Day 92: Waiting Out the Rain

Waiting out the rain in a 15 square foot sitting space is a challenge.  There aren't many positions where it is possible to remain comfortable for extended periods, especially while playing a game (which further decreases the "floor" space).  Normally, we would watch a video to help pass the time, but as luck would have it, the DVD player on our TV stopped working last night.  Fortunately, we also have a portable DVD player.  It's a lot smaller, but it did the trick, so we watched Minority Report this morning during a period of heavy rain.

Alea keeps up with the world as the rain pours around us.

Two people and a dog in a small space can raise the humidity level considerably, but our air conditioning was more than up to the task of drying out the air for us.  That is a big help in keeping such a small space comfortable throughout the day.

The rain had seemed to let up a bit around noon, so we decided it was time to venture out for food.  For the first time ever, Lana refused to come out of the cabin.  It was raining, but no harder than other times when she was more than eager to jump out.  We couldn't figure out what was wrong, but we were getting hungry, so I eventually managed to pick her up like a sack of flour and get her into the van.  A short distance down the road, Alea's phone went off with a tornado alert telling us to find shelter.  We suspect that probably had something to do with Lana's behavior.  Of course we had idea of where to seek shelter, so we drove into town, which seemed to be where the weather was less severe.

We passed the rest of the day dining out, seeing historical exhibits and catching a matinee movie (Crimson Peak).  We returned to the campsite in the evening in the midst of more steady rain, and are getting off and on reception watching the World Series.

There is more rain on tap for tomorrow.  It appears that the rain may be over by mid afternoon, and we have a fairly short distance to cover to reach the next campground.  So we are hoping that we can wait it out and be back on our way by tomorrow afternoon.  By Monday we'll be back in a pleasant weather pattern and should be able to avoid any further extreme weather long enough to reach the Florida Panhandle.

Day 91: Natchez, MS

With 2+" of rain forecast for tomorrow, we've opted to stay at Natchez State Park for two more nights, though we've moved to a new campsite.  The next campground on our route has no power, water or showers (not the sort of place where we want to spend two days in the rain), and it is a long way to the next campground down the line (which has been described in a couple of blogs as the worst campground along the entire Southern Tier bicycle route [we pick up the Southern Tier about 50 miles south of here]).  

Last night we were in Campground B, and the site that we were on is reserved for this weekend.  So we drove over to Campground A (which is considerably closer to town) and found a new site that is nearer the restrooms and doesn't require us to trek down a muddy trail to get to them.  If it rains tomorrow as predicted, we'll appreciate not getting nearly as wet and muddy when answering nature's call (as would be the case if we had remained in Campground B).

This morning Alea drove me back to where I had picked her up at the end of yesterday's ride, and from there I rode the 16 miles or so to the end of the Natchez Trace and into Natchez.  In all, we've been on the Trace for about 400 miles or so, and while we've enjoyed it, it has become somewhat monotonous.  But we will miss the chance that we've had to meet other cyclists, though we are hopeful that we may catch a few cyclists headed east on the Southern Tier, provided they left San Diego around mid-September (the late end of the fall crossing window).  Anyway, now we are set up for a short day's ride to the next campground, as it is likely to at least be showering when we head there on Sunday (if they've got the forecast right).

While I was riding into town, Alea drove into town to get us caught up on laundry, which is where I rendezvoused with her.  When she was done we had a brief look around downtown Natchez, to see a little of the surviving Spanish Colonial architecture, to get a peek at Louisiana (across the Mississippi River) and to get a sense of what there might be there to occupy our time tomorrow while it is raining.  It was interesting, but nothing that inspired us to take any photographs.

Days 89 & 90: Natchez State Park, MS

Yesterday didn't start out looking too good, but we did manage to avoid rain.  We saw wet pavement all day long, so I suspect we were just north of it most of the day.  But at least we saw the sun on occasion by mid-afternoon.

One of the highlights of our day happened at one of our leapfrog stops once we had gotten far enough south to clear most of the Jackson, MS traffic.  When I arrived to refuel, Jim Powell was unloading his Trek Madone 4.0 for his daily ride (about 15 miles out and back on this occasion).  Jim is a retired landscaper and we'd guess he was in his seventies, but it is very hard to say for certain.  We mentioned that landscaping can be very hard on a body, and he replied "No, not for me.  I was like a surgeon - bring me this, put that there, I need this tool..."  So he was in excellent condition, and a very pleasant person to have had the opportunity to chat with.

Jim Powell on his training ride.

I arrive at a fuel stop - the Battle of Raymond pullout.

We managed to run into Dave and Jayn Butler one last time.  My ride ended at Rocky Springs Campground (free, primitive), and right after we had set up camp they breezed through, needing a pit stop.  The water at the campground was pretty nasty (almost opaque white, perhaps due to Mississippi's prolonged drought?), so we offered them some of our ice water, which at that point in their day was quite a treat for them.  Their plan was to stay in hotels the next two nights, so they should stay ahead of us for the remainder of our time on the Trace.  Before departing, they warned us that Diane and Bill were behind them and were planning on camping at Rocky Springs.

Dave and Jayn Butler on their Co-Motion tandem at Rocky Springs Campground.

Sure enough, not long afterward, Bill Bramlette and Diane Henderson arrived on their touring bikes and eventually set up camp a short distance from us.  We invited them over for wine (plus ice cold water, chips and guacamole) to learn a bit more about them.  They've toured several Adventure Cycling routes; some of them more than once.  They actually started this trip at Davenport, Iowa, though we never pinned down when that was (we were there around the 26th of September).  So they have probably been within a few days of us for quite some time.  They'll continue on to Biloxi, MS before returning to New Orleans, from whence they'll return home.  So there is a small chance our paths may cross again within the next week or so.

Bill and Diane pass by us as they make their first pass at finding a campsite at Rocky Springs.

Today was Alea's turn to ride.  She had clear skies and a tailwind, but with enough elevation gain and humidity that it took more out of her than she expected (I suspect she may have been pushing harder than normal with the great early riding conditions - nearly the entire way was freshly paved!).  So we left the Trace at Mount Locust Information Center and drove to Natchez State Park ($19.26, power, water and showers).  We now understand why Bill, Diane, Dave and Jayn opted not to stay here.  It's a nice enough park, but well off the Trace and with some short steep roller coaster hills to get there.  And to top it off, the registration office is 2.3 miles inside the park, past both of the campgrounds!

After getting set up, we took the opportunity to drive into Natchez to get restocked, knowing that we wouldn't see a fair sized town again any time soon.

We've now covered more than 75% of our intended route.  At our current pace, Thanksgiving is a pretty good estimate of when we might reach Central Florida.  But at the same time, we may need to hunker down at times along the way, to stay put when severe or exceptionally wet weather threatens us.  So we'll get there when we get there.  But we are closing in!

Day 88: Goshen Springs Campground, MS & More Rain

The rain has moderated, but it is still with us.  We thought we'd be seeing a few showers, but it has rained lightly just about all morning and a good part of the afternoon.  Still, it is less rain than we had seen the past couple of days, so at least that is a positive sign.  It's looking as though starting tomorrow we'll have fair weather until Saturday, and then we'll have thundershowers for a few days.

And we had hoped that the rain would let up...

Just when we thought all the glampers had fled seeking the sun, a large entourage passed one of our leapfrog points.  We caught up with them a little farther down the road, along the Pearl River.  It turned out that it was a group from Quebec (which also included a van conversion and a pickup truck camper, so they weren't all glampers) that was traveling together.  They were quite the group, swamping the parking areas at points of interest along the trace and stopping traffic in both directions in order to allow their members to get lined up before heading to their next destination.

Return of the glampers??

A short distance down the road I stopped to walk Lana on a cypress swamp nature trail, only to get completely hemmed in by them for about 15 minutes.  As a result, Alea arrived at our final rendezvous point before me, though not by much.

The Cypress Swamp...

And as luck would have it, at our rendezvous point we were overtaken by them once again while we were loading Alea's bike into the van.  We waited quite a while as they attempted to get all of their members lined up on Hwy 43, which happened to be the road to our campground...

So we are at Goshen Springs Campground ($24, full hook-ups and showers), situated on the east shore of Ross Barnett Reservoir north of Jackson, MS.

Day 87: Holmes County State Park, MS

In yesterday's blog I left out that it was a good thing that my ride ended when it did.  With me being soaked through, and the wind beating against my windbreaker and jersey, my nipples had become chafed.  It was starting to get noticeably uncomfortable just as I rolled into Jeff Busby.

Our view this morning.  My wet shoes were being dried by the van's defroster.

Of course I forgot all that by this morning, though we were unsure what our plans would be for the day.  When we got up it was raining WAY too hard, so it was decided to drive to get a fast food breakfast and contemplate our next move.  While eating, we decided that even though it was raining, Kosciusko (Ko-choos-ko), MS (where we could check into a motel) was only 30 miles away, and I could get us there in under two hours, despite the pouring rain.  Alea protested that it was her turn to ride, but I pointed out that it was raining hard enough that she'd likely have trouble seeing with her prescription glasses, and the wind had knocked a lot of debris onto the road.  I was the logical choice to ride this leg of our adventure.

It sure looks like he's having fun!

The first leapfrog stop was a little over 12 miles down the road, and by the time I reached it I had constant reminders of how yesterday's ride had ended.  So I jumped in the van and attempted to get dried off and try some home remedies - Bandaids, butt butter, etc.  No dice, things weren't getting any better.  I wasn't riding any farther, at least not with a jersey on, and it was a little too cool to consider going shirtless.  Alea kept saying, "I can ride the rest of the way to town," though I think she was in a mild state of shock when I said "OK."

Don't ask me what this is all about - it was on Alea's phone!

As luck would have it, as Alea was getting into her cycling gear the rain moderated to light showers, and by the first leapfrog stop it was raining intermittently at best (it was mostly dry).  Her 20+ miles were a clear contrast to the conditions encountered during my 12.  But I was just glad it worked out so well.

When we reached Kosciusko we were still on the fence about whether we were going to spend the night in a hotel.  With the downpour we had experienced this morning it was a no brainer - between sprints to the bathroom and a few walks to let Lana take care of business, in short order our cabin would be a damp, uncomfortable place to be for an extended period of time.  So we stopped at the Natchez Trace information center to see what our options were for the evening.  With the weather improving, we eventually decided to camp about 25 west of the Trace, at Holmes County State Park ($18, power, water and showers).  Our decision was aided by the fact that two out of three hotels in town didn't allow dogs.

While at the info center we ran into Dave and Jayn, who had decided to hole up in a hotel there for a couple of days until the worst of the rain had past.  We had a short reunion of sorts and were invited to join them tonight for dinner at Bel Piatto, an Italian restaurant right next door.  While there, Dave had said he would like to see a live Armadillo, to see if they really were 3" tall and 3" feet long, like the dead ones that he'd seen on the road.  Our campground was pretty much crawling with Armadillos, so we brought along several photos showing that they are actually much taller and not nearly as long as those we had been seen along the Trace.

The armadillos nearest the campground didn't seem to be bothered much by people or dogs.  Lana got about 2" from one before it scurried off, and the reaction of another was to sit on its hind legs and sniff the air as Lana approached.  Lana was pretty timid, having never seen an armadillo, but that changed when the armadillo turned and hopped away.  And it flat out ran once Lana started yelping for us to let her loose!

We had a great two hour dinner with Dave and Jayn, digging further into our respective collections of misadventures and near misses.  It was a very pleasant way to spend an evening and a very welcome break from the usual routine.  And as luck would have it, as we left the restaurant the skies had once again opened up (fortunately, this was just a passing shower and not a sign for us to start building our Ark).  So we set a new record for the number of people we've crammed into our loaded van, and I suspect they were relieved that their hotel was only a few hundred feet up the road!

Day 86: Jeff Busby Campground, MS

The forecast for Sunday .1 to .25 inches of rain.  It was raining heavy before sunrise and we awoke to plenty of puddles and a small river running down the paved campground road.  A half hour after Alea had fed Lana her breakfast, the bowl contained more than a half-inch of water.  It rained hard for a while after that, and then it throttled back and rained steady until late in the afternoon.

At first we thought we'd just hole up for a couple of days (the rain is supposed to be worse tomorrow), but we decided it was better to at least get a little farther down the road.  Of course, five minutes down the road I was pretty well soaked through, but the temperatures ranged from around 67 degrees to 70 degrees, so by wearing just a light long sleeve jersey and a lightweight jacket I was able to stay warm enough, provided I rode at a fairly fast pace.  I also put plastic bags over my socks, more to block the wind than to attempt to keep them dry, as the water would simply run off my legs into my shoes.

Does this look like fun?

Probably the most interesting thing we saw along the Trace today was the damage that is still left from an April 2011 tornado, one of the 355 twisters spawned by the 2011 Super Outbreak.  For several miles there are dead trees with their crowns ripped off, somewhat like a forest of giant pitchforks.  

I covered the 51 miles to Jeff Busby Campground (free, primitive site with water available) at an average pace of 18.4 mph.  When I arrived, everything I was wearing was thoroughly soaked, and I suspect my shoes probably weighed 5 pounds each with all the extra water that they were carrying.

When we arrived at Jeff Busby we were surprised that it was nearly deserted.  We talked with a motorcyclist who was here last night and found that all the "glampers" had fled for sunny weather as soon as rain had showed up in the forecast.

Minimalism

Minimalism is a style characterized by extreme spareness and simplicity.  I was pronounced a minimalist the other day, after making a remark about a school bus RV conversion.  I was struck by the fact that the owners had installed a fireplace, so I blurted out "why would you bring a fireplace to a campground?," which seemed like a very logical question to me.  I realize most people have an inherent need to express their individuality, and I suspect there was so much room in the bus that it was simply the fact that nature abhors a vacuum that led to the decision to install a fireplace.  I'm sure it looked cool, but to me it sounds a bit absurd for a camper.

So am I a minimalist?  I suspect most monks, bicycle tourists and backpackers would think not.  After all, with the exception of a toilet and shower, we have all the basic amenities of the biggest RVs.  Is our style simpler than the majority of RVs?  Yes.  After all, we don't need things like mops, vacuum cleaners and blackwater hoses.  And we don't carry things with us that don't get used, as there is simply insufficient spare room for such a practice.  Is it the simplest form of camping?  No, most tent camping is simpler (though even that can also be taken to extremes).  And the vast majority of teardrop trailers are far simpler than ours.

No, we aren't minimalists.  We desire a degree of creature comforts: control of our sleeping environment (heating, cooling, lighting), the ability to prepare a simple meal, and places to organize our gear in a manner that allows us to get what we need without having to unload several other things (the main role of our van).  So simplicity is important to us, but it is far removed from "extreme simplicity."

If more people were aware of what is possible in a teardrop camper,  I suspect more people would own one (at least couples and singles - they aren't the solution for most families).  After all, many people clearly would prefer having a smaller camper, as evidenced by the fact that a lot of folks start out with a small RV, only to upgrade to a larger model so that they don't have to convert a piece of furniture into a bed each night or when they tire of climbing over one another to get in and out of bed.  They could achieve the same goal by downsizing to a teardrop and end up with lower cost of ownership and the freedom to go more places than is possible with a large rig.  Simplicity has many benefits.  And if it is done right, doesn't require many sacrifices.

Getting back on track, the weather has finally changed, with it being cloudy and cooler, with intermittent rain showers.  It is good enough weather for riding (in fact just about ideal with the present temperatures in the 70s), but we made it a short day today, with Alea riding just 17 miles before we left the Trace to camp at Davis Lake ($20, power, water and showers).  That sets us up for a 45 mile ride tomorrow to Jeff Busby Campground, the next closest campground along the Trace.  It sounds as though the wet weather pattern is likely to stay with us for the next several days, so we'll probably be keeping our travel distances short, provided there are convenient campgrounds to allow us to do so.

Cooler, wetter weather has arrived!

Days 83 & 84: Tishimingo & Trace State Parks, MS

As we were leaving the campground at Florence it happened that a steamboat had docked and was taking on and letting off passengers.  So we had to stop to take a picture...

Just as I was dropping Alea off at the Tennessee/Alabama state line yesterday to resume our trip south, Dave & Jayn from Australia happened by on their tandem bicycle.  They are the first self supported cyclists that we've met heading our way in seven weeks of traveling.  But the road was fairly well crawling with cyclists today - at least two supported tour groups, plus a couple and a group of five self supported cyclists (all heading north).  Even one guy that had what looked to be a 1980s steel 10-speed fitted with homemade panniers made out of large kitty-litter pails!

The Alabama-Tennessee state line.

The weather for Alea was almost perfect - 65 degrees and sunny when she pushed off and a high of around 81 degrees by the end of the ride.  The route continued to be scenic, and Rocks Springs was perhaps the best side trip of the day.  It is a short hike to a spring and some beaver dams, with a very nice stepping stone path across a creek.

Hey, Dad!  I figured out what these are for!

Alea!  Watch out for that arrowhead - it's pointed right at you!

We stayed at Tishimingo State Park last night ($19.26, power, water and showers).  We should have been camping lakeside, but the lake had been drawn down, so we were high and dry at our site.  We also made the mistake of not getting out and inspecting the site we had chosen.  When we got back we realized we were right next to a squeaky exhaust fan on the shower house.  But we've come to expect noise most nights (usually from passing trains), so this wasn't too bad.  But the takeaway lesson was that just driving by isn't a great way to select a site.

Dave & Jayn showed up after we arrived, so as they were setting up camp we invited them over for a glass of wine, BYOC (bring your own cup).  They are wrapping up a three month vacation and are seasoned travelers, thanks to the very generous vacation policies of their employers.  They start with 4 weeks off per year, but with many options to extend that while still having a guarantee that their job will be there when they return.  If I had been lucky enough to have had a job like that I'd probably still be working (thankfully I didn't).  We had a fun time swapping adventures and misadventures, until darkness and coolness set in (there was a burning ban in effect, so we couldn't have a campfire).  It's always great to find others who have had a chance to enjoy extended periods of time together while being active.

An interesting thing about their tandem is that it has a folding (actually a two piece frame, with no hinge joint) design.  It has interlocking joints that can be disassembled so that the whole bike fits into two wheel-sized bags for transporting.  We may need to rethink getting small wheeled folding bikes when we go to Europe, as having a full size bike like their tandem would be more comfortable and efficient (though it would be heavier than a standard bike due to the weight of the interlocking joints).

It was my turn to ride this morning, and like yesterday the weather was perfect.  There wasn't a lot along the Trace that piqued our interest, so we pushed hard and arrived in Tupelo, MS around 1:30 in the afternoon.  The first order of business was getting restocked before heading to the campground.  Supposedly we got one of the last two sites at Trace State Park ($21.40, power, water and showers), though I suspect they may have been saving other sites for larger rigs.  But it's good enough for an overnight stop, and the showers are much better than average.

Pharr Mounds.

Lana on the Dogwood Valley Trail.

I arrive at Dogwood Valley trailhead.

Right now we're back in Tupelo, getting caught up on laundry.  After that we're heading out to dinner at a Greek restaurant before returning to the campground for the night.

An interesting thing about the campground - when I walked Lana around our loop it seemed that every license plate was from Lee County, MS (where Tupelo is located), so it seems we are surrounded by locals.

Day 82: Florence, AL

The weather is once again awesome!  The lows were in the upper 40s and quickly warmed into the mid-50s.  It was cool riding in the shade at first, but the temperature gradually warmed into the mid-70s, which is about as good as it gets for me.  And we should have more of the same for the next couple of days.

The terrain has also gotten easier - low rollers that seem to be flattening out as we get farther south.  And traffic on the Parkway has been very light thus far.

We are enjoying traveling along the Parkway, but at our speed it is easy to glance to the side and see brief glimpses of the nearby rural life that is hidden behind the curtain of trees.  It makes us wonder what we might be missing?  Certainly there is less interaction with locals (of which we see virtually none).  But at the same time, we are grateful to be separated from commercial truck traffic, and we don't see nearly as many rental RVs now as we do in the summer.  With all the interpretive sites, it is super easy for Alea to find leapfrogging stops, making this a very stress-free section of our travels.  We're even considering using the Parkway as our means of returning to the Midwest in the spring (we wouldn't consider doing so in the summer, when there is much more RV traffic), instead of using Adventure Cycling's Underground Railroad route (which overlaps some portions of routes that we've been cycling lately).  We're also considering bypassing Louisiana this trip and finding our own route across part of southern Mississippi once we reach Natchez.  There is a good chance that in a year's time we could be traversing parts of the Southern Tier route three different times (across Florida, Alabama, Mississippi and part of Louisiana), so we're looking for ways to minimize the number of segments that we'll need to repeat.

I rode 45 miles to the Tennessee-Alabama state line yesterday.  Since there aren't a lot of camping opportunities on the Trace (the next campground was 35 miles farther down the road), I piled the bike into the van and we drove southeast to Florence, AL where we are camping at McFarland Park ($24, full hookups and showers).  It is situated on Pickwick Lake, a dammed portion of the Tennessee River.  The sites are a bit too close together for our liking, but the park isn't full, so we have a reasonable amount of privacy.  Plus we are in a fair sized city, so we were able to find good pizza for dinner last night.

Readin' and ridin'.

Lunch break at site of McGlamery's Stand.
What is that mysterious object in the upper left corner? ;-)

We are definitely finding that 35-45 miles is an optimal distance for either of us to travel in a day.  Anything beyond 45 miles and the enjoyment of the riding diminishes more quickly with each additional mile (unless we are lucky enough to have had one hell of a tailwind).  So that's the daily mileage target that we'll be shooting for during the remainder of this year's travels.  Next year, during the longer summer days, at times we'll both ride in order to cover 70-90 miles when it makes sense to do so.

Day 81: The Natchez Trace

It was a good ten degrees warmer this morning, and the highs today are in the low 70s, so we are once again moving south.  After returning to where we left our Adventure Cycling route, Alea set off toward the Natchez Trace.  The Trace has no shoulders, but there is a 50 mph speed limit and no commercial traffic is allowed.  And this time of year the traffic seems very light.  There seem to be opportunities to stop and explore something every few miles, and public toilets seem to be available fairly often.  Life seems to have become a bit easier for us and promises to stay that way for the next couple of weeks...

Alea enters the Natchez Trace Parkway.

A viewpoint along the Trace.

Alea enjoys the mild weather and fair roads.

A section of the old Trace.

Alea rode about 35 miles today (we plan to do between 35-50 miles per day from here on out, unless there is some compelling reason to go farther, or to take an extra day off now and then).  After all, the amount of time per day for optimal riding conditions has diminished with the cooler temperatures and shorter days.  So doing more mileage severely limits what else we can do each day, either along the way or once we reach our destination for the night.  

The terrain seems to have flattened out a bit, and once we are inside Mississippi it should be mostly flat (but hopefully not boring).  Tonight we are camping in a free primitive campground in the Meriwether Lewis National Monument.  There is no power or water available, but there are flush toilets located in a heated building.  The sites are large and thus very private, and each has a picnic table and fire pit.  So we couldn't be happier.

If we were to linger here, the forecast is for rain in another three days.  But by that time we hope to be around Tupelo, MS, where it will be cloudy, but should remain dry.

There's a distinct change that is evident, now that we taking the "road more traveled:" we are approached more frequently by people who are curious about our teardrop camper.  We noticed the same thing whenever we'd be traveling near National Parks, that we were a novelty to a much larger audience than we are while passing through small town America on narrow secondary roads.

Our neighbors tonight include Jerry and Kris, who are traveling with their cat in a restored Argosy travel trailer, which we learned was an Airstream brand that was created to allow the company to try producing something other than aluminum trailers, without having to risk their reputation in case any of the new ideas didn't turn out so great.  If I followed the story correctly, Argosy trailers have a superior roof design that avoids the #1 problem with neglected Airstreams - the roof leaks and the floor gets rotted out.

Jerry and Kris are from the Finger Lakes region of New York, where they have an organic farm near Dansville.  They've registered their farm as a site on boondocking.org, which offers an anonymous means for people to offer or request a place to boondock (camp free) for an agreed-to amount of time.  That's an interesting coincidence, as their farm is located where my 2nd and 3rd great grandparents (Charles Augustus and Mariah Lucinda [McEveny] Wiggins and Selden and Sarah Ann [Mapes] Wiggins, respectively) were living when the 1850 Census was taken.  Charles then moved to Illinois and Selden moved a short ways away to Wellsville, NY.  Thus far, solid proof that they were father and son has eluded me, though the family lore appears to be accurate.  I plan to go there to do some deed and probate research to see if I can find anything that proves the connection.  So potentially we won't need to worry about finding a convenient place to stay while we are in the area?

Kris also warned us of what they call "red bug," a sort of chigger (only worse) that burrows into your skin as part of it's reproductive cycle.  They get on the skin or clothing around your feet, and they say that spraying with DEET is one way to keep them off of you.  Once you get infected, they found washing with bleach as an effective solution.  Truly Nolen's website states that painting the bites with nail polish works well and that some people have had good success with Vaseline.

Days 79 & 80: Montgomery Bell State Resort Park, TN

Before leaving the Buffalo KOA, we spied this restored teardrop that had sneaked in after dark.  For once we didn't have the smallest trailer in the park!

A trailer smaller than ours, and an antique no less!

It was 32 degrees when we finally ventured out of the camper, and it was fairly slow to warm up.  Once it got into the 50s we returned north to where we had ended the cycling portion of our trip the day before.  It was 57 degrees when I set off, though it felt much colder with a fairly brisk headwind or sidewind for most of the day.  I don't think we saw the temperature get above 61 degrees until after I had completed the 30+ miles that we had planned.

Earmuffs + tights do not = fun.  

Since the cold snap was going to be around for a couple more days, we opted to go off route to camp at Montgomery Bell State Resort Park ($20, power, water and showers).  It was reasonably close to a fair sized city (Dickson, TN), plus there was a restaurant within the park, so we figured it would be more pleasant staying put and doing some chores than to be riding in weather that was colder than we would like it to be.

A creek meanders along fissure line in the limestone.

We figured out pretty quickly after retiring that we've become fair weather cyclists.  Those "good old days" of commuting to work in 35 degree rain or the occasional bone-chilling 8 degree rides on rutted ice are long gone for us.  We've done that:  it's good to know that we can manage in those conditions, but now we'd prefer to chose our climate, at least to the extent that we can.  And it is clear that there are more pleasant riding days just ahead of us, so there's no need for us to suffer in the saddle while we wait for the warmer weather to return.

Now that we've been on the road for seven straight weeks, it seemed like a good time to figure out what we have been dragging along with us that is of no or very marginal benefit.  That includes a portion of the seat back organizer that we have in the van.  We use if for storing Lana's leashes, harnesses, balls and sweaters.  We decided we had one more sweater for her than we actually needed.  By getting rid of that we no longer needed the storage pocket behind the passenger seat.  So we cut that pocket off and sewed up the loose ends.  The result is that the passenger seat now goes back nearly 2" farther than before, so that I can now sit in the passenger seat without having my knees rub against the dash (Alea was wondering why I always seemed to want to drive the van when we are together).

Our modified seat back organizer.

After three years of owning our teardrop, and close to 30,000 miles of traveling with it, tonight was our first sighting of a Little Guy teardrop camper in the wild.  Little Guys probably sells more teardrops than any other manufacturer (probably at least as many as all other manufacturers combined), so we've often thought it odd that we haven't seen all that many on the road.

Day 78: The Road Less Traveled

A very interesting day, in many ways.  The theme at this year's Camp Inn Camp Outt was 'the road less traveled' from the poem by Robert Frost.  As we were tracing our Adventure Cycling route today, I couldn't help wonder how few RVs would ever be on most of the roads that we were traveling.  There were lots of twists and turns, rises and falls on very narrow roads.  The roads were exceptionally lightly traveled and virtually none are found on our Official Tennessee Highway Map.

I was contemplating all this while parked alongside the road, waiting for Alea to come pedaling by.  Since I was on a ridge top, I used our Spot mapping app to see where she happened to be at that particular moment.  That's when I figured out that I had missed a turn and was headed the wrong direction!  So I quickly fired up the van and set off in search of Alea, knowing that she'd soon be expecting a chance to refuel.

I got turned around looking at the map, and thought that Alea had already made the turn that I had missed.  I ended up getting quite far down the road before figuring out that wasn't the case, so I decided to double back.  While backing up to make a U-turn I saw a dishcloth waving at me in the side view mirror - I had just driven about 20 miles with the galley hatch wide open!  I thought to myself, "Great, the galley tables, our cutting board and half of our food is probably scattered behind me along those twisting country roads!"  But when I checked I couldn't see that anything was missing (amazingly), so I closed it up and rushed back to try to find Alea.

This time I made it to the base of a hill where I thought she should be appearing in short order.  I barely had wifi coverage, so the Spot app took forever to show her location.  I misread the map (too many Hall Creek Road segments and too hard to find Hillcrest Rd with the app), thinking she had missed a turn.  A local good Samaritan happened by and he sent me off to the west to search for her, probably just before Alea came flying down the hill.  I ended up doing a full loop back to where I had just departed, finally catching up with Alea a few miles further down the road.

To my surprise, she had one of our dish towels tied to her handlebar, which she had found on the corner of the original turn that I had missed.  When we both inspected the galley we also noticed that we were missing some of the grocery bags that we use as trash bags.  But everything else seemed to be accounted for.

The plan for this evening was to leave the bike route a bit south of Waverly, TN and stay at the Loretta Lynn Campground.  But when we got there it turned out they were hosting a big dirt bike event.  And while we could've squeezed in somewhere, it didn't appeal to us to be elbows-to-assholes with that many people.  So we kept driving until we got to I-40, where we are staying at the Buffalo, TN KOA ($34.95, power, water and showers), where we have a commanding view of I-40 with a serenade of big rigs that is only occasionally punctuated by the sound of an unmuffled Harley (aren't we lucky?).  We'd rather be camping just about anywhere else, but neither of us was in the mood to continue hunting campsites late on Saturday afternoon!

An interesting rock on Forks River Road, south of Waverly, TN.

So we've got a lot of backtracking to do to get back to the bike route, plus the forecast low for tomorrow morning is only 32 degrees, with a forecast high barely above 60.  It'll be Wednesday before the lows get back to the mid-40s and the highs are in the 70s.  With our sunny lakeside campsite this morning, the thermometer registered in the mid-40s when we finally we brave enough to venture outside.  If the high made it past 60 today, it was just barely.  Most of the day it hovered around 57 degrees.

Our KOA campsite on a sunny but cold morning.

Day 77: When is a Full Campground Not Full?

Land Between the Lakes is a popular regional destination, due to the many boating opportunities, the ORV park, the trails, the bison and elk herds, historic sites and so much more.  So it's no surprise that even in mid-October it is a very busy place, especially around the weekends.  Two nights in a row, when we pulled into the campground we were told that they were "full," though that only meant there were no more sites with sewer connections and very few that could accommodate a long RV.

The obligatory bison picture (a standard requirement for all tourists).

The remnants of a 19th Century iron smelting furnace.

So one of our favorite reasons why we love teardrop camping is that "full" rarely means too full to accommodate us.  Two nights in a row, without advance reservations, we've found sites in full campgrounds, and both times we've ended up with sites with great lakeside views.  Both sites had steep approaches that would cause most RVs to scrape their bumpers or under carriages (as evidenced by the deep, fresh scratches in the loop road's asphalt surface caused by some late arrivals last night), but they were no problem for us.

All we ever get are the leftovers!

Tonight we are at Piney Campground, TN ($22, power and showers), a USFS campground at the southern end of Land Between the Lakes on the shore of Kentucky Lake.  It has been one of our longer travel days in the past few weeks, though it was only 53 miles of mostly low to moderate rollers.  There were several campgrounds that we passed along our way here, but it is supposed to dip into the 30s tomorrow morning, so we came here to be certain that we could plug in our heated mattress pad and/or ceramic heater to stay warm while we wait for the sun to do its magic.  And we are also seeing more and more private campgrounds that have closed for the season, so we need to get farther south fairly soon, where the camping season is closer to year round.

Alea and Lana enjoy the local ambiance.

Day 76: Grand Rivers, KY

It has cooled off and will get colder still over the next two mornings.  It was in the mid-40s this morning and it will soon be dipping into the 30s.  We woke to fog on the Ohio River, and to find that the dredge had made a fair amount of progress during the night.  By this evening it will likely be parallel with last night's campsite.

A dredge at work on the Ohio River.

We decided on another short day, to take advantage of a campground enroute that has laundry facilities.  So we're at Canal Campground ($16, power, water and showers), a Corps of Engineers campground.  It is situated on the north shore of the canal that connects the dammed lakes on the Cumberland River to the east and the Tennessee River to the west.  South of here is the Land Between the Lakes, where we'll be headed next.  While the campground is nearly full, there was plenty of room for us in one of the older loops, which had a great narrow, steep pull through with a view of Barkley Lake and which was situated right next to the shower house.

Our campsite at Canal Campgrounds.

Alea's total mileage today was around 25 miles.  Mostly it was on lightly traveled roads through low rollers, though there were a few longer grades to contend with.  There won't be many stores as we drive the parkway through the Land Between the Lakes, so we've restocked with enough supplies to last us at least a few days.  And once Alea is done with the laundry we shouldn't have to worry about that for several days.

Day 75: Birdsville, KY

We are once again cycling our way south toward Baton Rouge, LA.   There is a free ferry across the Ohio River at Cave-in-Rock, IL, so that's how we got to Kentucky this morning after our drive south from Carmi.  It's not a ferry in the sense that I'm familiar with - it's basically a barge moved by a tugboat that is attached to the side.  It's pretty ingenious how they pivot the tugboat to face the opposite direction after they've offloaded vehicles and are preparing for the return trip across.

The tug as it pivots in order to push the ferry-barge in the opposite direction.

The upriver view of the Ohio River from the ferry.

It felt good to be back in the saddle again.  Five days of rest and three pieces of pecan pie were starting to manifest themselves in undesirable ways.  But I think my metabolism will be back in high gear soon enough.

It was clear as we were crossing the river that there is less elevation on the south shore of the Ohio than on the north side.  So while there were plenty of rollers, most weren't steep and none were long enough to have been memorable.  If that stays that way for most of the riding across Kentucky and Tennessee, then it should be pleasant riding (provided the weather continues to cooperate).

Due to spacing of campgrounds (our options were to ride around 30 miles or more than 60) it was a short day for us.  We're camping for the night in Birdsville, KY at Birdsville RV and Campground ($17, power, water and showers), situated on the south shore of the Ohio River.  The sites are spaced reasonably far apart for a private campground, and their are plenty of vacant sites (I think the end of the season is closing in and it will be shut down in a couple of weeks).

There's a dredge working just downstream from us, working to maintain the depth (probably 9 feet) of the main shipping channel.  I'd take a picture, but with our 4X optical zoom it comes out as a blurry little blob.

End of the ride at Birdsville, KY

Day 74: Carmi, IL

I spent the morning and part of the afternoon doing family history research, mostly for a book about the first families of Phillipstown, IL (an older draft of which can be found here).  But I also wanted to find some sort of estate file for my great grandfather, William Thomas Malone, who my grandmother had said died in nearby Maunie, White County, Illinois.  I suspect that was where he was living when he died, but not where he died.  At any rate, there was no deed or probate record that would indicate who his heirs were.  My aunt says that he had a daughter by an unknown wife, and that is a mystery that I'd like to solve.  But no luck so far.

I'd often wondered if my 2nd ggf, Absalom Malone, was the first blacksmith of Crossville, IL?  The 1880 Census shows that the village had another blacksmith (Charles Ward) in addition to Abs, so who came before whom?  It turns out that Absalom purchased four lots in town (Lots 1, 2 & 3 of Block 15 and Lot 1 of Block 13) on 1 Jan 1878 (White County, Illinois Deeds, Book 21, pages 511 and 512).  While Charles Ward didn't show up until 1 Apr 1880, purchasing Lot 6 of Block 13 (White County, Illinois Deeds, Book 29, page 165).  So Absalom holds the distinction of having been the first blacksmith of Crossville!

Absalom's brother Thomas was the first blacksmith of Poseyville, IN, and their grandfather, John Hunter, Junior, was the first blacksmith of Owensville, Indiana Territory.  So it's nice to know that the pioneering tradition was kept alive.

My apologies for all this family history stuff lately.  I'm using the blog as a way to maintain the notes from my research, at least for stuff where I haven't gotten copies or some sort of digital record.  It's pretty likely this will be the end of the genealogy research for this year.

Days 72 & 73: Carmi, IL

We made a slight change of plans yesterday morning.  Instead of taking the ferry to Kentucky, we reverted to our original plan, which was to make a detour to visit Carmi, IL, since that is where the White County courthouse and Mary Smith Fay Genealogy Library are located.  My great grandfather (William Thomas Malone) died here, as did my 2nd ggf (Absalom Malone).  There are also several older ancestors who also died here (surnames Brown, Hon, Johnston and Russell), in the area around Phillipstown.

What harpooned our original plans was that today is Columbus Day and the courthouse is closed.  So that left us with the prospect of treading water for a couple of days until I could do some family history research (the main reason for visiting here).

But the main lure of coming here was Burrell Park, a City of Carmi campground ($16, full utilities and FREE firewood).  So we decided that we'd camp here for the night and I drove into Evansville, IN on Sunday to do some research at Willard Library about the Davises of Livingston County, Kentucky, and to do some research for a  cousin, Neil Martin.  

Our campsite at Burrell Park in Carmi, IL.

The Willard Library has the early Livingston County, KY tax lists on microfilm.  In them, Mathis or Matthias Davis is listed as Matthews Davis (there is a Mathis Davis listed in the 1820 Census for Jackson County, Illinois, where my Davises were early settlers).  It is the same guy, based upon the amount of land on Bissell Creek (also seen spelled as Bizzle or Biswell) that he was taxed for (174 acres).  The interesting thing there is that Hezekiah Davis also lived on land on Bissell Creek, though the two men were NOT directly related.   There is pretty clear evidence that Hezekiah's father was Vann Davis (who died in Pendleton District, South Carolina) and that Mathis was not Vann's son.  But it is very curious that Hezekiah and Mathis lived in Livingston County, KY before moving to Jackson County, IL (assuming that Mathis is the same person who was living next to Aaron Davis in the 1820 Census in Jackson County).  If the records in Livingston County, KY and Jackson County, IL are for the same person (he sold his land in Livingston County just prior to the 1820 Census), then it hints at the possibility that my 4th ggf James Davis quite possibly was somehow related to Hezekiah Davis.  The two men lived about 5 miles from each other in Jackson County, Illinois for a couple of decades.  

For my cousin Neil Martin I was looking for records related to his ancestor Elsberry Armstrong, but I had no luck.  He is definitely not in the Grantor deed indexes for Vanderburgh County, IN, nor in the probates for either Posey County or Vanderburgh County.  The last possibility is that something may exist in the deed records of Posey County, but that will require a trip to the courthouse in Mount Vernon or to order the early deed indexes for Posey County from the Family History Library.  The latter is the simpler thing to try.

While in Posey County I revisited the family graveyard near Cynthiana where my 3rd and 4th ggps are buried (Williams and Caters).  It was distressing to see that in two years time a number of small headstone fragments had gone missing and that there was evidence of a few stones having been pulverized, likely by farm machinery.

Simon Williams Family Cemetery near Cynthiana, IN.

Anyway, Burrell Park is currently our favorite campground of the trip.  It's a great little park, far from the highway, only occasional train traffic noise, the price is unbeatable and it is close to stuff that we are interested in.  We stayed over today in order to wash the van and trailer at our campsite.  When we do that at most car washes it costs us $10 just to spray off the grime (a full wash could easily be twice that amount), so the car wash pretty much gave us a free night of camping.  Loraine is now as shiny as new, and #531 is sparkling clean also - the cleanest that they've both been in over six weeks!

While at Cave in Rock State Park the trailer became coated in tree sap (luckily stuff that washed off very easily), so we've decided that we'll avoid having that happen again by leaving from here on Wednesday morning to catch the ferry to Kentucky.  We originally were going to camp again at Cave in Rock, but it's cheaper for us to stay here, and we'll have a short enough riding day that getting a late start after the ferry ride won't be a problem for us.