Sevierville, TN - Saluda, NC - Home

 September 6 - 10, 2025

On Saturday, September 6 we drove to Douglas Dam Headwater Campground in Sevierville, TN for three nights.  It was 50 amp electric and water for $25.66 per night with senior pass.  It was a TVA campground and on Douglas Lake.  We could see the dam out our back window.

While there we spent Sunday with my brother, his wife and son.  We went up to the lot where they are building a house.  It's a very windy and narrow road up there but you can see what a beautiful view they will have.  We went to lunch at Funddrucker's and then back to the campground to visit for a while.  It was really good to see them!!

On  Tuesday, September 9 we drove into North Carolina via I-40.

They are still working on road construction from Hurricane Helene last year.  We heard that the maximum width to go through was 8'6", and we are 8'.  But I think that was where the lines were and there was actually much more room.

We stopped in Saluda, NC at Orchard Lake Campground.  They had full hookups for $27.50 with Passport America.  The road was very windy and narrow but the campground was nice.  It was very quiet on a Tuesday!  We would return.

On Wednesday we got up early, got everything put away and headed for home.  We left about 9am and got home about 12pm.

It was a wonderful trip and we are so grateful and thank the Lord for the opportunity to go, do and see.

This was our trip.  We have all of our map stickers not except for Delaware and Hawaii.  We've been to both states but not in a 5th wheel.  

It will be a few months but Lord willing next year we will be...

Roving on...

By faith we understand that the worlds were framed by the word of God, so that the things which are seen were not made of things which are visible.

Hebrews 11:3

Lincoln Boyhood National Memorial - English, IN - Frankfort, KY - Cave City, KY - Monterey, TN

 August 27 - September 5, 2025

On Wednesday, August 27 we drove into Indiana and stopped and Abraham Lincoln's National Memorial.

Abraham Lincoln lived moved here from Kentucky at the age of seven, and lived here until he was 21.  

After two years in Indiana, Abraham's mother, Nancy Hanks Lincoln, died when he was about nine years old.  She died of what was called 'milk sickness'.  This occurs when cattle graze on white snakeroot, a shade-loving plant that contains tremetol, a poison to animals, and to humans who drink milk or eat meat from those animals.

Cemetery

Nancy Hanks Lincoln Tomb

After about a year Abraham's father, Thomas, went back to Kentucky and married Sarah Bush Johnston, a widow he had known for years.  She brought her three children, ages 12, 8, and 5, a wagonload of furniture, and many books.  She was a kind step-mother.

Our stop for the next two nights was at Sycamore Springs Park in English, IN.  We had full hookups for $34.24 per night.  It was a beautiful park with lots of open space, ponds, and walking trails.  I would recommend it and wish more campgrounds could be like this!

This was the view from the door.

The campground provided free firewood so we finally had a fire!

You can't have a fire without s'mores!

On Friday, August 29 we went into Kentucky.

A former co-worker of John's lives in Shelbyville and we wanted to stop and see them.  Then we realized it was Labor Day weekend and decided to stay at Elkhorn Creek RV Park in Frankfort, KY for four nights (there weren't any other options).  It was full hookups for (sit down) $88.47 per night WITH the Good Sam discount.  For that price they should offer at least free firewood and on site trash pickup.

I took these pictures on Friday before everyone started arriving for the weekend.  The campground was packed, with every site taken.  The campground was very nice and clean, but they squeezed three times as many sites as the last campground, and charged over twice the price.  

We met with Jim and Kim on Saturday afternoon and had a nice time visiting.  We went to church with them on Sunday morning, and then enjoyed lunch at Longhorn.  I'm really glad we got to stop and see them.  As usual we forgot to get a picture of the four of us!

The day we were to leave the door side slide wouldn't come in.  John was able to fix it but it was noon (check-out time) before we got hooked up.  I got a text from the campground at 12:09 reminding us that check-out was noon.  They could see that we had a problem, we were out 5 minutes after noon, and I thought that was rude.

We went for a walk one evening and saw this tree.  I guess this sign isn't going anywhere!

On Tuesday, September 2 we drove to Singing Hills RV Park and Campground in Cave City, KY for two nights.  It was full hookups for $33.75 per night with Passport America discount.  It was raining when we got there and raining when we left and we didn't get any pictures of the campground.  It was a nice campground and not busy during the week.  I would recommend it.

Our purpose in going there was to go to Mammoth Caves.

We took the Frozen Niagara tour, which was 1-1/2 hours including the bus ride to the entrance, and an easy walk.  We did have to watch our heads because there are some really low spots.

Here are some pictures of the cave.

On the way out of the cave the ranger showed us the cave crickets.  I didn't get any pictures; they're the same color as the cave and hard to see.  They're all over the ceiling and it's good we didn't know about them until the end.  I would have freaked if one fell on me!

On Thursday, September 4 we arrived at Spacious Skies Belle Ridge campground in Monterey, TN.  It's full hookups for $37.87.  It's a nice campground, but if you use a promo code make sure they charge the taxes and don't wait three days with an additional charge.

When we arrived John went to put out the slides and the other slide wouldn't go out.  A gear broke and he was able to manually get the slide out partway and take out the gear.  We called around some larger RV parts stores and no one had the gear.  We finally called a small RV store and they had one.  She said they keep one in stock.  This was a God thing.  He always takes care of us; praise Him!  I'm so thankful that God has given John the ability to repair things like this.  We would have been up the creek if he couldn't.  He thinks that the RV place in Greensville where he took the trailer to have new seals put on the slides didn't put the slides in properly and that's why they were making such a racket and finally failed.  But now they both work and tomorrow we'll be...

Roving on...

By faith we understand that the worlds were framed by the word of God, so that the things which are seen were not made of things which are visible.

Hebrews 11:3

Chandlerville, IL - Carlyle, IL - Carmi, IL

 August 19-26, 2025

The check-out time at our campground wasn't until 3pm, so in the morning we drove to Peoria to the Caterpillar Visitor Center.

This is a life size model of the 797F rock truck.  When you enter the museum you are taken to a theatre that would fit in the bed of the truck.  This truck is HUGE!

The actual tires weigh 12,000 pounds and are 14' in diameter.

They have some of the early machines too.

They have simulators where you can try your hand at operating a bulldozer and excavator.  John got the hang of it pretty quick.  I tried it and ended up doing the same spot over and over.

It was well worth going to the visitor center.

When we were done at Caterpillar we had lunch and got on the road.  We like to take back roads, but we seemed to be on a lot of these type roads.  Most of them were pretty good and traffic was almost non-existent.  I don't think these are on the trucker's map.

We went to Jim Edgar Panther Creek State Fish and Wildlife Area campground near Chandlerville, IL for three nights.  It was 50 amp full hookups for $27.25 per night.  Finally the campground rates are getting reasonable!  Being during the week it was very quiet, but our neighbors said it got pretty noisy on the weekends.  It was a nice campground and I would go there again.

On Wednesday, August 20, we went into Springfield to the Abraham Lincoln home.  It was the only home that the Lincolns owned.  Originally it was a story and a half, but the upstairs ceiling wasn't high enough to stand up in, so they added the second story.  I had been here when I was 11 years old and it was nice to see it again.  I don't remember going inside, but I do remember the outside.

The back of the house.

The parlor.  As you can see, chairs back then weren't very comfortable, so Lincoln would normally sit on the floor and lean against a chair.  I don't imagine that was very comfortable either.

Lincoln's bedroom.  The guide said that although the bed looks to short for Lincoln, it was in fact long enough.

Mary Lincoln's bedroom.  Back in those days it was common for people of a certain social standing to have separate bedrooms.

A 'log cabin' similar to this one behind us was used in Lincoln's presidential campaign.

The street that the house is on.  You can see it on the right.

From there we went to the Presidential Museum.  It was very well done and laid out so it was easy to follow and see everything.

Depiction of Lincoln's boyhood home.

Lincoln reading by the fire.  His father thought reading books was a waste of time and discouraged it.  He was quite a harsh man, which might explain why Lincoln leaned the other way and Willie and Tad had no discipline.  Lincoln only had about 18 months of schooling and the rest was self taught.

Lincoln's store.

Mary Todd Lincoln's inaugural ball gown.

The White House kitchen.

From what I've read they could make enormous quantities of food in this kitchen.

Lincoln's cabinet.

After we were done at the museum we went across the street to the library.  There wasn't much to see there but we saw it!

Across the street there was a park with this statue of Lincoln.

Then we went to Lincoln's tomb.

As I mentioned, I had been to Springfield when I was 11 years old.  I remember my dad holding my brother and I up so we could tough Lincoln's nose.  For old times sake I had to do it again.

This is where Abraham, Mary, Eddie (who died in 1850 at the age of four), Willie, and Tad are buried.  Robert is the only son of Abraham and Mary that lived.

Lincoln's tomb.

On Friday, August 22 we drove by miles and miles of corn and soybean fields to Boulder Campground near Carlyle, IL for three nights.

It was 50 amp electric only for $10 per night with the senior pass.  Our site backed up to the lake and the sites are well spaced.

God gave us a beautiful sunset.

It's finally getting cooler and we could sit outside without melting or having bugs eat us.

On Sunday we went to the Gateway Arch in St. Louis, MO.

We took the tram to the top.  This is the view over the Mississippi River.

The view toward St. Louis with the Old Courthouse at the top.  You actually enter where the circle is and go underground.

A mock up of the cars that take you to the top.  Notice the seats; I'll have more on that later.  The cars can hold five people but our guide said they usually don't put more than four people in one car.  It's tight!

A model of how the cars go up and down the arch.

This sign tells about the arch and the chairs.

This is the probably the only scale model of the arch left that was used by the design team.
Notice the tulip chair.  When the arch opened this was the style of furniture (I had a small table very similar to this with the stem and base).  The seats on the trams are designed after this chair and are the originals.

The Old Courthouse.

On Monday, August 25 we drove to Burrell Woods Bicentennial Park Campground for two nights.  It's a very nice city park with 50 amp full hookups for $24.25 per night.  Looking around I see only one other trailer, and I haven't seen any people there, so it's really quiet.  The drive to get here was not really easy, going through town and neighborhoods, but worth it.

Today was cleaning and laundry day, and tomorrow we'll be...

Roving on...

By faith we understand that the worlds were framed by the word of God, so that the things which are seen were not made of things which are visible.

Hebrews 11:3