Final Post - Cades Cove, then Home Again!

It's been over a week since the last post and this one will wind it up for this trip. We left Arrow Rock, MO last Friday headed east on I-70. We hit I-64 just west of St. Louis and crossed the Mississippi River with a good view of The Arch - LaVerne got some good pictures out the living room window.

From St. Louis we were on I-64 east through southwestern Illinois awhile, then took I-57 & I-24 south to Kentucky. We spent Friday night at Kentucky Dam Village State Park near Gilbertsville, KY. Saturday we made it on to Nashville, hit I-40 to Knoxville, then off to Maryville & Townsend, TN and to Cades Cove in The Great Smoky Mountain National Park.

We had made reservations for 6 nights and it was a good thing -- the place was packed. The lady at the desk when we checked in said they only had one campsite left (and it was a tent site). We got into our reserved site and got set up for the week.

Sunday we attended Bethel Baptist Church in Townsend. It is almost like a home away from home - we've been here many times over the last several years. The people are very friendly and we've gotten to know some of them during our previous visits. They have a new young pastor and the church is doing very well - we really enjoyed the worship service.

The rest of the week was just good relaxing camping fun. We went around the loop early a couple of mornings and again late every afternoon - the mountain scenery is beautiful as always.

　

The Cades Cove wildlife is still plentiful and we saw the usual critters.

 

One day we went to Pigeon Forge for breakfast and then did a little shopping. Other than that, we pretty well hung around camp all week. We had no cell or internet service, plus no Braves on TV, so we did a lot of reading and had a few good campfires. We met some really nice folks from Knoxville who were camping next to us all week.

Today we were up early and left headed for home. Had a good ride and got home about 1:30. Everything at home was in good shape - except the grass is about knee deep! We've been gone about a month and a half and have had a very good trip! We do thank God and give Him the Glory for the safe and trouble free 3200 miles that we traveled. For you that have been following us, we're glad you were along for the ride! Until next time ----

Arrow Rock, MO -- Again!

Well, we made a decision and did a U-turn and headed back east. We've been following the birds as they migrate north, but they've outrun us and we don't want to go chasing them any farther. We actually left home about 3 weeks later than we needed to, but there were some extenuating circumstances that didn't allow that. Oh well, we have seen a lot of birds and some old (plus new) territory.

We're not in a big hurry to get back home, and we're going to just mosey along. We left Big Lake State Park in the northwest corner of Missouri on Tuesday, took I-29 south through Kansas City, and then I-70 east and came back to Arrow Rock. As you've figured out, this is one of our favorite places in Missouri. The park is almost empty in mid-week, so we were able to get the same campsite that we had here a week ago.

One place we didn't get to visit the last time we were here is a small town named Blackwater about 11 miles away. It has a lot of history and we've been through it several times as we leave I-70 headed to Arrow Rock, but have never stopped. Yesterday (Wednesday) we drove over to Blackwater and strolled up and down both sides of the main drag. Like most old towns, most of the businesses from yesteryear are gone, and now there are only antique stores, gift shops, a couple of banks, the post office, a couple of restaurants, City Hall, and a telephone equipment museum.

View of the highway coming into town

Even though it isn't very big, the telephone museum was especially interesting to me - several old switchboards, some old equipment bays, displays of old phones, etc. Back in my days with Western Electric I worked on some of this stuff. The museum wasn't open, but you could see all the stuff on display through the windows and I got some decent pictures. A lady in one of the gift shops said we could see the lady at City Hall and she would open it for us, but we didn't bother with that.

The population of Blackwater is listed on the city limits sign as 199. We rode through some of the streets just to get a feel for the town. Passed one house that had several pretty horses in a pasture.

Tomorrow (Friday) we're headed on east through St. Louis, then southeast to Kentucky Dam Village at the north end of Land Between the Lakes in Kentucky. It's a state park we've used as a stopover before. After one night there, we'll head on southeast thru Nashville and Knoxville, TN to one of our most favorite places of all - Cades Cove in the Great Smoky Mountain National Park. We are going to stay there for close to a week before we head to the barn. There's no cell or internet service in Cades Cove, so I'll wrap up the blog with a final post when we get home.

　

Big Lake State Park, Mound City, MO - Part 2

We had a great Memorial Day weekend here at Big Lake State Park and today (Monday) we had a great 36th wedding anniversary. Yesterday we went across the road to the Big Lake Baptist Church. We could have just walked across the highway, but we were too lazy. The church suffered a lot of flood damage like everything else around here, but they've completely refurbished it and it is back to its original condition. The service was very laid back - folks in shorts, T-shirts, flip-flops, etc (lake crowd). We just had on casual clothes, but felt almost over dressed. Don't want to be judgmental, but they were not very friendly. The preacher was the only one that even spoke to us.

This area of Missouri is big farm counrty. Most of the land is flat and the fields are huge. The corn is up about 4-5 inches by now.

 

The main attraction in this area (for us) is the Squaw Creek National Wildlife Refuge, which is about 8 miles back east toward I-29. In fact, it is the main reason we came here.

They have a Visitor's Center (with gift shop) and an auto-tour around a 10-mile loop through the refuge. It's a little late in the year for the thousands and thousands of Snow Geese and ducks, plus the huge flocks of other water birds. However, there are still some around. Since we got here Friday we've made 3 trips through the refuge.

Sign Says 25mph, but nobody's going that fast. 5-10mph is more like it.

 

On the back side of the refuge the auto-tour goes through a tree-covered lane about a mile and a half long. Lots of small birds through here - warblers, flycatches, robins, buntings, etc.

There are a couple of resident Bald Eagle pairs that nest here every year. We happened to catch one of them resting in a tree!

There are still a few Snow Geese and White Pelicans here.

 

There are a lot of Canada Geese and their goslings have hatched. We saw several broods of different sizes.

 

We were also lucky to spot a female Wood Duck with her little ones.

I happened to get this unique picture -- see the Snow Goose, the White Pelican, and the Canada Goose all lined up!

One of the most common birds we've seen is the Red-Winged Blackbird - not only here, but everywhere else we've been where there's water. They are ubiquitous!

Another sort of rare bird for us is the Whimbrel -- we saw this small flock of them.

They have built houses for the Tree Swallows and have given each one of them an address. All the residents were home!

 

It's not just birds in the refuge, there are also raccoons and deer. We caught this raccoon looking at us from the side of a tree and the other one was trying to catch crawdads.

 

Tomorrow is traveling day again, so until next time -----------

Big Lake State Park, Mound City, MO - Part 1

Friday we were up at 5:15 AM and left at 6:00. We only had about 60 miles to go, but as I mentioned at the end of the previous post, Big Lake State Park near Mound City, MO has been closed due to flood damage and they're re-opening today. It is first-come, first-served, plus it's Memorial Day weekend. We wanted to make sure we got here early enough to get a site.

Well, when we arrived (about 7:15), the barricade at the entrance was still up and there was a sign that said they would be opening at Noon. There was already one set of folks ahead of us and there was no place to park the motorhome on the little narrow road. We unhitched the Jeep and left it at the barrricade, and parked the motorhome across the street in the driveway of a vacant house. A little later they let us into a big parking lot and started lining us up in the order we had arrived (a few others were getting here by now). I got the motorhome and lined it up behind the Jeep. We were able to walk into the campground and pick what site we wanted, so when they opened it up, we would be able to go straight to our site. We were initially second in line, but after awhile the folks in front of us decided to abandon the wait and left. That left us first in line.

Big Lake is another of those ox-bow lakes formed years ago when the Missouri River took a short cut across a big bend and left this lake isolated. It isn't very wide (about wide as the river), but is 3 or 4 miles long. We didn't realize the damage the flood had caused, I was thinking some minor damage recently. It didn't take us long to figure out that the flood was a major one that occurred in 2011 and the park has been closed three years. They've been working since then to repair all the damage. There is no grass in the campground - it's all black dirt (silt) that has been seeded with straw on top. A lot of the trees were killed and have been taken out.

Most of the campsite driveways are gravel, but there are four handicapped ones that are paved and have concrete around the picnic table area. They weren't designated, and since this was the first day of the re-open, the lady said any and all sites were first-come, first-served - including the handicapped ones. Well, shoot - we picked out one of those sites and since we were first in line, we got it with no problem. LaVerne likes it because she doesn't have to worry about getting her shoes muddy. It faces the lake across the street, so we have a good view.

The flood that wiped this place out must have been a sight to see. All the trees have water line marks that show the level the water got to. This place was really underwater for awhile!!

All up and down the road you can see the water marks on the houses, higher on some than others depending on the lay of the land.

This post is just for this campground and about the flood and damage. What are the odds?? This campground has been closed for three years, and on a crowded holiday weekend when we needed a campsite, they re-opened and we just happened to hear about it. We're thanking God a bunch!

I will do another post later about what we did here.

　

　

Lewis & Clark State Park - Rushville, MO

Tuesday we left Arrow Rock and headed west on I-70 to Kansas City (singing Chuck Berry's "Goin to Kansas City"), and then north on I-29 for a few miles, then off on Hwy 273 northwest to Lewis & Clark State Park near Rushville, MO. We've been to this park before on some of our previous trips. It is on an ox-bow lake just off of the Missouri River. An ox-box lake is a U-shaped body of water that is formed when a river or other big stream takes a short cut (usually during flooding) and changes it's course leaving what once was a curve in the river cut off from the new river path.

We have a nice campsite with our back to the rest of the campground. We're facing a big field and have a couple of big Sycamore trees to provide shade. As you can see, the campground wasn't too crowded when we arrived. There were a lot of folks that came in over the next two days getting ready for the weekend.

 

Lot's of birds - Baltimore Orioles, American Goldfinches, English Sparrows, Robins, and several others.

 

Baltimore Oriole

 

Immature Baltimore Oriole 

 

American Goldfinch 

 

He brought the Missus! 

 

Yesterday (Wednesday) we had a relaxing day and just hung out around the park. It doesn't take much to entertain us -- first thing in the morning a guy comes with a big tractor and a huge set of harrows and commenced to plow the field.

 

We just sat outside and watched him. The plow is about 32 feet wide, so it didn't take him too long - maybe an hour and a half. LaVerne said I should have asked him to let me plow a round or two, but I didn't.

Glad he didn't plow our satellite dish!

 

While the guy was plowing the field, a lady from the park maintenance decided to mow the grass. All kinds of noise going on there for a little while!

 

Up in the day we drove over to the Day Use area of the park beside the lake. Saw a big flock of Canada Geese, plus a few Snow Geese and Ross's Geese. The Ross's Geese are very similar to Snow Geese, but a little smaller.

Ross's Goose

 

An immature Ross's Goose 

 

This place is one of the sites along the Lewis & Clark Trail that we followed back in 2006. Since the last time we were here, they have built a nice monument with benches in a circle that have all the names of the members of the L&C expedition.

 

We noticed a really bad smell when were were close to the water, and spotted the source. The whole bank was lined with dead carp. The host here at the park said they died over the winter from lack of oxygen in the lake.  Whoooeee, what a stench!

 

Next to the park in a small community called Lewis & Clark Village.  Nothing really ritzy, - mostly lake houses. Thought this one was interesting.

 

There was a big thunderstorm that came through before daylight this morning (Thursday) and then it was cooler and windy. We had to make a WalMart run, so we drove over to Atchison, KS.   It's only 5 miles or so west across the Missouri River. They have a very nice Veterans Memorial Park and a concrete walk about a mile alongside the river.

Veterans Memorial Park with Missouri River and new bridge in background.

 

Walking path along river 

 

Tomorrow is moving day again - we're headed on up the Missouri River about 60 miles to another state park. We hope we can get a site -- it is Memorial Day weekend. The park we're going to has been closed for awhile because of flood damage and tomorrow is supposed to be the day they re-open. They're not taking reservations - first come, first served. We are going to leave early and hope for the best!