Kentucky into Tennessee
Our first stop was at Georgetown in Kentucky, just east of Louisville – not a bad park, just all gravel sites. We decided to give Louisville a miss the first couple of days – it was going to be crowded due to funeral of Muhammad Ali on the Friday. Again we were surprised to learn that what we thought was the State Capitol was wrong, we thought that Louisville was the Kentucky Capitol, when in fact it was the smaller city of Frankfort which was part of the first day drive.
We found a covered bridge, a bourbon distillery (surprise), an old mill, an odd water tower and the state Capitol – so that was the tour. The Switzer covered bridge was first, a real disappointment due to the graffiti covered historic building, though we still include a picture here – such a shame. The Old Mill was the last working mill in Kentucky, not so much the mill as the river at the side of it. The water tower is in the shape of a Dixie cup – on the site where they make the cups (obviously!). Rusty was allowed in the distillery however they wouldn’t give us a sample for him, but we had a small taste – not really impressed. The grounds of the state Capitol were really well kept with a large floral clock. So that was Frankfort and the surrounding areas.
We did make it to Louisville and had a really great walk around the Louisville Waterfront Park, I should say Rusty did, he must have rolled in the grass a couple of dozen times. The Lincoln Memorial at this park is really amazing, really impressive and very quiet, no crowds – peaceful.
From Louisville we drove over the river to Indiana – really great views of the river and the site where Lewis met Clark in 1803, and they set off in 1804 from St Louis on their expedition to explore what was the Louisiana Territory and then to the Pacific.
Our next stop was at an Escapees Campground in Heiskell, Tennessee just a few miles from Knoxville for trips around Pigeon Forge and Gatlinburg – hoping to tour some of the Civil War areas. We were really disappointed in both those areas – the hardest part was driving through the towns with the hordes of tourists spilling out from the sidewalks. The highlight of this tour was really the Great Smoky Mountains and in particular the Cades Cove loop. This is a one way road of about 11 miles through a really secluded area with a few old, and in some cases completely restored, buildings from the mid 1700’s. That is where we came upon the traffic jam – a black bear had decided to take a nap in a tree over the narrow road – photo op all around.
We also took a drive through some nice windy roads past Norris Dam, marina, grist mill and Big Ridge State park. Next stop Nashville, then Memphis and the Big Mississippi River.
