Welcome to Kentucky
Monday, 24 August
Although the campground was less than 1/3 occupied, we had selected one of the only shady sites that was also next to a family with small kids. They had sold their house and were waiting on their new one to be finished, so were living out of their camper for a couple of weeks. The kids were being kids. Interestingly, when the light rain (sprinkles) showed up, the kids disappeared inside and things got quiet. After yesterday's hike in the rain, I did not think I would be enjoying rain so soon.
We made a tee time at Wasioto Winds Golf Course at Pine Mountain State Park, in Pineville, KY. We played this course once before as we were driving to Ohio in October 2012. We put it in the travel plan for this trip to play it again. Playing a course more than once does not happen often in our travels.
After a check of the online tee times, we saw an opening before some booked times, so we called to make a tee time for 9:40am. While we could have booked online, we would have had to paid the regular rate. By calling and paying at the course, we were able to get the senior discount.
Wasioto Winds Golf Course was about an hours drive from Jellico. In checking the directions last night, Google Maps offered three routes of similar driving time.
The rest of our drive to the golf course was as routine as we had initially thought the entire trip would be.
We arrived just after 8:30, and learned we could go off earlier than our designated tee time. We spent about 5 minutes chipping, then headed for the tee box. We initially followed a 4-some. Both of us hit nice drives. Kris converted hers into a par, while Darrell settled for a bogey. The four-some waved us through on the third hole, and Darrell tied it up. Darrell picked up a stroke on the next hole, then Kris birdied the 5th to tie it up. The two-some waved us through as they could see we were having a much better golf day than they were. And we played at our pace the rest of the round. The next 10 holes we scored the same on each hole. Standing on the 16th tee, we were tied up.
Darrell picked up a stroke on the 16th to take the lead, and held on to take honors on the day with a 79. We both played well despite the course distractions of many water hazards and some very narrow fairways.
As we left the golf course, it started to sprinkle. We just beat the forecasted rain with minutes to spare.
A check of the Offbeat Attractions app found an interesting point of interest called Chained Rock. An very unthorough web search found a reference that it was a rock chained in place to keep it from tumbling down into the town of Pineville, 2,000 feet below. Fortunately, we did not read the Rest of the Story (available at https://www.roadsideamerica.com/story/12949) before we visited.
Kris remembers seeing something about it when we passed through in 2012, but we did not check it out then, figuring we would visit here again someday. Well that someday was today.
The road up to Chained Rock was up, up and more up. Lots of tight switchback turns, squiggles, and steep inclines. When we arrived, we found a small parking lot - fortunately not too many others were adventuring here today.
We first checked out the overlook just off the parking lot.
We then took the 0.5 mile trail to Chained Rock. We thought the trail would follow the elevation contour around the mountain, and were surprised that most of the way to Chained Rock was downhill/downstairs. Which meant the hike back was going to be mostly uphill/upstairs.
When we got to the rock outcropping,
we saw the sign describing the chain per the legend.
The chained rock really is the top of a cliff edge that drops hundreds of feet straight down. Quite dramatic drop off. As the linked article above states, it is definitely a relic from an earlier time of no-safety-barrier tourism. Darrell carefully rock scrambled to get some photos, while Kris stayed way back from the edge.
Another sign right by the park entrance sign indicated that Lewis and Clark passed through the gap in 1806 enroute to Washington to report on their expedition.
We made a quick stop at the Visitor Center to learn more about the significance of the Cumberland Gap. Unlike earlier adventures, we limited our learning to the outdoor exhibit and a quick masked-up in-and-out to grab a park brochure off the counter. No doubt the Park Service film and indoor exhibits were excellent, but it will have to wait for another time.
From the brochure and some online research, we thought it might be fun to check out the Pinnacle Overlook. We knew from the map that it involved some squiggly roads, but Sprinty had proven himself quite capable of squiggly over the last couple of days. However, when we got to the Pinnacle Overlook turn, we saw the sign that ended that idea.
So we headed to the National Park campground located a little east. We drove through the tunnel and entered Tennessee, then Virginia. In the span of just a few miles, we went from Kentucky to Tennessee to Virginia as all three states connect at Cumberland Gap. We found the self checkin directions. With 160 first-come/first-served (no reservations) sites, 41 of them being electric, we were confident of being able to get a site on a weekday. Probably just over a dozen sites were occupied. With our Golden Age Pass, we could get an electric site for $10/night or non-electric for $7. The electric sites were definitely nicer - asphalt paved sites, and more level. The majority of the non-electric sites were pretty sloped, all were gravel. Some were too short even for Sprinty. We picked a nice shaded non-electric site and settled in for the afternoon.
By now, we had certainly packed enough adventure in today for a week. Maybe more. But wait. There's more.
A check of Sprinty's many antennas found that one of the magnetic mount antennas had been knocked over. Since we needed it for tonight's internet access, it required attention. While Darrell was up on the ladder, he did a quick check for any other souvenirs from the Mud Creek Road adventure this morning. All were relieved to find nothing else amiss.
That left an afternoon chore to capture the dash cam video of this morning's video. The dash cam has a large micro SD memory card in it, which will often capture three or four days of video. Then it starts writing over the oldest video. So we wanted to save the video while we thought about it.
First step was to remove the micro SD memory card. Not a difficult task, only this time, it fell when released. Normally, it pops out just a bit and you need tweezers to coax it out. Not today. It dropped like a stone. The dash cam is right above one of the dash vents, and as the card fell, we heard it land in the dash vent. Hoping that it was at the front of the vent, Darrell removed the SiriusXM receiver (dash vent mounted) to get to the SD card, only to hear it fall further down to the bottom of the dash vent system. Major sigh uttered along with some choice muttering.
Minor panic set in. Probably a higher degree of panic than on Mud Creek Road this morning. We shuddered at the thought that (1) the morning's video clips might be lost forever; (2) no more dash cam video until we got a new micro SD card card; and (3) the concern that the small SD card might do some damage to the blower fan, heating coils or air conditioning coils. Without the know how or tools to take a Sprinter dash apart, things were looking grim. On a chance, we were able to remove one of the floor heater vents easily and out popped the micro SD card. What a relief.
The rest of the afternoon and evening was uneventful, which after some of the day's adventures was quite welcome. We had just enough cellular to enjoy some YouTube videos to help take our minds off the adventure filled day.
Although the campground was fairly close to US58, we were surprised at not hearing hardly any road noise all night.
Although the campground was less than 1/3 occupied, we had selected one of the only shady sites that was also next to a family with small kids. They had sold their house and were waiting on their new one to be finished, so were living out of their camper for a couple of weeks. The kids were being kids. Interestingly, when the light rain (sprinkles) showed up, the kids disappeared inside and things got quiet. After yesterday's hike in the rain, I did not think I would be enjoying rain so soon.
We made a tee time at Wasioto Winds Golf Course at Pine Mountain State Park, in Pineville, KY. We played this course once before as we were driving to Ohio in October 2012. We put it in the travel plan for this trip to play it again. Playing a course more than once does not happen often in our travels.
After a check of the online tee times, we saw an opening before some booked times, so we called to make a tee time for 9:40am. While we could have booked online, we would have had to paid the regular rate. By calling and paying at the course, we were able to get the senior discount.
Wasioto Winds Golf Course was about an hours drive from Jellico. In checking the directions last night, Google Maps offered three routes of similar driving time.
One was very squiggly suggesting narrow mountain our roads. Another was a longer mileage route via US highways, although only about 10 minutes more driving. Darrell picked the quickest route, which was not very squiggly, suggesting it ran along the valleys.
While we had set an alarm for 6:30 (for a 7:30 departure), Darrell was awakened just after 6am by a blue light flashing in his face. It was the Victron battery monitor panel which is located right above his head in bed. It was flashing as it had reached the alarm setting of 50% state of charge on the batteries. Meaning the batteries were depleted by half or more. A rather unusual occurrence, especially as we had been plugged in. Or so we thought. Getting up, he confirmed we had no shore power coming in the RV.
Last night, we also hooked up to water, which required us to move Sprinty further back in the campsite so the hose would reach. As we had been plugged in, Darrell unplugged Sprinty for the 12 foot roll back, just in case. While he had reconnected the two ends of the shore power cable, he forgot to turn on the breaker. So Sprinty did what Sprinty does - carried on without a whimper. With the inverter on (used to invert 12v DC to 120v AC), Sprinty was consuming more power than usual, between the inverter, making some hot water for showers, lights, TV, refrigerator, fans, etc). By 6am, Sprinty had used 157 Amp-hours of battery capacity, which resulted in the state of charge alarm going off.
After getting the shore power restored, the next hour was pretty routine. Coffee, bagels for breakfast, check email, etc.
By 7:30, we were packed up and heading out of camp. Our route took us through downtown Jellico, TN, and just past the Main Street buildings, Google Maps welcomed us to Kentucky. Kris remarked that we could have ridden our bikes in Kentucky yesterday if we had gone about four blocks off the road we were on. Had we ridden the three or four blocks to enter Kentucky, we would have added Kentucky to our states we have ridden our eBikes in. So far, we have seven states: Georgia, Florida, Virginia, Maryland, Pennsylvania, Alabama, and Tennessee.
After another two miles, Google Maps had us go under a 11'6" underpass. Not a worry for Sprinty as he only stands 9'-10" tall. Google Maps then had us turn on to Lot-Mud Creek Road. We immediately noticed that the road had no painted lines. We know we are on a dark-shade-of-blue Blue highway when it lacks painted lines. Usually the first lines to go are the white side lines. Then the centerline. Sometimes there is a faint trace of a former painted center line. Not this morning. No line at all. Not a trace.
Sprinty continued with confidence. The pavement looked in good repair. Google Maps seemed confident as well.
Note: the 9-minute video starts about here in the story: https://youtu.be/6rK15UjQW4g
For awhile. Then the pavement started to get rougher. As we came down a small hill, the paved road turned to the right and went over a one-lane bridge (one lane bridges are also a sign of a dark-shade-of-blue, and are often accompanied by weight restrictions). However, Google Maps was quite clear to continue on Mud Creek Road, which was now a gravel road. Sprinty proceeded as he was instructed.
As we ventured further down the gravel road, it got narrower and narrower. Passing a house with a dog, the gravel road turned left. We then came to a fork. We tried one fork - and observed the gravel road got narrower and narrower. So Darrell backed Sprinty up the 1/4 mile or so on the narrow gravel road and we tried the other fork. Fortunately, we decided pretty quick to throw in the towel and backtrack. Hollows like this have reputations for things like moonshine stills, pot growing plots and meth labs.
When we got back to the one-lane bridge, we crossed it and got on another narrow, but paved road. We met several oncoming vehicles, including a loaded logging truck that needed the entire width of the road to pass. As we passed by a small church, we saw where Mud Creek Road would have come out on the road we were finally on - and noticed a chain across the gravel road. Boy, were we ever glad we threw in the towel when we did. Backing up over a mile of narrow gravel road with drop offs into drainage ditches and creeks would have probably pegged the fun meter.
Photo of Mud Creek Road souvenir:
While we had set an alarm for 6:30 (for a 7:30 departure), Darrell was awakened just after 6am by a blue light flashing in his face. It was the Victron battery monitor panel which is located right above his head in bed. It was flashing as it had reached the alarm setting of 50% state of charge on the batteries. Meaning the batteries were depleted by half or more. A rather unusual occurrence, especially as we had been plugged in. Or so we thought. Getting up, he confirmed we had no shore power coming in the RV.
Last night, we also hooked up to water, which required us to move Sprinty further back in the campsite so the hose would reach. As we had been plugged in, Darrell unplugged Sprinty for the 12 foot roll back, just in case. While he had reconnected the two ends of the shore power cable, he forgot to turn on the breaker. So Sprinty did what Sprinty does - carried on without a whimper. With the inverter on (used to invert 12v DC to 120v AC), Sprinty was consuming more power than usual, between the inverter, making some hot water for showers, lights, TV, refrigerator, fans, etc). By 6am, Sprinty had used 157 Amp-hours of battery capacity, which resulted in the state of charge alarm going off.
After getting the shore power restored, the next hour was pretty routine. Coffee, bagels for breakfast, check email, etc.
By 7:30, we were packed up and heading out of camp. Our route took us through downtown Jellico, TN, and just past the Main Street buildings, Google Maps welcomed us to Kentucky. Kris remarked that we could have ridden our bikes in Kentucky yesterday if we had gone about four blocks off the road we were on. Had we ridden the three or four blocks to enter Kentucky, we would have added Kentucky to our states we have ridden our eBikes in. So far, we have seven states: Georgia, Florida, Virginia, Maryland, Pennsylvania, Alabama, and Tennessee.
After another two miles, Google Maps had us go under a 11'6" underpass. Not a worry for Sprinty as he only stands 9'-10" tall. Google Maps then had us turn on to Lot-Mud Creek Road. We immediately noticed that the road had no painted lines. We know we are on a dark-shade-of-blue Blue highway when it lacks painted lines. Usually the first lines to go are the white side lines. Then the centerline. Sometimes there is a faint trace of a former painted center line. Not this morning. No line at all. Not a trace.
Sprinty continued with confidence. The pavement looked in good repair. Google Maps seemed confident as well.
Note: the 9-minute video starts about here in the story: https://youtu.be/6rK15UjQW4g
For awhile. Then the pavement started to get rougher. As we came down a small hill, the paved road turned to the right and went over a one-lane bridge (one lane bridges are also a sign of a dark-shade-of-blue, and are often accompanied by weight restrictions). However, Google Maps was quite clear to continue on Mud Creek Road, which was now a gravel road. Sprinty proceeded as he was instructed.
As we ventured further down the gravel road, it got narrower and narrower. Passing a house with a dog, the gravel road turned left. We then came to a fork. We tried one fork - and observed the gravel road got narrower and narrower. So Darrell backed Sprinty up the 1/4 mile or so on the narrow gravel road and we tried the other fork. Fortunately, we decided pretty quick to throw in the towel and backtrack. Hollows like this have reputations for things like moonshine stills, pot growing plots and meth labs.
When we got back to the one-lane bridge, we crossed it and got on another narrow, but paved road. We met several oncoming vehicles, including a loaded logging truck that needed the entire width of the road to pass. As we passed by a small church, we saw where Mud Creek Road would have come out on the road we were finally on - and noticed a chain across the gravel road. Boy, were we ever glad we threw in the towel when we did. Backing up over a mile of narrow gravel road with drop offs into drainage ditches and creeks would have probably pegged the fun meter.
Photo of Mud Creek Road souvenir:
The rest of our drive to the golf course was as routine as we had initially thought the entire trip would be.
As we left the golf course, it started to sprinkle. We just beat the forecasted rain with minutes to spare.
A check of the Offbeat Attractions app found an interesting point of interest called Chained Rock. An very unthorough web search found a reference that it was a rock chained in place to keep it from tumbling down into the town of Pineville, 2,000 feet below. Fortunately, we did not read the Rest of the Story (available at https://www.roadsideamerica.com/story/12949) before we visited.
Kris remembers seeing something about it when we passed through in 2012, but we did not check it out then, figuring we would visit here again someday. Well that someday was today.
The road up to Chained Rock was up, up and more up. Lots of tight switchback turns, squiggles, and steep inclines. When we arrived, we found a small parking lot - fortunately not too many others were adventuring here today.
When we got to the rock outcropping,
After our hike to Chained Rock, Sprinty made his way down the squiggly road in second gear. Once back to Highway 25E/Wilderness Road, we turned south and headed for the Food City grocery store in Middlesboro, KY as it had a Starbucks. Darrell masked up and ventured in to get Starbucks to pay up for the day's golf.
Our planned designation for the night was Cumberland Gap National Historic Park, just east of Middlesboro. Mid-18th Century explorers following well-worn bison and American Indian trails found their way through the Appalachian mountains at Cumberland Gap. Their discovery opened the Ohio Valley to the first wave of western migration. In 1775, a longhunter named Daniel Boone was commissioned to blaze a road through the gap. Boone's trace evolved into the Wilderness Road, establishing his place in history as a frontiersman and pathfinder.
Our planned designation for the night was Cumberland Gap National Historic Park, just east of Middlesboro. Mid-18th Century explorers following well-worn bison and American Indian trails found their way through the Appalachian mountains at Cumberland Gap. Their discovery opened the Ohio Valley to the first wave of western migration. In 1775, a longhunter named Daniel Boone was commissioned to blaze a road through the gap. Boone's trace evolved into the Wilderness Road, establishing his place in history as a frontiersman and pathfinder.
From the brochure and some online research, we thought it might be fun to check out the Pinnacle Overlook. We knew from the map that it involved some squiggly roads, but Sprinty had proven himself quite capable of squiggly over the last couple of days. However, when we got to the Pinnacle Overlook turn, we saw the sign that ended that idea.
By now, we had certainly packed enough adventure in today for a week. Maybe more. But wait. There's more.
A check of Sprinty's many antennas found that one of the magnetic mount antennas had been knocked over. Since we needed it for tonight's internet access, it required attention. While Darrell was up on the ladder, he did a quick check for any other souvenirs from the Mud Creek Road adventure this morning. All were relieved to find nothing else amiss.
That left an afternoon chore to capture the dash cam video of this morning's video. The dash cam has a large micro SD memory card in it, which will often capture three or four days of video. Then it starts writing over the oldest video. So we wanted to save the video while we thought about it.
First step was to remove the micro SD memory card. Not a difficult task, only this time, it fell when released. Normally, it pops out just a bit and you need tweezers to coax it out. Not today. It dropped like a stone. The dash cam is right above one of the dash vents, and as the card fell, we heard it land in the dash vent. Hoping that it was at the front of the vent, Darrell removed the SiriusXM receiver (dash vent mounted) to get to the SD card, only to hear it fall further down to the bottom of the dash vent system. Major sigh uttered along with some choice muttering.
Minor panic set in. Probably a higher degree of panic than on Mud Creek Road this morning. We shuddered at the thought that (1) the morning's video clips might be lost forever; (2) no more dash cam video until we got a new micro SD card card; and (3) the concern that the small SD card might do some damage to the blower fan, heating coils or air conditioning coils. Without the know how or tools to take a Sprinter dash apart, things were looking grim. On a chance, we were able to remove one of the floor heater vents easily and out popped the micro SD card. What a relief.
The rest of the afternoon and evening was uneventful, which after some of the day's adventures was quite welcome. We had just enough cellular to enjoy some YouTube videos to help take our minds off the adventure filled day.
Although the campground was fairly close to US58, we were surprised at not hearing hardly any road noise all night.
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