Fort Donnelson, TN

March 8th after our disastrous time unhitching we went to Mama Mia's in Dover, TN for dinner. We each had to tell about ourselves and get our "picture took." Next day the 9th, we toured Ft. Donnelson. When Grant took Ft. Henry, on the Tennessee river and Ft. Donnelson, on the Cumberland river, the war began to turn around for the Union. Grant got the moniker "Unconditional Surrender" after these battles. Even if you only have a passing interest in the Civil War you might Google these two battles.

It has been really cold here. Low's have been 35, in fact 35 was the high one day. Rain or the threat of rain each day. As it turns out it was like this in 1862 when these folks had their battles. I wonder why they did not have the good sense to fight in Florida, California, or southern Texas? Much nicer there this time of year.

I was on a cannon loading team. My position was #3 which meant I had a multitasking position. I had to put my gloved thumb over the primer hole while the cannon was being sponged out between firings to make sure no fire was left in there. Also, I had to aim the cannon before it was fired again. Most importantly, I had to know when to get out of the way of the recoil when the thing was fired!

Here we are, the intrepid shooters. 

After firing the cannon is swabbed out.

Stand back!

Overlooking the Cumberland River.

You will have to imagine the Unions ironclads firing from the river.

See Ya! Barry and Shirley

The day arrived to join the caravan just ten miles away in Tennessee. We thought the time of arrival was after 3 p.m. instead if was from noon to 3. So we were a little late. Because of our lateness, there are no pictures of our arrival, of the park or of our beautiful campsite. We parked backing up to a lake, with a beautiful view out our back windows. The first morning when I got up I thought we had drifted into the lake it was so close.

Unfortunately, as we unhitched the trailer it began to rain. I was going to open the door to ask Shirley something, and the sides of the trailer looked like a waterfall. The wind blew, there was thunder and lightening and it was, " oh so cold."

Anyway, the "Land Between The Lakes" or LBL is now a National park and those living in the area were kicked out by the Feds about 20 years ago so the park could be formed.

The picture below is what is left of an old furnace once used to melt iron to be cast into things like door hinges, farm implements, etc. Slaves did the work and still they could not survive because sources of iron ore played out.

We were on our way to join the caravan and stopped to read the sign..

These flowers were all in areas where farm houses once stood before the dam was built and the park was formed.

See Ya! Barry and Shirley

Kentucky

On Saturday we drove from Clarksville to KY, which is just across the border. We learned there was a campground for horse riders so we headed there, thinking it would be fun. Well it was, we almost had the place all to ourselves and found we were enjoying the rest break.

Here we were in Wranglers campground, in southern Kentucky. It was cold and cloudy. We had power, and sewers, but no water because of the freezing weather. All this for twelve dollars a night. A bobcat marked our tires one night and we heard coyotes another night. We also spotted a pileated woodpecker one morning. This is not a common sight in the Sacramento area.

The view out our rear window.

The only neighbors we had.

We have not had the trailer in Kentucky yet so this was a big event for us.
It looked like we did not like Kentucky, it was just a vacant island on our state map.  

Our map got its Kentucky sticker. So it's now official. We've been to Kentucky.

See Ya! Barry and Shirley

Tennessee

By March 4th we had reached TN. We first drove to Clarksburg, TN because we thought it was a good sized town and we needed some supplies. Well, it is a good sized town, a big town! Hard to get around in and naturally we arrived during rush hour. The camp ground, there is only one, is overpriced. But we stayed and shopped and it rained.

The picture to the right is our lonely rig after a whole day of shopping and a nights rain just before we left to pick up our mail in Dover and find a place to wait and explore before the caravan starts.

You have to admit, we are getting closer. So far the only weather that has held us up was in California, but I have a feeling things may change.

Meanwhile, we will send these blogs as we can.

See Ya! Barry and Shirley

Memphis, AR

March 3rd found us arriving at Tom Sawyer RV Park just after closing hours. We did not plan to drive this far but the RV park we were planning on no longer exists. We were pooped. I-40 is very rough along here and we counted more than 30 trucks each mile we traveled.

We fell into bed after a quick meal of home made soup, nd listened to the chug, chug, chugging of tug boats pushing barges up river. Sometime late, they stopped or we went to sleep and awoke to a beautiful though very cold morning.

Just can't view the Old Mississippi without taking a picture.

Here I am you can see my shadow in the morning sun.

There was no sign if flooding but you can see they are ready.

There was a sign posted at the office stating there was no flooding yet, but we did notice that the water was much higher than we had seen it in '07 when we were last here. Later while in KY we heard there was a warning on the Mississippi and the Ohio rivers.

Good to be back among the WiFi world.

See Ya! Barry and Shirley

Brinkley, AR

March, 2nd.

We spent our last night in Texas at Texarkana and proceeded into Arkansas. Our travels are not just sight seeing. We also have to stop for fuel, and do some shopping. Fuel stops are hard because a lot of the stations are geared for cars and when you add our total length of 45 feet pulling in and out can get harry. Sometimes we have a lot of trucks to deal with. Here is a case in point,

 OK you guys who's on first? You go, no you go. Wait, I was here first. Lemme' outa here!

Luckily, Shirley was driving out of this place and a trucker stopped so we could pull out onto the road.


See Ya! Barry and Shirley

Ft.Worth

We arrived in Ft. Worth on the 27th. and stayed at The Vineyard RV Park in Grape Vine, TX. This is one of the most unique towns we have ever seen. We had stayed here in '08 when we took our tour of Texas and had forgotten just how much we liked this town. We are certainly earlier this year so the place is not very crowded.

This is a place to stay and also gives us a chance to visit some folks who were neighbors in Carmichael. We enjoyed visiting them last time here and did a repeat visit this time. We were invited to tour Ft. Worth with them on Monday the 28th. so we accepted and stayed the extra day.

The intent was to visit some art galleries and the American Airlines Museum. Well, it was Monday and these places were closed. We did get to tour the Botanical Gardens which is a favorite thing for Shirley and me and we also got to visit the stock yards which brings back the feeling of old Texas.

Oops, it's closed. We did get a group picture of Dave, Susan and Shirley. I'm the one behind the camera.

 Serene view of the Japanese garden. Someday when I get rich and when my ship comes in I will have a back yard like this.

 Dave, Susan and Shirley. The weather was just about perfect. Some wind, but hey it's February.

                                              Susan, Barry and Dave. See, I was there too.

                                                                 Ride 'um cowboy!

                                                                        Don't shoot!

See Ya! Barry and Shirley