Tennessee Adventuring

This is the second part of a two-state adventure by Sprinty and his humans enjoying some outdoor exercise in adjacent states of Alabama and Tennessee.

Thursday, 23 July

Our destination for the day was Tim's Ford State Park. Selected in part because Bear Trace at Tim's Ford, a Jack Nicholas designed golf course and part of the Tennessee Golf Trail, is located in Tim's Ford State Park. When we arrived, we stopped by the golf course to secure a tee time for tomorrow. We were happy to see them taking COVID-19 guidelines seriously, including not allowing anyone in the pro shop.

As the staff talked to me through a window while wearing a mask, he covered some details. When he mentioned that the restrooms were open, Darrell bit his tongue and did not reply that we were bringing our own bathrooms with us.

We had reserved two sites, and Sprinty took the shorter site so New Blue could have the longer site. Matt and Lori arrived a little later having made some stops as well. About the time they got set up, another camper drove by in his amazing pickup truck. We learned he had used it to tow his teardrop camper, and that this was the pickup truck's maiden voyage pulling the camper. Matt and Lori were very excited as they had restored a similar pickup truck before.

After dinner, we walked around the campground. We found almost all the campsites on the inside of the circle had the water and electric hookups on the wrong side. Normally, the hookups are on the driver side when backed in. Another point for us to remember is that almost all the sites on the inside of the circle sloped towards the road, while those on the outside sloped away from the road.

Friday, 24 July

A most pleasant night. With a 11:10am tee time, we had a nice relaxing morning. A little after 8am, we broke out the eBikes to ride through the park. One disadvantage to the contact-less check-in was not getting a park map. A check of Google maps showed the roads in the park, so we set off to explore. While riding, we kept seeing a paved bike path running through the woods, so we turned onto it to see where it went. We just kept following it until it ran out - an advantage to eBikes is you know you have the energy to explore and get back. Along the way, Darrell's odometer turned over 700 miles. All in all, we rode 8.8 miles.

Golf today was at Bear Trace at Tim's Ford. We had planned to play this course with the RV trip we took with Matt and Lori, but rain and other factors had us cut that trip short before we got to experience the golf course.

We arrived about 10am for a 11:10 tee time to warm up. Not sure we needed to swing clubs to warm up as it was already in the mid-80s and humid. Darrell's shirt was already wet before he even got to the driving range. We both hit great first drives - Kris perfectly positioned and 165 yards. Darrell equally, only his went 250 yards. Darrell converted that great drive into an opening birdie. Unfortunately, his luck ran out in the next hole encountering sand traps. We stayed close and Kris made the turn up by one stroke.

We both played the back nine fairly well. Darrell skipped his tee shot down the cart path for close to 280 yards. Unlike the first hole, he could not execute the next shot well enough. As we progressed, Kris gained a couple of strokes. Darrell tied it up with his second birdie of the day on hole #17. And we both made bogey on the final hole to finish the day tied.

As it was already after 3pm (Kris' cut-off time for Starbucks) and with no Starbucks nearby, we just headed on to Cedars of Lebanon State Park in Lebanon, TN, east of Nashville. Unlike Tim's Ford SP, they had a traditional check-in process in the camp office. And we were required to give them our license plate number and show our drivers license.

We had adjacent pull-through sites for the night. Both had slope, which for Sprinty was a non-issue. For Matt & Lori, they had to fiddle with the leveling for quite awhile, and when they finally got level, their front wheels were about 10" off the ground

Saturday, 25 July

Today was a bike riding day. We had selected Stones River Greenway located on the east side of Nashville as the trail to ride. While not a Rails-to-Trails, it is a very nice Greenway.

We parked at the trailhead near the J. Percy Priest dam. Once getting the RVs parked and the bikes unloaded, we headed down the greenway. Right off, we could see it is popular with bikers, runners and walkers. Especially on a weekend, similar to our experience on the Big Creek Greenway in Alpharetta, GA.

The trail was well marked, and even had signs for people in wheelchairs, which also indicted an upcoming hill. About 2.2 miles down the greenway, we found the trail closed. The elevated bridge had been damaged, so it was closed. Fortunately, we were adjacent to an apartment complex, and a check of Google maps found a way to bypass the closed section by riding a short while through the apartment complex and a section of road.

We continued down the trail to the end right after crossing the bridge over the Cumberland River. After our mid-trail rest stop and snacks in the shade, we rode back. A total of 18.4 miles.

Like yesterday, it was another typical hot, muggy summer day in the south. After enjoying lunch in the shade by Sprinty, we made our way on to our next campground. Matt and Lori indicated they planned to stop for ice. Darrell thought that was a good idea so he decided to stop for ice as well.

Our campground for the night was Montgomery Bell State Park in Burns, TN, west of Nashville. Originally selected as the state park also has a golf course that is part of the Tennessee Golf Trail. Alas, it is more popular than Tim's Ford was and we could not get a tee time for tomorrow until 3:30pm. And the state park was picked as it had sites available on a Saturday night, whereas many state parks are booked weeks and months in advance for Friday and Saturday nights.

Check-in was nearly contact-less as the check-in was through a window with a piece of plexiglass. Unlike last night, they did not ask for drivers license and license plate. Based on our three-nights at three different Tennessee state parks, it appears they do not have the same procedures/requirements regarding check-in process and contact-less check-in.

After getting all settled, we hung out in the shade and made plans for tomorrow. Both Darrell and Matt contacted golf courses for an alternative place to play. Darrell found a 11:48am tee time at a golf course an hour away, while Matt found a course we could probably play earlier only 30 minutes away. All of us preferred early when it would be slightly cooler, and perhaps less likely for the typical afternoon thunderstorms.

Having settled golf, we then decided to spend a second night at Montgomery Bell SP. When developing the original plan, we wanted to secure reservations for Friday and Saturday nights before they got filled up. We expected Sunday night would be easier.

Armed with a map and a list of available sites for Sunday night (thank you Tennessee State Parks for on-line reservation system), Darrell and Kris walked through the campground to see if we could improve our sites for tomorrow. We found four pairs of available side-by-side sites, and made reservations for our first choice. More level and more shaded. And by the water. Well, the creek that is. An almost dry creek.

Sunday, 26 July

We selected Willow Ridge Golf Course in McEwen, TN, located about 30 minutes away. We left the campground just after 8am. When we arrived, it was looking busy, with a steady stream of people arriving. They even had a separate parking lot for trailers, and probably 10 pickup trucks with trailers were parked there. Seems many bring their own golf cart, hauling them to the golf course on their trailers. That is a first.

We hit on the range for awhile, then got in line. We were following a three-some who seemed to know the course, so we got an idea of where to hit. The greens had been watered, so balls just stopped when they landed, instead of bouncing and skipping as on some other courses. The golf commentators on the Golf Channel call it being "receptive".

Kris and Lori decided to play from the gold tees instead of the red tees. Darrell started with a par, and made the turn ahead. Kris played better on the back nine, while Darrell played seven of the back nine holes well. He had two holes with multiple "oops". Darrell finished strong to have honors on the day.

With the closest Starbucks almost an hour away, we decided to pass and head back to camp. We stopped at Kroger along the way for a few items.

Once getting all set up, we broke out the eBikes for a ride in the park. Mostly we just rode the roads in the park as the park is more set up for mountain biking. We rode over 10 miles.

A quiet evening. Matt and Lori said their goodbyes this evening as we were planning an early start in the morning and they would not see us before we left.

Monday, 27 July

We broke camp before 8am, making a stop by the dump station on the way out. We decided to play golf today, and bike ride Tuesday. We made a tee time at Indian Hills Golf Course in Murfreesboro, TN for 10:30am. Being a little more than an hour away, we had plenty of time to practice before we started.

As a two-some, we got paired with a single golfer named Curt. Both Kris and Darrell hit great first drives. Kris managed to convert hers to a par. And so began the day. Kris played very well, making seven pars on the first nine holes to make the turn with a commanding lead. Darrell said "nice par, dear" so many times, he wondered if he was going to be hoarse by the end of the round.

Kris continued to play well on the back nine. As it was somewhat slow, the two-some behind us had to wait a lot and got to see most of Kris' drives. Near the end, one of them came up to Kris and commented on her hitting the fairway so consistently. Alas, Darrell struggled with his putting all day and had several "oops" to finish the day way behind. Fortunately, there was a Starbucks only a few minutes away, so he was able to drown his sorrows in a nice cold Frappuccino.

Our destination for the night was another Tennessee State Park, Henry Horton State Park Campground in Chapel Hill, TN. Check-in was contactless, even if we did check-in at the office. Sprinty had a nice shaded site, which he enjoyed after being out in the sun all day.

Tuesday, 28 July

As we flip-flopped bike riding and golf yesterday, the plan for today was to revisit the Old Stone Fort Archeological State Park in Manchester, TN. Sprinty had spent the night there on the way back from Texas last Fall and arrived too late to explore the ceremonial Indian mounds at the site, enclosing an area of about 50 acres. We made a note to self to return and visit some other day. While Sprinty wanted to camp there on this trip, the campground was closed for the summer of 2020 for renovations. So we had to settle for a day trip. As another tidbit, a visit to Old Stone Fort Archeological State Park was to be our first stop on our trip to Alaska this year.

• From the park website: "The Old Stone Fort was built during the Middle Woodland Period, 1,500-2,000 years ago. Native Americans used this area continuously for about 500 years, eventually leaving it abandoned. By the time European settlers arrived, it was unclear of what the area had been used for which resulted in it being misnamed as a fort. In 1966, the state of Tennessee purchased 400 acres of the Chumbley estate as the core of what is now Old Stone Fort State Archaeological Park."

We enjoyed a nice hike on the 1.25 mile perimeter trail. The Indian mounds built 2,000 years ago are not very evident without the interpretive signs. We also enjoyed that the trail followed the Big Duck River and Little Duck River, which John just past the point. The waterfalls along the Big Duck River were worth meandering off the official trail to get photos.

We only encountered a few people along the trail, and every one of them was mindful of social distancing and we took turns stepping off the trail to allow each other to pass and maintain distance.

A very nice stop - we are glad that we decided to come back and do the trail around the mound area.

We had planned to ride our bikes in Chattanooga on the Chattanooga Riverwalk (Tennessee Riverpark), a 16.1 mile greenway.

https://www.traillink.com/trail/chattanooga-riverwalk-(tennessee-riverpark)/

• From TrailLink: "The Chattanooga Riverwalk, also known as the Tennessee Riverpark, will ultimately stretch 22 miles from downtown Chattanooga near the Tennessee Aquarium to the TVA Dam and out to Moccasin Bend National Archaeological District (additional loops included in the mileage). For now, 16 miles of the riverwalk are open and follow the south bank of the Tennessee River. A footbridge on the west end (near John Ross Bridge/Market St./SR 8 takes you to the north bank and Coolidge Park."

The weather forecast was iffy, predicting scattered thunderstorms all afternoon. As we neared Chattanooga, we took a lunch break to reassess the weather. As we got back on I-24, we were still optimistic. Then we saw the darkening sky in the distance in the general vicinity of downtown Chattanooga, and decided our hope for 3+ hours of no thunderstorm/rain seemed too optimistic. So we just headed home instead, figuring Chattanooga was close enough that we could return for a day trip riding the Chattanooga Riverwalk. And settled for a 10.6 mile ride through the development after dinner.

An observation from traveling in Alabama and Tennessee during the COVID-19 pandemic for the last nine days is that both states seem to be taking the virus more seriously than in Georgia. Unlike Georgia, who refuses to issue a state-wide mandate to require masks in public places, masks were required in both Alabama and Tennessee. We saw a very high percentage (>95%) of people wearing their masks correctly, and very few with pseudo-masks (I.e. tee shirts or some other non-mask fabric). People we encountered seemed to respect the appropriate social-distancing, as well as respecting people's choice to be cautious.