented how the city of Oak Ridge was built secretly during World War II for the Manhattan Project.  It produced the nuclear material for the bombs being assembled in Los Alamos, New Mexico.

On The Road Again, Starting our 2013 Journey in the North Carolina Mountains

 We are back on the road and it is wonderful!

We left home on Thursday to help Alicia celebrate her 40th birthday at a surprise party in Charlotte.  The next day we headed west into the mountains around Asheville with gorgeous views like this along the Blue Ridge Parkway.

Craggy Pinnacle Trail

We wanted to hike to the Craggy Pinnacle that gives 360 views of the mountains along a trail that is canopied with native rhododendrons.  Unfortunately, we were too early as you can see in the photo, but there were glimmers of what it would look like in a week or so.




Even though we did not get to walk through the tunnels of pink and purple rhododendrons, we were rewarded with amazing views.

July 3, Friday – Page, Arizona

The hospital is small, but really good. They gave him lots of tests, including a ct scan, blood work, etc. and put him on intravenous antibiotics and pain medication. All of his vitals (heart, blood pressure, etc.) are good.

Poor Ben – he slept til 7:30, but the hospital didn’t decide to admit Jack and get him settled until noon, so Ben read and played games on his computer in the RV the whole time. It is considered a whole wellness hospital with rooms adjoining the gardens, muted lighting, carpeting in the hallways and very homey feeling. Jack has a private room, but is still in pain, but the folks are taking good care of him. The doctors think one to three days of antibiotics should take care of the infection.

Once Jack was settled, we returned to the campground to arrange for a few more nights and luckily we were able to get a spot since it is 4th of July weekend and the place was almost filled.

Ben and I spent a little time in the pool and hottub and then drove 10 minutes over to the Glen Canyon Dam on the Colorado River to tour the exhibits at the visitor center and watch a movie about the environment. We stopped to see Jack who still isn’t feeling much better (but not getting worse), and the doctors are still pumping him with antibiotics. We returned to the RV for dinner and were able to watch cable TV and check email.

July 2, Thursday – Grand Canyon North Rim

Ben and I woke up early to walk the campground trail looking for birds. We didn’t see many birds, but it was a nice walk in the cool, cloudy weather. Without any sun, the colors of the Canyon along the trail are muted and grayed.

We drove about 5 miles up to Inspiration Point, but the cloud cover is still with us making photography difficult. We then drove 20 miles out to Cape Royal where the sun began peeking out and we were able to get some good photos of the North Rim and the Colorado River. We did a 1 mile round trip hike to Cliff Spring through red sandstone with views of the Grand Canyon.

After lunch, we said goodbye to Grand Canyon North Rim and drove back through the Vermillion Cliffs and north to Page, Arizona. Page is a small town (9k people) that serves as a gateway to the Glen Canyon recreation area and Lake Powell. It has restaurants, shops, and even a movie theater; in other words, we’re back in civilization!

We checked in at the full service campground and headed out to the new Walmart to stock up on supplies. Jack has complained the last couple of evenings that he thought he had a fever, but it was barely over 99, so he soldiered on, but at Walmart, he started getting a pain in his lower abdomen. We returned to the RV, Jack rested and we had dinner, watched a little cable TV and read.

Jack’s fever increased to about 100, so he called his family physician who returned his call (after midnight Eastcoast time) and said if he develops any other symptoms, to see a doctor. Jack’s pain worsened during the night, so at 4, we decided to head to the small hospital in town. I filled the fresh water tank and dumped the gray and black tanks “just in case” and drove the 10 minutes to the hospital – one benefit of traveling in the RV was Ben just stayed in bed. The doctors checked him out, did lots of tests and weren’t sure what was going on, but knew he had an infection and needed antibiotics.

July 1, Wednesday – Moving from the South Rim to the North Rim

Ben, Jack and I said goodbye to Linnie and we all got on the road around 8:30. Lin is heading hope after a stop in Santa Fe to visit friends and we are going to the North Rim – a first for Jack and I. We couldn’t get any campground reservations at the North Rim, so we are winging it as we have been told that we can just pull off a forest service road outside the National Park and camp for the night.

It is 225 miles from the South Rim to the North rim and it took us about five hours. The scenery through the Vermillion Cliffs is awe-inspiring with the pinks, reds and greens of the 1,000 foot cliffs rising from the desert floor.




I stopped at a Forest Service office in Jacob Lake and found that we could get an actual camp site at the forest service campground, so we stopped and paid $9 for a site. When we got to the North rim, we stopped at the campground Office and were excited to find that there was a cancellation and we got the only spot available right in the Grand Canyon park.

The weather has turned cloudy and as we walked around the lodge area, thunder and lightning made a spectacular display. Lightning strikes on the Canyon rim are common and dangerous, so we retreated to a café in the campground to check the internet. We met some folks in the café that were returning to the forest service campground and we asked them to let them know to release our site so someone else can use the spot. After dinner, we played cards and read.

June 30, Tuesday - Grand Canyon South Rim

Slept in til almost 7 – whoopee! Lin and Ben came over around 7:30 and we had blueberry pancakes and then took the shuttle to the west rim. We walked ½ mile along the rim, but it quickly became too hot for us to do any more walking in the sun. We enjoyed riding the bus to the end of the west rim, enjoying the views from the air conditioned comfort of the shuttle. We stopped at the café for lunch and some internet access.

Jack and I returned to move the RV to a campsite that had electricity – a big plus so we can have air conditioning in this hot weather. This was the first available spot with electricity that we could get – the Canyon is mobbed. Ben and Lin joined us for a nice afternoon nap in air conditioning in the 90+ heat.

We packed a picnic supper and drove out to Yavapai Point to have a late dinner and watch the sunset. The changing colors in the canyon were incredible – what a great day.

June 29, Monday – Grand Canyon South Rim

Lin and Ben came over for breakfast at 6am and we drove to the trailhead only to find we weren’t allowed to drive down the trailhead road (apparently, we were supposed to take a shuttle bus). We had to park about ½ mile west at a viewpoint and walk in. On our way, we came across a large buck elk and we decided to give him a wide berth.

We arrived just about 7am while the ranger was introducing the hike into the canyon. We got impatient for the ranger to stop talking, so we just walked on ahead. The hike was mostly deep steps, but it was mostly in the shade so not so bad (a little hard on the knees which is one reason why Jack passed up this opportunity). The canyon was gorgeous with beautiful colored highlights and shadows from the early morning light.

We made it down to the Ooh-Ahh point in about an hour and decided to go down a little further. We stopped for snacks, enjoyed the view and postponed having to hike back up the 600 feet in 1¼ miles – glad that we decided to do this early in the morning to avoid the heat. It took us a lot longer to hike back up and we got back to the RV about 11am. We enjoyed an early lunch and plotted out the rest of the day – naps first!

We drove to the village area to check out the lodges, walk along the rim and try to see the endangered California Condor. We attended a talk on the patio beside the rim about the condors and when we looked up, there were three Condors circling us – a little scary since they are scavengers. They are incredibly ugly – look like giant vultures with 9 ½ feet wing spans and gnarly red heads. Unfortunately, our camera has a delay in taking action shots and we got lots of great shots of blue skies, but did manage a couple decent ones.

Back at the RV we had pulled BBQ sandwiches, played games, made a fire when it got dark and roasted marshmallows. A great day!

June 28, Sunday – Grand Canyon South Rim

We cleaned the RV, did laundry, and stopped for groceries before heading up to the Grand Canyon – an easy 45 minute drive. We arrived around 1pm, checked in and found our site – a great spot that is a pull through with a nice, deep site with enough room for Lin and Ben to add their tent if they wanted. We set up camp, and sat in the shade and read waiting for Lin and Ben. They arrived around 3:30 and they decided to keep their spot on the other side of the campground. We sat and talked and checked out some of the Grand Canyon literature and decided to start with the visitor center. We talked to a ranger about a hike inside the canyon and we decided to do the 2 mile roundtrip down the South Kaibab trail to a wide open vista. Forecast is in the high 80s, so we decided to do the hike the next morning before it gets hot.
We stopped at the Mather Point vista and took a lot of photographs. The crowds are huge – we’ve never been to Grand Canyon when it was this busy. All campgrounds are full and the areas of the park that we are allowed to drive are really busy and parking spots are difficult to find at the viewpoints.

We returned to the RV, made a nice dinner and relaxed – we are all very tired.

June 27, Saturday – Flagstaff, Arizona

From Holbrook, we headed to Flagstaff to do some shopping and errands. En route, we stopped for fuel in Winslow, Arizona. We came across signs for their museum that used the line “Standing on the corner in Winslow, AZ” song.

We had made campground reservations in Williams, AZ so that we would have an easy drive up to the Grand Canyon the next day. Williams is a small town on the old Route 66 that is home to the train that goes

to the Grand Canyon. We arrived there shortly after lunch, relaxed for the afternoon and went downtown to a 50’s style diner for supper. Early to bed because we gained an hour due to Arizona not using Daylight Savings Time.

June 26, Friday -- New Mexico

Up early – another beautiful day. We got to the station for the Sandia Mountain tram just a little after 9am. It was 78 degrees at the tram terminal (around 6,000 feet). We rode the car that holds 50 people 2 ½ miles up to the summit at 10,368 feet where the temp was a cool 59 and windy. The summit afforded beautiful views of the whole valley, but it was a bit hazy making it difficult to get good photos.

The tram rides up the west side of the mountain and at the summit, the ski trails and lift are on the east side of the mountain. We decided not to walk any of the trails because at over 10k feet, hiking is difficult and jack hasn’t really gotten back all his stamina yet. The tram operator was very informative and chatty on the return trip down the mountain explaining what her duties were in case of emergency that included climbing the ladder and getting out on top of the tram car to do any repair work or release the car if it had been stopped using the emergency switch.

After the tram ride, we drove on to the museum area near Old Town (we had toured Old Town on a previous trip) to visit the natural History Museum. It lived up to it’s excellent reputation with more dinosaur fossils than we have ever seen in one place and a great planetarium show – well worth the stop. We ran out of time, so didn’t get a chance to visit the International Balloon Museum. Albuquerque is the site of the huge balloon festival in October – added to my bucket list.

We headed west on I40 after lunch, passing through fabulous red mesa country in western New Mexico. We stopped for the night at a seedy campground just outside Holbrook, AZ. No TV and the WiFi wasn’t strong enough to read email.