June 16, 2013: Baldwin, Illinois to Cahokia Mounds to St. Louis to Grafton, Illinois

Happy Father's Day to all you dad's out there. 

We left our still-empty campground and headed north to the Cahokia Mounds World Heritage Site in Illinois, just outside of St. Louis.  Between 1000 and 1400 AD, this area had been a thriving city of 10,000 people who built huge mounds for burial sites and for their royalty to build houses upon.  They abandoned the site in the 1400s, probably due to a lack of natural resources.  As they cut the trees down for their massive 20,000 trunk stockade fence, building homes and burning wood for cooking, their primary meat food source (deer) would have moved further and further from the area.  Removing all trees would have contributed to erosion and the repetitive planting of corn would have depleted the land of nutrients, making food an increasingly difficult problem.  No one knows where these people went and scientists are prohibited by law from disturbing Native American graves so they cannot obtain DNA to determine which, if any, of the current tribes descended from these early people.

We climbed the 100 foot highest mound and could see the St. Louis skyline in the hazy distance.  We spent time in the visitor center that had excellent displays of this early culture, including many artifacts from the archaeological digs in the area.

Lots and lots of steps to get to the top

 

Afterwards, we headed into St. Louis right past the Arch (which we had visited on previous trips) to find a famous ice cream place that calls their specialty "concrete" because it is so thick.  Huge crowds and long lines assured us that it was worth the trip into downtown St. Louis to find the place.

We drove north out of St. Louis across both the Mississippi and Missouri rivers to an Illinois state park campground.  Our route took us along the Mississippi River where we could see the massive flooding that had taken place recently. 

Sandbags protecting a building in Alton, IL

We passed the famous Piasa bird that Marquette had documented when he came through the area on his way to exploring the Great Lakes.  The original drawing on the bluff walls are long gone, but folks have recreated it based on reported accounts of the Indian folktale.

The campground was nice and Jack got to watch the last of the Open, but no phone or internet.  We are so spoiled.

June 15, 2013 Cape Giardeau North on the Great River Road to Baldwin, Illinois

After leaving the campground, we drove north to the Trail of Tears State Park on the Missouri side of the Mississippi River.  The park has a wonderful visitor center documenting the "Great American Shame" of forcibly relocating 16,000 Cherokee Indians from the lush farming valleys and good hunting grounds of North Carolina, Tennessee and Georgia to the arid lands of Oklahoma.  Andrew Jackson was responsible for the policy that relocated all Native Americans to the western Indian Territories from east of the Mississippi to increase the land available to white men.  The removal took place over the winter and between 4,000 and 5,000 people died of cold and disease. This was one one of several routes that relocated Seminole from Florida, Creek and Chickasaw from Alabama, and Choctaw from Mississippi.

I walked a shady trail in the State Park through the woods one mile to a lookout on a bluff overlooking the Mississippi River.  A warm, humid day made for hazy views, but it was still a spectacular look at the still flooded muddy river with a massive barge plowing upstream.

Looking south

Northbound barge



Unhealthy-looking turtle I encountered on the trail..

We backtracked south to Cape Giardeau to cross The River back to Illinois to follow The Great River Road north through Illinois.  Although marked as scenic on my map, there was not much to see other than cornfields, which are common everywhere in rural Illinois.  The last town designated in the scenic route was the village of Chester.  In the center of town was a little park celebrating Chester as the home of Popeye, born to author Elzie Segar in his daily comic strip, Thimble Theatre.  OK, Friday night trivia aficionados, we now have this critical information for any future Popeye-related questions.

 

 

 

 

Trivia Question-whose last name was Opdyke?

 

 

After a short photo session, we walked across the street for an ice cream cone and met a 60 plus year old man bicycling from Virginia to Oregon!  His wife was accompanying him in an RV and they meet up every couple of days.  Chester was his planned stop for the night and he was calling the police to ask if he could sleep in the park.  Wow!

 

We continued north to a little farm hamlet for a campground with full hookups behind a small, but well-kept motel.  The campground had room for about 40 RVs, but we were the only ones there.  We theorized that the place is for seasonal farm workers - why else so much space in an area where there are no tourist or scenic attractions?  Another hot and humid night and we are thankful to have air conditioning, but it is noisy and are looking forward to some cooler nights.

 

 

June 14, 2013 Land Between the Lakes to Metropolis, IL to Cairo, IL to Cape Giardeau, MO

Slept wonderfully to the nighttime insect and tree frog symphony with temps in the 60's.  We woke to a clear, beautiful morning.  Coffee and breakfast watching fishermen heading out.  I inflated the kayak and Jack and I paddled out of our cove to the main part of the lake and around the shoreline, enjoying the turtles and great blue herons.  We retured to sit lakeside, planned the day,and then I took the boat out again for 1/2 hour.

Later in the morning, the appearance of large sailboats told me quickly that the wind had picked up, so no more kayaking today. Jack is anxious to get internet access and I need to do laundry, so I dried the boat and packed it up while Jack had his lunch and nap.
 We left Land Between the Lakes and headed northwest to Metropolis, Illinois -- yes, THE metropolis, hometown of Superman, and I have the photos to prove it!.  Plus, DC Comics made it official in 1972. 

 

After our quick photo op, we backtracked southwest to Cairo, Illinois (pronounced Kay-ro), where the Ohio River joins the Mighty Mississippi at the southern tip of Illinois. 

 My travel book cautioned that Cairo was an old, downtrodden town, but I wanted to see the place where Jim and Huck were heading from Hannibal so they could paddle up the Ohio River to freedom.  Samuel Clemens also talked about Cairo in Life on the Mississippi because of it's sometimes difficult navigation with the twists and turns and merging currents of the two rivers.  Even though he praised the town, my guidebook was right about the place today.  Sad and decrepit, most buildings boarded up, business closed.  After another quick photo stop at the confluence of the Ohio and Mississippi rivers on land that used to be Fort Defiance, we again headed northwest to Cape Giardeau across the Mississippi in Missouri.

Our tv and internet withdrawal symptoms had been escalating, so I made sure we had a campground with both. It did not work out as planned because our own MIFI from Virgin Mobile had no internet coverage and the campground's internet was excruciatingly slow.  Luckily, the tv worked and we were able to get NBC so Jack could watch the Open.

June 13, 2013: Paducah

We had some errands to run and the stores we needed were in nearby Paducah, Kentucky, about 1/2 hour away.  While we were there, I wanted to see the National Quilt Museum and the Flood Wall Murals.  Just as we were getting ready to set out, a cute bird came to investigate our side view mirror.



Apparently, he likes what he sees

The quilt museum was jaw-dropping spectacular.  Most hangings were art quilts, but there was one exhibition area that was traditional log cabin quilts which are made of small blocks that build around the center.  These were unique because they were two-sided with different patterns on each side.  How they kept track of all those little blocks of color to create two different designs at the same time is mind-boggling.  Jack's favorite was a waving American Flag that from a short distance looked just like a specialty-lit painting.  My favorite was a Wisteria Tiffany window that looked exactly like a back-lit stained glass window.  Unfortunately, photos of any kind were not allowed.  I am definitely inspired to try some quilting when we return home in the Fall.

We made a quick stop at the flood wall murals.  The massive concrete flood wall to hold back the Ohio River during high flood waters in downtown Paducah were covered with about 30 lifesize murals painted by a renowned mural painter.  The murals showed the history of Paducah and each mural was a true work of art by itself, but it stretched as far a you could see, and it was awesome.

The high water measure is on the far left side of the wall

We finished our errands around suppertime and returned to our lakeside campsite to enjoy a beautiful evening watching the sunset on the lake.

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.