It might take us two weeks to do the Natchez Trace!

The rain stopped, but the skies never really cleared up. Still, it gave us a chance to get out and do some hiking. We chose the loop trail that goes around the property here at Meriwether Lewis Campground on the Natchez Trace Parkway.

Still a little chilly, but so long as there is no snow, and we can hike... we're doing fine!

We don't find it any hardship to be boondocking

Yesterday was a rain day. It was pouring before we woke up, and it continued to rain on and off until well after lunch. We had already made the decision to simply stay put, so we had an indoor day. Other than a few strolls to the bathroom, we didn't even get out for a walk.

That's not like us, but a one day break isn't necessarily a bad thing.

Fast cars and a slow motorhome

We were up just after 6:00am yesterday morning. We had been parked right beside the National Corvette Museum in Bowling Green, Kentucky and we wanted to be there right when it opened at 8:00am.

Sure enough, we were pretty much the first paying customers of the day, although there were quite a few people around because they had a staff meeting just finishing up when we arrived.

It's gonna get chilly...

Interesting weather forecast as a cold front is moving into a big part of the eastern U.S.... and we're going to try to avoid the worst of it! I see that Lexington, KY will have a high around 66F (19C) today, but by Wednesday it will only be 46F (8C) and by Friday 34F (1C). Yep, that's the high.

Yikes. So we did some driving yesterday, and we'll do some more today. Gotta head further south!

We're here to see the moonbow!

Just a short drive yesterday to Cumberland Falls State Resort Park.

The campground here is open year round, which we found kind of strange since most of the sites are geared towards small trailers or tents. But, they are on a self pay system in the winter and the water lines are shut off. Most sites have both 20 and 30 amp electric, and one site even has 50 amp, even though a big rig might have a difficult time getting up here.

Also, all sites are at a flat fee $20 USD ($26.40 CAD) per night. We wouldn't normally pay that much, but there's a reason we are here!

All Aboard the Pequod: Travelling from the Great Lakes to Java with the Moby Dick Crew

Seafaring has always captivated humankind as a means of travelling and exploring – and few literary works depict life at sea better than the renowned novel Moby Dick. As avid travellers ourselves, we decided it would be fun to board the novel’s whaling ship Pequod (in our imagination) and discover the most fascinating spots along its route.

No luck at the RV junk yard

We packed up and left Koomer Ridge Campground yesterday morning. We weren't going very far... there was another trailhead only about 3 miles (5 kms) to the Gray's Arch trailhead that one of our readers had enthusiastically recommended.

We had to take a potholed dirt road to get to the parking area.

Hiking in Daniel Boone National Forest

We did a short 2.5 mile (4 km) hike yesterday morning, came back to the motorhome for lunch, and then went out for another fairly short hike in the afternoon.

They were calling for some showers yesterday afternoon, but we only had a few drops despite it being a generally overcast day.

November Expenses

Here's our November expense report.

Considering we were the first two weeks of the month in expensive Barbados, I suppose it's not too bad. But it's still a little higher than we were planning for. It's easy to see where the problem is...we've spent money on things that we're not using yet! That, plus the Canadian dollar has dropped in value again, meaning that everything we buy in U.S, dollars is that much more expensive.

We spent a total of $2,873 CAD ($2,270 USD) for the month.

Great site at Koomer Ridge Campground

We got packed up and left our friends' house in Lexington at about 10:00am. We decided to backtrack a little bit because we wanted to see some more of Kentucky, and the Red River Gorge area in Daniel Boone National Forest was only an hour or so away.

I had read about a good National Forest campground called Koomer Ridge... so that's where we headed. And we wanted to get there fairly early in order to hopefully get a good site.

Gluten free lunch, and Southern Lights

Spent some time yesterday cleaning up Sherman. We had gone on some wet dirty roads before arriving here and he needed a sponge bath before we could carry on!

Plus, I've got a few motorhome improvement jobs lined up for when we're parked up for any length of time, so I got one of them done yesterday as well.

Finally, a visit to downtown Lexington, Kentucky

Lexington is all about the horses. But the famous and popular Kentucky Horse Park is located a fair bit outside the north end of the city, and often many travelers and tourists don't spend much time in the city itself.

And we were exactly the same. We have been through, to, or around Lexington a couple of times before. But we had never made it downtown!

Lexington, Kentucky is having some great weather!

Finally seems like we've traveled far enough south, and that cold band we were in seems to have lifted. Nice bright sunny day yesterday and the sunshine is forecast for the next few days with highs around 15C (60F). Beautiful.

Staying with our friends here in Lexington and it was a perfect day to go to the park and feed the ducks...

In to Kentucky, and some cheap gas!!

It's funny, but we've been to Lexington, Kentucky several times... yet we've never been to downtown Lexington. We're staying on the southern outskirts of the city this time so maybe we'll take a day and head into the central area to see what there is to see.

We woke up yesterday morning by the river in St. Albans, West Virginia. I peaked my head out the window to see if the sun was coming up yet...

The Wonderbag!

When we were in Europe, we learned about a simple method of slow cooking that uses very little energy. The Wonderbag.

Being frugal RV'ers who like to conserve energy while boondocking, Ruth thought this might work really well. She often makes a stew, or curry, or other crockpot style dish. Our Wonderbag was delivered when we were at Connie and Barry's house last Monday, and so we tried it out on Tuesday!

Great views, and another free overnight spot!

We got up yesterday morning, and drove the short distance to the New River Gorge visitors center. We knew that it didn't open until 9:00am, so we sat in Sherman and had some breakfast. When we were ready, we went up to the entrance.

"Closed due to Thanksgiving. Will re-open Friday at 9:00am".

Hmph.

There are no straight roads in West Virginia!

Which is fine.... Sherman likes driving on curvy mountain roads.

We've never spent any time in West Virginia. In fact, our only recorded travel here was through a tiny corner of the state back in 2010. And we don't think we stopped. So really, this is our first time here.

Abandoned Pennsylvania Turnpike Tunnel

Woke up at 6:30am yesterday morning, put the heat on and went back to bed for another 20 minutes. It was a bit chilly on top of the mountain! But the skies were clear and it wasn't long before the sun was shining in Sherman's windows.

It was close to 10:00am when we headed down the mountain to try and find the abandoned highway tunnel.

A great travel day, and a good boondocking spot

Yesterday was the first day that we truly felt we were back to our style of RV travel. A short travel day on back country roads, followed by a hike and boondocking on top of a mountain.

In a word, fantastic!

Hiking in the forest and found an old plane crash...

Finally got out for some exercise yesterday. The forecast keeps teasing us by saying the sun is going to shine, but it wasn't very accurate yesterday. Still, Barry graciously offered his pickup truck to us to go back up into the mountains and do a hike, and we're glad we did.

It felt great to get out and get some fresh air!

Rainy day and Sherman has some new LED light bulbs!

Well it was a dreary, wet, miserable day yesterday. But we didn't let that stop us... we had fun anyhow! Sure glad that we weren't driving anywhere in the motorhome though.

Barry and Connie took us out for breakfast. Just a local diner. It seems everywhere we go, they bump into someone they know!

Tire fixed, and a long driving day....

Up early at the Walmart in Watertown, New York. No idea what the temperature had gone down to that night, but it was only 39F (3C) inside the motorhome when we woke up. We never leave the heat on at night. Nice and cozy in bed still, but boy you sure didn't want to get out!

Looked outside and saw this...

Not a smooth start to the trip...

Well it wasn't a great travel day. But, we are safe and happy in our motorhome, and sometimes you just have to roll with the punches. Today will be a better day.

How about I start at the beginning...

We got up at a half decent hour, with the plan to be pulling out of our daughter's driveway by 10:00am at the very latest.

New dinette table for Sherman... and we're off!

Sherman has a new dinette table!

We've always hated our dinette table in the motorhome. It simply looked cheap.

Our son in law Justin is a wood craftsman. He's actually a trained cabinetmaker, and he builds the nicest furniture. But he's always so busy, so we hesitated to ask. We told him we would pay him to build us a table, and he agreed. So before we left for Barbados, we bought some (expensive!) Peruvian walnut hardwood at a wood specialty shop.

And while we were gone, we let him work his magic...

What did it cost for 19 days in Barbados?

We always find it an interesting exercise to go back over our trip costs when any particular voyage ends. Of course when someone goes on a typical package vacation, it's a lot easier to add things up. The typical one week all inclusive is especially easy because for the most part you know all of your costs up front.

But with us, you just never know until the end. Of course we try and do things as frugally as possible within reason. But when you travel to a relatively expensive country like Barbados, you're pretty much stuck spending whatever it costs. I mean after all, you still have to eat!

Back in Canada

But it's going to be a whirlwind visit, mostly just to say goodbye. We need to do some last minute shopping (maple syrup, among other things!) and then we're heading into the United States on Thursday morning.

Our travel day was fine yesterday. Everything happened exactly as planned.

October Expenses

There was so much going on in Barbados, we never got around to telling you about our month of October expenses. So I've got some time to waste here in Toronto airport waiting for our flight to Ottawa.

October was an expensive month. Mostly because of repairs and maintenance to Sherman, but also because we always seem to spend more money visiting Ottawa than when we're out traveling!