Saturday 4-29-23 Beautiful Day & Walking

Entrance sign to Cumberland Gap National Historical Park

We had a beautiful day. The rain was gone. The day started in the 50s and ended in the low 70's. It started with sunshine and then the clouds rolled in which made it humid.

About 9:30 we decided to go for a walk. We walked to a hiking trailhead hoping to walk the trail but didn't get far when we decided that it was going to be too wet. We walked the campground past the amphitheater to the trailhead we used a couple of days ago. The trail starts off on an old road so it had gravel. The road is called Colson Lane. One way it went to the highway and the other went to a Y. At the Y to the right went to Gibson Gap trailhead and the left takes you to Honey Tree Spur Trail. We took the road to the highway. Then turned around and went past the stables to the Y. Before getting to the Y we stopped at the stables to see if we could see the horse but we only heard it. We went to the right and walked over the creek via a bridge. On the other side of the bridge we got to the Gibson Gap sign where we turned around. On the way back to the stable Larry pointed out the horse was in the meadow. We stopped and I walked to the fence to get a picture. He saw us and met me at the fence. He wanted to be petted but we weren't sure if it bites. I just talked to him and he posed for a picture. Then we walked back to the campground and walked around it. By the time we got back we had walked for about an hour. I forgot to turn on the step program on the phone so I don't know how far we went. My guess it was about 2 miles. It was humid.

Colson Road

 

The creek flowing under the bridge

 

Beautiful friendly horse

We spent the rest of the day in the Minnie. Larry finished a book and started another one. I continued reading Secrets of a Charmed Life by Susan Meissner.

I played games. I did the Daily Challenges of Solitaire and Mahjong. The event, which was Event: Tri Peaks Mini of 5 games. It took me 9 minutes and 47 seconds, which put me in 18th place in my group.

In the afternoon Larry and I went over and took a shower. It was a great shower and the room was big. The showers are separate from the bathrooms. 

After dinner I walked around the campground for a total of 3 miles and 7,266 steps. As I was walking around a local, who was camping in the park started talking to me. I ended up talking to her for about a half hour. I didn't get as many steps as I wanted but I probably did about 10,000 steps for the day.

 

   

 

Friday 4-28-23 Rainy Day of Camping

Playing in the rain

It rained steady until 3:00 and then it stopped, then an hour later it started up again. It rained on and off for the rest of the day.

I woke up before 7:00 this morning because I had to go to the bathroom. Of course Larry was already up. I decided to stay up. I started the oven so we could have cinnamon rolls for breakfast.

We didn't do anything all day but hang around the Minnie keeping dry. Larry finished a book and wrote a review on it. Larry uses Goodreads, a online book tracking website to keep up with all of our books. Whenever he finishes a book he gives it a rating and writes a short review. This makes it really easy to know if he has already read a book and what he thought of it. Before he gets a new book he always checks to see if he has read the book or another book by that author. If he previously read something by the author that he did not like he will avoid getting anymore of his/her books.  I should write reviews on the books I read but I don't. Since I like the same books as Larry I simply have him choose books for me. By doing this I only read books that he has rated very highly. 

I finished Universe of Two by Stephen P. Kiernan. The book was outstanding. It was a fiction book based on an actual person, Charles Brenton Fisk, he was involved in building the nuclear bomb in World War II. Afterwards he changed his career from atomic physics to building organs. He was the co-founder of C.B. Fisk, Inc., which is a firm that has built respected organs around the world. Stephen P. Kiernan is a great writer. 

Afterwards I had Larry choose another book for me to read. The book he suggested was Secrets of a Charmed Life by Susan Meissner.   

I did the Daily Challenges of Solitaire and Mahjong. I did the event. which was Event: World Tour Mini of 10 games. It took me 46 minutes and 20 seconds, which put me in 13th place in my group.

It wasn't a great day for steps, I only did 3,000. This was when Larry and I walked around the campground for a half hour. 

When the rain stopped a lot of campers decided to get out of campers and walk around. Some people had dogs and they needed to go for a walk. As we were walking we saw a small Eastern box turtle in road. The walk was very humid but we needed to get out of the Minnie.

Eastern box turtle

Hopefully the rain will go away by tomorrow.    

Thursday 4-27-23 Hiking at Cumberland Gap

Camping in Wilderness Road Campground

We woke up to 47 degrees. The heater was running. Perfect temperature for a hike.

I crawled out of bed at 7:15 and turned on the oven so we can have fresh cinnamon rolls breakfast. 

We started our hike at the trailhead in the campground. We hiked a gravel road for about a half mile to a sign for Gibson Gap Trail and Ridge Trail. As we were hiking the road we walked by a fenced in field with a sign saying don't feed the horse. At first we didn't see the horse and then it neighed. We looked for it and it was in the barn. It just wanted us to know it was there. The hike took us through a heavily treed forest. It was beautiful. We hiked over a creek multiple times, in a couple of places there was a bridge in others we used rocks. The creek wasn't flowing too high so the rocks weren't a problem. We met a poodle and it's master, who was jogging the trails. We hiked a bit past a sign pointing to the Ridge Trail, it was steep and there were some downed trees in the way, at this point we turned around. Our plan had not been to hike the whole trail because it was straight up the mountainside about 2,234 feet. This was a perfect place to turn around. Not too far away we picked up the Honey Tree Spur Trail Loop, which was a mile. The trail was challenging because it took us up the mountain a ways and it was steep. Once on top there a beautiful view of the forest. Then we climbed down the mountain on a switch back. By the time we got back to the Minnie we had hiked 3 miles. We had a wonderful hike.

Bridge over the creek

 

The sign for Gibson Gap Trail

 

The hiking trail

After lunch I decided to walk around the campground loops for an hour and fifteen minutes. I did it early because the rain is suppose to come in between 3:00 and 4:00. I wanted to get some steps. I walked the loops twice. It's a workout just doing the loops because the road goes up and down. By the time I got back I had walked 3 miles. During the hike I picked up a pretty flower. When I got back to the Minnie I took a picture using the camera and google identified the flower as being from a tulip tree. I ended up doing 15,000 steps for the day.  

Flower from a tulip tree

 

Tenting at Cumberland gap

Larry and I spent the rest of the day reading. Larry finished a book and started another. I continued reading Universe of Two by Stephen P. Kiernan. I did my Daily Challenges of Solitaire and Mahjong. Today the event was Event: Easy Street of 30 games. It took me 58 minutes and 13 seconds, which put me in 8th place in my group. 

For dinner I made a bake. Later on I made chocolate chip cookies.  

The rain came in around 3:00 and was steady all night. It's suppose to stay around through tomorrow.

Wednesday 4-26-23 Cumberland Gap National Park

 

Camping at Cumberland Gap National Park

After three days of marvelous camping and hiking we said good-bye to Cumberland Falls State Resort Park. 

Our next destination is Cumberland Gap National Park in Virginia and Tennessee. We are staying at the Wilderness Road Campground, which is located in Virginia.

We got up to a cool 47 degrees. I made a quick breakfast of English muffins with bacon on them. Then we got ready to go. I did the little dishes we had and put things away. Larry unplugged us and moved the Minnie forward to get the blocks. Once he put the blocks away we were ready to go. As we were leaving Larry decided to dump the tanks because no one was at the dump station. They really didn't need to be dumped. 

As we were pulling out of the campground the kitchen upper cabinet doors opened up and things fell out. Oops, I forgot to make sure things were secured. One nice thing about having a class C motor home versus a trailer is Larry can pull on the side of the road and I can walk back and put things back in place and make sure the doors are securely closed. Once again we were on the road.

We had to drive through Corbin, which was 20 miles down the road. There was a Walmart there so we stopped to pickup a few things. After I put everything away we were back on the road. Cumberland Gap was 50 miles from Corbin. 

The drive to Cumberland Gap National Park was mainly 4 lane highway. We started in Kentucky, drove a mile or two in Tennessee and ended up in Virginia.  We saw one deer as we were driving. We drove through a long tunnel, that took us to Tennessee. It was a cool tunnel and had a lot of lights in it.

Exiting the tunnel

Middle of the tunnel

 

Entrance to the tunnel

We were at the campground around 12:30. In order to stay at Wilderness Road Campground you have to make reservation. No one checks you in, you go directly to your site. We will probably be there for four nights, a day longer than we would normally stay but they are predicting rain.

It's a big campground with seven loops, A to G. B and C loops have power, G loop is for groups and the rest are without power. Larry picked our site in C loop right next to the bathroom. Our site wasn't level so Larry had back onto blocks that were three high. Then he plugged us in to power. The power boxes are located behind your vehicle. Our site also has a picnic table and fire ring but no grill. 

Once the Minnie was setup we had lunch, which was soup. Then we relaxed. Larry read and I played games. I did the Daily Challenges of Solitaire and Mahjong. The event today was Event: Two Game Tango Mini of 10 games (5 Free Cell and 5 Pyramid). It took me 1 hour and 32 seconds to complete, which put me in 16th place in my group.

Before for dinner Larry and I walked around the campground to get familiar with it. We walked around for a half hour. We walked around all the loops. We had a great walk.

For dinner Larry barbecued sausages. After dinner I walked around for an hour and a half to get some steps. While I was walking I stopped and talked to a local, he was walking his dog in a wagon. We talked for a bit. I also said hi to a few camper. By the time I got home I had done 12,000 steps. I didn't get my 20,000 steps but that's ok.       

 

Tuesday 4-25-23 Hiking Cumberland River Trail

 

Wildflowers at Cumberland Falls

We woke up to another chilly morning with the temperature in the 30s. Our small heater was having a hard time keeping up. 

Larry got up at 6:00, I also got up but after going to the bathroom I went back to bed for another hour and a half. When I got up the oven was heating up to temperature for cinnamon rolls. Once the oven was to temperature in went the rolls, fifteen minutes later we had fresh cinnamon rolls for breakfast. 

Today's hike started the same as yesterday. We picked up the #5 trail at site #39. We hiked down hill through the forest. We had to cross creeks via bridges or rocks. One bridge we walked on was donated to the park in 2010. It was in great shape. We walked down the 90 step staircase to the trail marker for #2 and #5. We took #2, which was to the left. The trail took us along the banks of Cumberland River and through the forest. At one place tress had fallen across the trail so someone made a temporary trail, they marked it with red flags. It was nice of them but they forgot to mark where you get back on the trail. We did a little exploring and found our way back to the trail. Larry is very good at figuring out where to go and I just follow him. While hiking we had to cross a creek and Larry had to help me by having me crab his pole. Whenever I have to cross a creek using rocks or jumping I hesitant, that can get me into trouble so Larry will help me.The Cumberland River trail was beautiful through the forest and had unbelievable rock walls. Once we were at the end we took the same route back to the Minnie. On the way back we met a couple with a young dog, he was pulling mom through the forest. He was full of energy. We had a super hike.

The hiking trail

 

Cumberland River

We relaxed the rest of the day. Larry read and I played my games. I did my Daily Challenges of Solitaire and Mahjong. The event, which was Event: Hard Road Mini of 5 games. It took me 41 minutes and 20 seconds, which put me in 20th place in my group. I did a couple of Sudoku puzzles. 

I haven't done laundry in over two weeks. It was a perfect day for laundry.

Last night I started reading Universe of Two by Stephen P. Kiernan. When I started it last night I didn't know the title and who wrote it. I just started reading it and I thought a woman wrote it because it was written in the first person point of view (Brenda Dubie) one of the main characters. It's good so far. I continued reading it tonight.

We barbecued sausage links for dinner. We had tatter tots to go with them. After dinner I walked around for about an hour. While I walked around I visited with a few of our neighbors (a couple out of Florida and another couple out of Alabama). By the end of the night I had done 20,049 steps on our phone.

 

Monday 4-24-23 Hiking to Cumberland Falls

 

Cold Morning

We woke up to a cold morning, it was about 35 degrees outside. Sometime in the early morning we lost power so our heater quit. Larry woke up at 6:00 am and went out to check if we were the only ones without power, he used a volt meter and found there was no power at the power box. He put our Wave 3 heater together and turned it on. When I woke up the power was still off. Our neighbors woke up and Larry asked if they were without power she said yes. He told her we didn't have power. Around 8:00 am the power came on. We were excited.

I made pancakes for breakfast, I should have made something in the oven to get the chill out of the Minnie. 

I use my Garmin activity tracker all the time and now that it quit I have noway to track my steps. Larry found a step tracking program for our phone. He wanted one that did not use the GPS part of the phone so that it wouldn't drain the battery.

Then we got ready to go on a hike to Cumberland Falls to test it out. It worked excellent. We hiked for 4 miles and did 9,591 steps. We picked up trail #5 at site 39. It takes you to Cumberland Falls, which is 1.25 miles one way. As we hiked the trail we saw beautiful rock formations and caves. We hiked through the forest, climbed over roots and rocks, climbed around a few boulders and heard and saw the Cumberland River. At places it was wet so we had to be careful. Especially,  where the rocks were wet and some of the rocks were steps and other were slabs. We climbed down a huge staircase, it had 90 steps. The staircase was steep and had a couple of places with a platform to rest. It went down the mountainside and on the way back it went up the mountainside. They had rain a couple of days ago so we saw a few small waterfalls on the rock walls. When we a half mile away from the falls we got on the number 2 trail. This trail took us through the picnic area that went along the river. We saw a beautiful pavilion, it was built by the CCC. It had a great fireplace with an opening on all sides but one chimney. When we got to the Cumberland Falls area it had a huge area with a store and a walkway to give different views of the falls. If you wanted to hike longer you could pick up other trails there. We walked around the area and stopped at a few different observation points for the Cumberland Falls. We also saw a small fall on the other side of the river. Both falls had a rainbow, this was cool. After taking pictures we took the number 2 trail for about a half mile to a staircase where we turned around. At the staircase we looked on the other side of the river and saw the Eagle Falls. It was smaller but it was still beautiful. We rested for a little bit then headed back. There were more people showing up because it was almost 11:00. We passed a young couple who had a three year old and an infant. We said hi to them and they let us go by. The little girl said they were looking for black bears. In the parking lot for the falls there was a Jeep that was black with purple grill, door handles and hinges and rubber duckies on the dash, I really liked it. We took the same route back that we took to the falls. It's amazing how the same trails could look so different going the opposite direction. We had a super hike.

Cumberland River

Mining for gems at Cumberland Falls

 

Cumberland Falls

 

Small falls on the other side of the river

 

Eagle Falls

 

Part of the hiking trail

 

38 of the 90 step staircase

Small stone staircase built by the CCC

 

Cool Jeep

A huge bridge that takes cars across the Cumberland River

 

Larry on one of the bridges

 

The Pavilion built by the CCC

We rested for the rest of the day. Larry started another book. He loves to read while I play games. I played my Daily Challenges of Solitaire and Mahjong. Then I moved onto the event, which was Event: Pyramid Mini of 5 games. It took me 11 minutes and 54 seconds, which put me in 23rd place in my group.

After dinner I walked around the campground for an hour and a half, which gave me another 5 miles and 10,000 steps. While I was walking around I saw two turkeys grazing by the horse stables. That's the only wildlife I've seen since we have been in Kentucky. When I ended up doing 20,693 steps. Larry worries about me and thinks I should cut back on my steps because my right knee and my feet are starting to bug me. He's probably is right so I'm going to try to do about 20,000 steps a day instead of 27,000 steps. 

 

 

Sunday 4-23-23 KFC Museum & Pinball Museum of Cobin

 

Fun Day

We had a super day of having fun.

We spent two nights at Cumberland Wilderness Road Park and today we moved on. 

Our next destination was only 30 miles down the road so we weren't in any hurry to leave. We wanted to visit Corbin on the way. 

While we were hanging around the campground Larry read and I played games. I did the Daily Challenges of Solitaire and Mahjong. Then I did the event, which was Event: Klondike Adventure of 20 games. It took me 1 hour, 13 minutes and 29 seconds to complete, which put me in 12th place in my group. 

About 10:30 we put things down and made sure everything was securely in place. Larry unplugged us and rolled up the extension cords. There was a steady flow of RVs dumping their tanks at the dump station. Larry had dumped our tanks on the way in so we didn't need to stop. While I went to the restroom Larry started the Minnie and moved it back so he could get it off the blocks. We couldn't reach the water at our site so Larry moved the Minnie to a site that we could get to. He filled the fresh water tank. Once the water tank was full and the hose was put away we were on the road again.

Corbin is only 11 miles away from Cumberland Wilderness Road Park. The first stop was at the KFC Museum & Cafe. Corbin is where Col. Harland Sanders lived and founded Kentucky Fried Chicken. There was plenty of parking. Harland Sanders originally had a gas station, from that he added a restaurant and hotel. In the parking lot there was a restored set of old gas pumps, air pump and three signs on the life of Col. Harland Sanders finding his way. One was his life from 1890 to 1931, one was 1935 to 1960 and the last one was 1964 to 1990. The museum was in the Sanders Cafe. It was a very interesting setup because the museum was built within the cafe. You eat at tables throughout the museum. We ate lunch at the cafe. As we walked around the museum we learned about Col. Sanders and KFC. it had a video with Col. Sanders making chicken and talking about the recipe. There was a display on the history of the bucket and how Col. Sanders designed his place. It had a display on the first kitchen, where the chicken was made. Col. Sanders had an interesting life, much of it with limited success. We had fun walking around looking at the displays.

 

The museum entrance sign

Col. Sanders famous suit

 

Display of the history of the bucket and other items

 

Enjoying a bench with Col. Sanders

 

Sharing a bucket of chicken with Col. Sanders

 

Model of the first KFC site 1940

First uniform worn at KFC

 

Sign to the cafe

 

Display on the history of Col. Sanders   

Part of the first kitchen for KFC

After walking around the museum we drove a mile down the road to the Pinball Museum of Corbin. It wasn't open yet so we walked around downtown Corbin. There was a nice park that told the history of Col. Sanders. It was located right across the street from the train depot. We walked around the train depot. Then we went back to the Minnie and relaxed until the pinball museum opened.

Train Depot

The Pinball Museum was smaller than Game Galaxy in Smyrna Tennessee but it was nicer. It had 56 pinball machines from 1969 to 2021 and a several arcade games. It cost $15.00 per person. The gentleman who worked there was very friendly and helpful. As we were leaving he said they were moving down the road a couple of blocks to a bigger place. The owner was going to add more machines he has in storage. He also kept busy cleaning the machines. We spent an hour and a half playing pinball. We played games we have such as Iron Man, Willy Wonka, The Addams Family and The Munsters. We played others we don't have such as Ghost Busters, Rush, Avengers, Toy Story 4, Elvira, three Star Wars (Mandalorian, Star Wars and Star Wars Episode I), Aerosmith and many more. Larry got the top score on Aerosmith. I got the high score for the day on Willy Wonka. I got high score one and became a Jedi Junior in Star Wars Episode I. Larry bought a pin and magnet as we were leaving. We had an outstanding time playing pinball. 

 

Aerosmith 

 

Toy Story 4

Avengers

 

Magnet from Pinball Museum of Corbin

 

The pin

After playing pinball we went on to Cumberland Falls State Resort Park. It was a beautiful 20 mile drive going to the park. The road was curvy and through the Daniel Boone National Forest. During our stay we're staying in Ridgeline Campground. We were surprised on how small the sites are. Our Minnie is 21' and it barely fits. The sites have a picnic table, fire ring, power (which you share with another camper) and water. We didn't have a reservation so we could only check-in for one night and we wanted three nights. The other two nights we had to go online. Larry did and was glad to get the same site. The site wasn't level and we had to block the front passenger side. We do have a beautiful site.

Camping at Cumberland Falls State Resort Park

After setting up the Minnie we relaxed for a little while. Then I made a salad for dinner.

After dinner I walked around for an hour and a half to get some steps. As I was walking I stopped and visited with a couple from Ohio. They told me where the trailhead was located. They said it was a beautiful trail to the falls. I had a very nice walk.

Office and store 

One of the cottages for rent

I went out to finish my steps and my Garmin quit. I think the battery died and we don't have an extra battery. We have batteries for my old one but not the new one. I guess I'll have to wait until I get a battery to track how many steps I do. That's ok. Before the battery quit I did complete my weekly challenge goal of 175,000 steps. I actually did 176,690 steps, which put me in 5th place in my group.