Rock Island State Park

So, we take the gig as camp hosts for Rock Island State Park in Tennessee. They wanted at least a 30 day commitment, about 25 hours a week from us, and in return we get the free full hook up campsite. No real “job description”, and the only physical labor they wanted was cleaning two bathroom/shower buildings in the campground. The main function they wanted from their camp host(s) was to “meet and greet” campers, kinda the Walmart Greeters of the camping set.  Piece of cake...

The park is located basically in the center of the state, in the middle of the Nashville-Chatanooga-Knoxville triangle. There are two large rivers right here, the Caney Fork and the Collins, with a large dam which is used by TVA to generate power. With that there are some spectacular water falls and a large gorge area. As has been the case for the past month, rain tends to come down in buckets at the drop of a hat and disappear just as quickly, with temperatures in the 80’s and 90’s. The humidity has been bearable, some days a bit heavier than others. We have been taking our time checking out the local sites, as well as nearby towns. Getting used to the local critters and bugs is going to take some time. The park Rangers here said we should not worry about running into Copperhead snakes, a person encounters such a snake about once every 5 years. So much for Ranger math/statistics...We had 2 encounters within one week alone!

Twin Falls, water just pourin' out of the mountainside.

The Gorge just below the dam, a popular swimming hole.

Oops! The Gorge, just after a couple days of rain...

A view of the river, hiking down the Downstream Trail. Water still pourin' out of the mountainside...

Another "view" from the Downstream Trail...Mr. Copperhead blocking our passage.  He was about 3 feet long...

This was "Baby Copperhead" found trying to steal from the Pepsi machine outside the bathrooms at the campground.

One of our eerie friends, just cruisin' through our campsite.

We had to rescue Mr. Snapping Turtle from his wanderings through the traffic lanes of Hwy. 287. He was not too pleased with our unrequested assistance, he nearly snapped the branch off that I used to get him out of the road. Nasty little bugger...

We find flocks of these guys in and around the campground bathrooms...Cicadas, or what I classify them as "house flies on steroids"!

So far, the big towns we have checked out are Chatanooga and Murfreesboro. Jeanne really liked the Murfreesboro area, a town of about 100,000 which shopping-wise reminded her of Santa Rosa, CA. Plus, Murfreesboro is only about 1/2 hour away from Nashville.

The Tennessee River in Chatanooga.

There are a handful of small towns near Rock Island State Park; Sparta, McMinnville, Bell Buckle, Lynchburg (home of Jack Daniels distillery), Manchester, and Tullahoma, just to name a few. Everywhere we turn, Tennesseeans are EXTREMELY polite & friendly, and when they hear that we are full timers looking to relocate in this state, they invariably turn into recruiters, nearly begging us to move to whatever town they live in.

Antique shop in "downtown" Bell Buckle. More like a sight out of the movie, "Back to the Future."

"Vinyl Radio" playing in downtown McMinnville during their summer concert series. "Day on the Green", Tennessee style. They played 70's rock hits...

Well, our hunt continues. Until next time...

Nashville

So we packed up Max and his ma and moved on to the Nashville Jellystone Park. Max had fun there with more “Hey” rides and swimming in the pool. He is turning into quite the fish with his underwater prowess...We stayed at this particular park because it was a bit hard finding places with spaces, we were in the middle of the CMA “Fan Fair” and town was PACKED. We were able to walk around the downtown venue areas and we caught some of the performances in the various stage areas. It was OK, but we did get some rain. OK, a LOT of rain. The drawback to this stopover was that Nashville is a large tourist town and EVERYTHING gets marked up in price, so it can get a bit costly to spend any amount of time here.  Jenn and Max got to see the Gaylord’s Opryland Resort and Opry Mills shopping mall which are very large areas in themselves. While we were in Nashville we took the time to check out the Brentwood and Franklin areas, two suburbs of Nashville. Very nice... All good things must come to an end, and it was time to put Max and Jenn on a plane back to Looneyville (AKA: California). It was a bit tough to see them go.

Hangin' with Yogi and Mom at the Nashville Jellystone RV Park

Dancin' with Yogi's woman, Cindy Bear at Jellystone

Checkin' out Lauren Alaina at the CMA Fan Fair in downtown Nashville

Kickin' back for the ride with Mom on the 4-wheeler

Me and Oma and Opa at Gaylord's Opryland Resort

In front of the Aquarium restaurant in the Opry Mills shopping mall

Having lunch with the elephants at the Rainforest Cafe in the Opry Mills mall

On the walking bridge looking down to the Titan's stadium downtown Nashville

"What, ME worry?"

We then returned to the Rainbow/SKP park in Heiskell for a couple of weeks. The trailer had a small leak in the seals for the bedroom slide, so we had that taken care of while we continued to check out the area. Buddy Gregg RV Sales and Service in Knoxville did an outstanding job of taking care of us, they have a very large service program and an on site camp area for full timers.  We took a short jaunt up to Cumberland Falls State Park in Kentucky, the falls were interesting to see. We snuck over to Rock Island State Park outside of Sparta, TN, to check out a possible stint as Camp Hosts. It was a very green mountain area, and as it turned out, we got the host gig for which we committed at least for the month minimum that they requested, but probably will be there for a couple of months, we’ll see...

Tommy the Turtle came out to see us at the Heiskell Rainbow/SKP Park

My beautiful bride at the Cumberland Falls State Park in Kentucky

Our home at the Heiskell Rainbow/SKP Park

We also contemplated trading in the 5er and getting a Class A diesel pusher and “towed”. We found a 2013 Phaeton 40 footer that we really liked, so we started the process at the local dealer. Unfortunately, we quickly found that it is not easy to get financing if you are a full timer, even with the financing companies that claim to specialize in full timers (Essex being one of the more popular of them). Well, the deal eventually fell through, but we will continue our quest to get into a bus, albeit at a slow pace, no rush, take it easy...

On to Rock Island State Park...

Time for some Tennessee 'splorin'...

We made it to Branson! Jenn and Max made it! Let the fun begin! We started off with the Rainbow/SKP park, Turkey Creek RV Village in Hollister. It is a small park right on Turkey Creek near where it connects to Taneycomo Lake. The Landing, a popular outdoor mall, is nearby and all is just outside the mess of downtown Branson. We picked Jenn and Max up from the Branson airport and got them situated in the trailer (“Pack ‘em in!”). During the week while we waited for the plane, Oklahoma City area got nailed by the tornado and Jeanne heard a tornado had touched down at the Lake Thunderbird State Park, which we had left about a week ago. Topping that off, the tornado warnings and alerts got intense in the Hollister/Branson area while we were there. Luckily, all we got was some thunder and lightning shows and a little bit of rain.  We got some visiting in with family (the Bevins clan and the Pace clan), then we relocated to the Compton Ridge Campground where the Bevins’ had a permanent campsite and we spent the Memorial Day weekend there with them.  We’ve still been fighting the ticks, and the women got a thrill (read “scare”) when word came out a camper got bit by a copperhead snake while we were there. Max had fun with his cousins and swimming in the pool. And what visit to Branson would be complete without a visit to Lambert’s, “Home of the Throwed Rolls”. 

Compton Ridge Campground in Branson.

"Now, THIS is a vacation!"

Hay rides at Compton Ridge. "Yee Hawwww!"

From Branson it was off to Loretta Lynn’s Ranch at Hurricane Mills, TN, a campground with concert facility, rodeo facilities, and a motocross type track area for M/C’s and ATV’s. We did not get a chance encounter with Loretta Lynn, but had a fun time touring the ranch/facilities in a rented golf cart. I think it was the highlight of Jenn’s visit, driving the cart... We got to take Max swimming in Hurricane Creek and the pool on the ranch, he had a fun time. They put on a “campfire songfest” with some pretty good musicians playing guitar. No snakes encountered here, but Max did get a close look at a fair sized turtle.

Chillin' in Hurricane Creek...

Max, hangin' with Oma and Opa in Hurricane Mills.

Just cruisin' in my cool ride. "Look, Ma, no hands!"

The Jellystone Campground in Cosby, TN was our next destination. This was a great family park, they do a lot of activities for the kids, and the owner is a big kid himself. While we were there a church kids choir from Georgia came and gave a concert on the grounds. We were also in the area of Gatlinburg and Pigeon Forge, so we tried to do a day at Dollywood.  The weather was not real cooperative during our whole stay here, we got some serious rain/thunder/lightning.  The day we tried to go to Dollywood, the rain came down so hard you could not see while driving. There was just enough let-up in the rain so Max could enjoy a couple of “Hey Rides” with Yogi Bear through the park grounds. We did manage to drive into the Smoky Mountain National Park, but it was in that driving rain and we made it to the top of Clingman’s Dome, but the fog/mist was so thick we could not see past the parking area. We did get some spectacular views from other vantage points.

Ma and me and Yogi...

Hey Rides at Jellystone.

Oma and Opa in the Smoky Mountains. "How come they call them the Smoky Mountains?"

Next stop we drove to the Rainbow/SKP park, Raccoon Valley C.G. in Heiskell just outside of Knoxville. From there we managed to make it to Dollywood during clear weather and we had a good time until about 3:00 in the afternoon when the skies opened up again on us. We terminated our stay there at that time, since Dollywood closes all outdoor rides when lightning activity gets within 6 miles or so of the park, and it did. We made a trip to downtown Knoxville to the area of Market Square and the World Fair Park. We did some shopping in town and found a great dog park to take the doggies to, part of the Pet Safe business complex there in town. 

"This is how I fly at Dollywood!"

Let the fun begin...

"Lightning storm! Run for your life!" 

Me and Opa in the fountains at the World Fair park in Knoxville.

Our next stop is the Jellystone Campground in Nashville, just up the street from the Grand Ol’ Opry. Stay tuned...

Eastbound and Down...

The RV repair place was Dean’s RV Superstore in Tulsa, OK. They were of outstanding assistance to us and got us in a day earlier than our appointment. The staff was friendly and courteous and I would recommend Dean’s to anyone needing repairs or parts. They even allowed us to set up on their front lot and spend the night there, no fee and with electric hook-up.

But let the fun continue. We wanted to spend a few days at Lake Tenkiller State Park outside of Gore, OK. We got there and met the Oklahoma RV Club, a small RV group that were already there. Very friendly folks, they came to our door and invited us over for BBQ and social time. Lake Tenkiller is a very nice, CLEAR water lake which touts fishing and SCUBA diving. We spoke with a SCUBA instructor who was diving there and he said they had a roped off area for SCUBA only, and they had submerged a small airplane, a helicopter, and a bus for diving.

Tenkiller Lake, the SCUBA area

There were a couple of short paved trails in the park, the Nature Center was interesting with a few of the local snakes on display, such as timber rattlesnake, diamondback rattlesnake, copperhead, bull snake, rat snake and a caged dove that kept “laughing” at us.

This guy did not like me taking his picture...

One drawback to this park was there was no beach/designated swim area that we found. It was more geared for boating. And, as usual for us, we got some nasty rain/thunder/lightning storms pretty much the bulk of our few days stay there.

The members of the Oklahoma RV Club told us about another state park that we should try to see, the Natural Falls State Park, just 6 miles west of Siloam Springs, Arkansas but still in Oklahoma.  We headed there for our next adventure. It was a nice, small park in heavily wooded area just off Hwy. 412. We walked the short trails around the park and found the walk to the falls very scenic.  The falls are about 70’ high and I’m told they filmed parts of “Where the Red Fern Grows” in this park. The one drawback to these trails was the amount of ticks we picked up (9 to be precise).

Bring lots of repellant with you for these walks. We happened to be here during Mother’s Day weekend and there were lots of families here. Surprisingly, the park remained very quiet in the nighttime and early morning times despite the number of small kids here.

Our home at Natural Falls State Park, OK

The Natural Falls, the smaller one on the right appears to be fully spring fed.

The Falls, from the top.

Well, it is time to depart the great state of Oklahoma and head into Branson, Missouri for family visits. Until next time... 

Oklahoma!

So, since our live version of “The Extreme Weather Show” never ends, on we go from Santa Fe, New Mexico. We took a leisurely drive into Amarillo, Texas and found the Amarillo Ranch RV Park. It was a nice park, has an indoor pool and spa, and very large pull through sites. We got there with temps in the 90’s, but the following day the winds picked up and the temps cooled way down.  The forecast for the 3rd day called for freezing, so we decided that was enough for Amarillo. Upon packing up to leave, the icy winds raged and kicked up a huge dust storm as we headed out E/B Hwy. 40. It took about 2 hours driving to get us out of the dust and winds.  We continued on into Hinton, OK, where we found the Red Rock Canyon State Park. This was a pretty cool park hidden among some spectacular canyons of red rock right in the middle of the immense flatness that is central Oklahoma. We pulled in with nice, sunny weather and found the park nearly empty.  Found us a spot at the very back of the park, next to bathrooms and showers, then watched as the weather turned progressively worse as the night unfolded. Again, icy, RAGING winds tried to blow our trailer off the face of the Earth, and icy rain dumped on us in the night and into the next morning.

Home in Red Rock Canyon. Lots of socializing here...NOT!

Fishin' pond under the cliffs.

They encourage rappelling at Red Rock Canyon State Park. Here is one typical rappelling face.

The drive into the canyon...

The weather the next day was TERRIBLE still! The forecast called for snow, but all we got was 60 MPH winds and temps in the 30’s, with occasional rain flurries. So much for trying to hike around the park. 

A couple days of that and off we went to Lake Thunderbird State Park in Norman (OKC) Oklahoma. This park is split on opposite sides of the Lake and we randomly picked the Indian Point side.  They had some lakeview full hookups, a bit pricy at $28/day ($27 with Good Sam discount). The lake was nasty looking reddish/brown water (the dirt around it was of the bright red variety). One of the locals camping near us said they referred to it as Lake Dirty Bird.

Lakeview at Lake "Dirty Bird", as the locals refer to it...

Lake Thunderbird

We went into OKC and visited the Oklahoma City Memorial Museum and Park, a very somber experience. Then we went downtown and walked around the area called “Bricktown”. 

This is the Survivors Tree at the Oklahoma City Museum and Memorial. This tree stood in the middle of the parking lot across the street from the front of what was the Murrah building. The explosion demolished most if not all of the cars parked in that lot, but this tree withstood the power of the blast.

The weather stayed pretty blah and cold while we were at Lake Thunderbird. We did manage to take a short drive to the other side of the lake and check out the Clear Bay camping areas. If I had my “druthers” I would have probably preferred to stay there.  The RV sites looked like they had water and electric, most if not all were large concrete pads and spacious sites, and they went for $25/night (or probably $24 with Good Sam). There was a dump station at the front area of the driveway.  Clear Bay had a lakeside cafe, horse stables with horse riding opportunities, a nature center, and boat launch.

Terrible weather that we were still in, we headed into Tulsa where we had to have some minor repairs done to the trailer and a Keystone authorized repair place there was the only one I could find along our path that had an appointment available within a reasonable time frame.  More on that next time...

Santa Fe, NM

Our first stop in Santa Fe was the Hyde Memorial State Park, which was in the mountains at about 8400 feet. The air was a bit on the thin side. This state park lays claim to be the first state park in New Mexico. It was a bit rough to get to, we had to tow through some VERY skinny streets, with A LOT of closures and construction going on. But we finally made it. The sites with power (only) for trailers were off the main road that leads to a ski area. There were several good hiking trails in the area and we had fun on the East and West Circle trails. I think it was the East Circle trail that we took which was a 3 mile hike up the mountain with a 1,000 foot elevation change. At the top we were at 9,440 feet above sea level.  Good hike!

A view of the valley floor from the East Circle trail.

"YeeeeeHawwwwwww, we made it to the top, 9440 feet!"

But, of course, we did have weather issues, GO FIGURE?!! On our third day, after temperatures in the 60's and 70's, we just had to get snow! We got several inches of the white stuff. Is this what snowbirdin' is all about???!!!???

Our campsite at Hyde Memorial State Park. Nobody told us that to be "snowbirds" in RV terms, we were supposed to follow the WARM weather!"

We only stayed at Hyde Park for 4 days. There was no cell reception and no internet access while we were there, so we headed to another RV park outside of Santa Fe, the Rancheros de Santa Fe Campground. It was an old run down KOA campground, but they had laundry, cell reception, and wifi albeit weak signal. We had to hang out for at least 2 days and maybe 4 because we were waiting for our Alternative Resources mailing. So to kill time, we went into Santa Fe to walk around the Plaza area. That looked to be one of their main touristy things to do. Other than that, it looked to be geared toward the summertime activities being so close to the Rio Grande river. The "highlight" of our stay at this RV park was the New York style pizza we got at a nearby shop called Pizza Centro.  Mmmmmmm, tasty. Looks like we will be outta here tomorrow, on to Amarillo, TX!