Pickwick Dam, TN and Southaven, MS (suburb of Memphis, TN)

I got to Pickwick Landing State Park and started driving around the park.  I was a bit concerned because most of their sites are not even close to level.  I finally found one that I liked, but still used from 3 – 5 inches of leveling blocks on 3 tires.  Actually there was a more level site, but this was a nicer site.  I later walked around and found about 8 sites that I would try if I come back here.  If I do come back to this area, I would try this park first and if I couldn’t find a level site I would go across the river to Pickwick Dam TVA campground.  All their sites are level and fairly close to the water – most have a view.  But the sites are closer together.  Below is a picture of the lake from my hike in the park and a picture of trumpet honeysuckle.

I drove to Pinson Mounds State Archaeological park.  It was a bit of a drive, but it sounded interesting and it is.  It is really a preserve of prehistoric remains. 

 

Did you read that?  These mounds were constructed 1 – 300 A.D.!!

When I see how old it is, I always wonder about how they age something like this.  At one of the parks, I saw some information on how they use carbon dating and other methods, but I still wonder how accurate it is.  Regardless, the mounds are old! This park allows bikes on the trails, so just to be different I rode my bike. 

From Pickwick, my plans were to go to Memphis.  But I was hearing on the news about the floods along the Mississippi and tributaries.  I called the campground that I planned on going to and they said they were ok.  So I headed to Southaven, Mississippi.  It is just south of Memphis.  I was at the park during the crest of the Mississippi in Memphis.  While the news made it sound like all of Memphis was underwater, that was not the case.  Places close to the water were flooded, but most of the city was open.   This is a picture of some business close to downtown Memphis and the river. 

Above is a picture of the intersection of Beale St and Riverside Drive.  You can just make out the tops of the orange safety barrels.  In addition to the flood, I saw many news crews during my walk along the flooded river banks.

Below is a picture of CNN’s reporter, Rob Marciano, about to start a broadcast. 

 

While in Memphis, I went to the National Ornamental Metal Museum.  I thought it was just ok and found the gates to be the most interesting part of the museum.  There was a lot of detail in them.  Every “rosette” was different and made by different metalsmiths.  From flowers, to abstract designs, to hands holding a tea cup – very different.

One of the reasons I decided on Memphis was the zoo.  I had read that they had a great zoo and it is!! 

The Red Panda above found a tree branch that fit him just right.

I had seen Siamang Monkeys before, but I had never heard them howl.  I’m guessing you could hear these monkeys from a mile away. The picture above was taken during the middle of a howl.

From here, I had thought I would head to the North West corner of Tennessee, but the campground I had planned to stay at was closed due to the flood.  So I stayed in Memphis a few extra days before heading North to Columbus-Belmont State Park in Kentucky.   More on that in my next blog.

Manchester, TN

A quick update, before I get to what I did around Manchester.  As mentioned in my previous blog, I went back to look at the Mountain City Campground that I was at before the storms hit.  We had to wait until the tree was cut before we could leave so it was about 6:00 pm before we could get the car out of the garage.  We had heard that Mountain City had been hit pretty bad.  The campground where I was staying was hit, but the owners had already cleaned up quite a bit.  I couldn’t tell for sure if my RV would have been damaged if I would have stayed, but it looked like there were 3 6 – 8 inch limbs that were down in the trees surrounding my spot.  One RV did have damage and had a tarp over the roof.  I am very glad I left a few hours before the storm hit!!!  But the campground was lucky just down the road many trees were in half and building were damaged.

On my trip to Tennessee, I had to go a bit out of the way due to storm damage and several roads were closed.  I ended up going South and then turning back North up I-75.  Ringgold, GA was one of the towns that was hit by tornadoes.  The pictures below were taken from my car going down I-75 at the Ringgold exit.

Highway Signs --

Hotel --

It was amazing to see the damage and once again made me think about what I would do if a storm like this hit while I was in my RV.

I decided to stayed in Manchester, TN because it was central to several places I wanted to go.  I went to Chattanooga a couple of times and once on the way back I stopped at the National Cornbread festival.  (Note – I stopped there after my Weight Watcher meeting, so I would have time to work off the samples of cornbread I ate before my next meeting!)

Old Stone Fort Archaeological Park is an interesting place.  Not only is it a 2000+ year old Indian ceremonial site, but it has some beautiful scenery.  The Indians built mounds and walls that formed an enclosure that was more than 1 mile around.  The walls were a bit hard to photograph, you can’t really tell it is more than just a hill so I included the one with the sign!

Ringgold Falls is a waterfall that is on private property.  The people who own it are nice enough to allow people to walk to the falls.

Sewanee Natural Bridge was a neat little place.  It wasn’t a long hike, but a nice “bridge”.  Actually the trail took you across the top of it.

I also went to Foster falls and did a short hike.

Another place I went hiking was in Short Springs Natural Area.  I was looking forward to seeing Machine Falls and took a very steep trail down to see it.  Once I got down to the bottom I saw a sign that said Machine Falls 100 yards, but then I saw that I was going to have to walk through the creek to get to it.  I don’t know if that was normal or if it was because they have had so much rain.  Even though it was a tough trail down, I decided it wasn’t worth walking through the creek, so I headed back up.

From Manchester, I headed to Pickwick Landing State Park and then to Southaven, MS (just south of Memphis).

We survived, but I’m stuck in Georgia!!

 

I started my trip back to Georgia at Watson Mill State Park in Comer, GA (close to Athens, GA). 

After visiting with friends and hiking around the park, I headed to the North Georgia mountains.  I stayed in Dillard, GA for the first part of my stay in the mountains, and then moved about 6 miles to Mountain City for the last part.  My original plans were to leave this morning (Thursday, April 28) for Tennessee.

I did some hiking while here.  One of my favorite hikes in the area is Panther’s Creek Trail.  It has been damaged in recent years by storms and has some major erosion problems, so while I still like it the trail is harder. 

I also went to Tallulah Falls Gorge twice.  I had walked the North Rim trail before, but never the South rim until last week.  I like it better – less people and I think better views.  If you look very carefully at the top of the picture below, about 1/4 of the way over from the left you will see a footbridge with people on it.  (Don’t forget you can click on a picture to enlarge it).

During the 2.5 weeks I’ve been here there have been several bad storms.  Yesterday after hearing how bad the storms were supposed to be, I decided to stay at my mom's condo.  This is one of the few times I have an option of where to stay, so I took advantage of it!!  My sister had gotten into town just the day before so we had fun – until the storm started. 

When I got here, my mother suggested I move my car to one of the empty garages so if there was hail it would not get damaged.  During the night a huge tree fell and missed the building by inches.  Actually leaves or small branches from the tree wiped the pollen off the screen on my mother’s screened porch.  Another few inches and several screened porches would have been badly damaged.

So, while I have no damage to my RV or car, I’m stuck.  The tree is right in front of the garage doors and I can’t get my car out of the garage.  Someone is coming this afternoon to cut and move the tree.

My mom’s condo is the middle one on the left side. Things in the screens porch were blown over, but nothing major. 

The second picture shows my RV safe and sound in the clubhouse parking lot, with the fallen tree in the foreground.  Based on what we saw on TV (especially Alabama) and what we’ve heard about some areas around here we were very lucky.   

We have also heard that Mountain City and the campground I left yesterday got hit bad.  I hope to get up there this afternoon and take a look around.   The owners are the nicest owners that I have met in my almost 2 years of full-timing, so I hope it’s not too bad.  

Hopefully I will be able to get out tomorrow.  I’m headed to Manchester, Tennessee for several days. 

DeSoto State Park–Fort Payne, AL

After leaving Louisiana, I headed toward DeSoto State Park in Fort Payne, Alabama.  I have previously camped in this park, but in my camper van.  I like this area and it’s a nice state park.  Those who have been reading my blog, will probably recognize why I like this trail.  The rocks!!!  This trail is one of several within the park.

Desoto Falls is not in the State park, but down the road.

Little River Canyon National Preserve is just a short drive away.  There is a little bit of hiking, and a nice scenic drive.  There are also some very steep roads in the area!! I tried to take a picture of one of them, but it didn’t really show how steep the road was. 

Since I will be so close to the GA mountains, I decided to stop for a couple of weeks to visit my mom and see some friends.  More on Ga in the next blog (Where I will tell you about how I survived the storm last night!)

Southern Louisiana

After Texas, I headed to South Louisiana.  My first stop was to Sulphur, LA.  My main  reason for stopping here was the Creole Nature Trail (a Road, not a hike!).  This drive went through or close to several wildlife refuges and through some interesting towns.  Some of these towns were just about destroyed during the last few years by either Hurricane Rita or Ike.  Some places have rebuilt, but others have not.   

The picture above is where a church stood.   You can just make out the foundation and I’m guessing the tall structure is where the steeple was.

Sabine Wildlife refuge was one of my favorite places.  They have a couple of trails, but a great 1.5 mile handicapped accessible walkway where I saw many birds, alligators and plant.

I think the above bird is a Tri-colored Heron (also called a Louisiana Heron), but not all pictures have a blue beak like this one.  This bird is also in the upper right hand corner on the picture with the alligators.

Cameron Prairie National Wildlife Refuge was another place I enjoyed.  They have a wildlife drive that was very interesting.

Above is an Ibis and several Black-necked Stilt.

The alligator above was about 15 feet from my car on the wildlife drive. 

I know the above bird is an Ibis, but I’m not sure what type.  If anyone knows, let me know. 

I left Sulphur, LA and headed toward Plantation Country in South Eastern, LA.   I actually stayed at one of the plantations – Poche Plantation.  This is not one of the larger plantations, but they do have an RV park behind the house.

Just next to this plantation, is St. Michael’s church and cemetery.  I have always enjoyed walking through cemeteries and this one was very interesting.  Being in Southern Louisiana, most of the graves are above ground and in addition many of these were old, the oldest one I saw was 1832.  Quite a few of the graves were brick and in need of repair such as the ones below. 

In addition to the free tour I got at my park (Poche plantation), I toured 2 others and saw quite a few more.  My favorite was The Laura.  This is not one of the largest or more elegant plantations, but is a Creole plantation.  I didn’t know much about the Creole lifestyle and learned quite a bit during this tour.  

The Laura has several slave cabins and one of these cabins is where Br’er Rabbit was recorded.  I saw recorded rather than written because Br’er Rabbit (not the original name) was actually a West-African Tale that was brought over to America and recorded here.  You can learn all kind of things while taking tours!

I also toured Nottoway plantation.  I wasn’t as impressed with this one, but I did find it interesting that there were no doors to get to the upper deck/patio.

 

To get outside you had to go through the windows.  It was planned this way, you can see how long the windows are as my tour makes it way back inside. 

I thought the room above was clever.  The entire room was white.  This made it not only elegant, but it was extremely bright.  This was very useful before electricity!  Also, note the ornamental thing that the chandelier hangs from.  (I should ask my mother what it is called, so I don’t have to call it a “thing”. I’m sure she knows)  While the ones today are probably made of plaster, this was made of clay, horse hair and other natural materials. 

I went to an arts and craft show at Oak Alley plantation.  This plantation has been used in many movies.  I didn’t notice until later that when I took pictures they were working on the house.  Note the person on the ladder at the front door.  I did learn at another plantation, the reason for the oaks.  They would line oaks between the river and the homes to get a better flow of wind to cool the houses. 

Poche Plantation is on River road, so just across the road is the Mississippi river.  You can’t see it from the road as there is a levee between the road and the river.  But this levee made a great place to walk and ride bikes!  Unfortunately this part of the river is a working river.  Barges were loaded and unloaded with whatever they were hauling.   It was interesting to watch, but took away from what could have been a beautiful spot. 

My next stop was a week in Desoto State Park in Alabama.  Then back to Georgia for a few weeks.  I’ll post more on that later.

(Just a note – I finally got around to writing this blog and now my internet connection is down and I can’t post!   Hopefully I will be able to publish it soon).

Mission, TX

I finished spending a great month in Mission, TX a couple of weeks ago, but am just getting around to the blog.  I stayed at the Bentson Palm RV Park which is right next door to Bentson State Park.  Some of you may remember that I stayed at this same park last year. 

While there, I walked, biked and watched birds (and a few other animals).  As I have mentioned before I don’t really know much about birds, but I am learning and it’s fun to meet bird watchers who really know what they are doing. 

I learned that a big black bird, might not just be a Blackbird or a Crow.  One day while at the Hawk Tower in the State park, I saw some black birds and the volunteer told me that they were Grove Billed Anis and that it was a good sighting (they aren’t too common).  Well, my pictures didn’t turn out too good, but a few days later I saw them again.  Below is my picture of a Grove Billed Ani. 

While there, a very rare bird to the U.S. happened to be visiting the State park.  I heard that he was 200 – 300 miles further north than where they typically live. According to the park, it was only the 6th recorded time it has been in Texas.  The bird was a Black-vented Oriole.  For several weeks, it was a very famous bird.  I meet several people who came from out of state just to see this bird.  I didn’t realize how serious some birders are.  I meet people from New York and Michigan who came to Texas and this park just to see this bird.  The bottom picture is the Black-Vented Oriole and a woodpecker, I think it’s a Sap Sucker.

Because I was in the park so much, I saw this bird many times and talked to people who sat for 8 hours and never saw him.  There was also a rare Blue Bunting and I saw the male and female once, but when I took a picture they flew off.  

I saw the Vermillion Flycatcher a few times.  It was interesting watching him catch bugs.

If you are also a reader of  Life's Little Adventures(fellow Lazy Daze Rver’s – Jim and Gayle) it may seem like you have already read part of this blog.  When I read their blog a few weeks ago and they had a picture of the Vermillion Flycatcher, I thought it was a bit funny that we had seen the same type of bird(their March 9 post).  In the next blog, they talk about people flying in from around the world to see a rare bird that they saw.  They were in Arizona, but I was beginning to feel like I was copying them!  (Note – if you love the outdoors and hiking you will enjoy their blog.  I’ve made many notes for future trips based on their travels.)

Other pictures -

Ringed Kingfisher

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Green Kingfisher -

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Altimira Oriole -

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Once I left Mission, I stopped in Victoria, TX for an overnight stay and took a picture of some fellow campers -

I am now in Louisiana and will be headed out tomorrow, I have spent a couple of weeks touring South Louisiana.  I will blog about this soon.