Dawson Springs Part 3

Monday, August 27, 2012 Through Thursday, August 30, 2012

Today Randy and Debbie came a callin.  The four us all worked together at York International in Madisonville, KY. for several years.  It was really great to see them again and share lots of laughs.  It's always fun getting together with them and we are all looking forward to spending the winter together in Florida.  Randy and Debbie will head to Florida in a few days to oversee some work being done on their site.

Here's a shot of Debbie and Kitty.

 

Here's a shot of the four of us.

 

 

 

Our whole purpose for being in Kentucky is to visit family and friends before we take off for parts unknown.  Our next visit was with Aunt Doris in Madisonville.  We had a nice chat and Doris took us out to lunch at Cracker Barrel. Hey, don't twist my arm so hard!!

 

 

Here's Aunt Doris, Kitty, and me.

 

 

Next, we head to Slaughters, Ky. to see the cousins.  We all met at Rita's house, cooked burgers on the grill and had plenty of laughs talking about the good old days.

 

 

This is Dewey and Freda and Rita

Here's the whole clan!

 



Front: Rita

L to R: Craig, Freda, Dewey, Louise, David, and Kitty

 

 





Oh My...Patti's!

Sunday, August 26, 2012

Today is the day we move off of Mount Everest.  Well, at least it feels like we are on top of a mountain because site #50 at Pennyrile State Forest in Dawson Springs, Kentucky, is on such a hill we had to jack the front end of the 5th wheel up several feet to get level.  We felt like any sudden movement inside the 5th wheel would knock us off the leveling blocks and we would slide into the next county.  So, we packed up in the morning, dumped our holding tanks, and moved to site #63.

In case you didn't see our blog from a couple of days ago, here's a picture of how high we were on site #50.

The good thing about being jacked up so high, I don't have to bend over to get things out of the  storage box.

 

Here we are on site #63

Now, the front end is so low that even Kitty can clean the bugs off the front! ha (Anyone that knows Kitty knows that aint going to happen).  The bad thing about site #63 is I have to bend way over to get things out of the storage box.  Oh well, I can live with that!

 

Here's another shot of site 63.

 



 

This campground does not have one level site, and most of the sites are not suitable for RV's because they are too small.  When they mow the grass, they blow the clippings all over your site, and the Internet here is frustratingly slow.  Other than that, it's a great place to camp.

We finished getting set up on the new site just after noon and got cleaned up.  Karri came over and we decided we would head out to get some lunch.  Well..., anyone that knows us and knows this part of Kentucky knows exactly where we were headed for lunch.  There is no better place than Patti's 1880 Restaurant in Grand Rivers, Ky.  Grand Rivers is at the northern end of the Land Between the Lakes, or between Barkley Lake and Kentucky Lake. If you are anywhere in Western Kentucky, you gotta head to Patti's.  The food is OOOHHH SOOOO GOOOOD!  They have home made bread, strawberry butter, 2" thick pork chops, pies to die for, and much more.  It doesn' t matter what you order, the food is always great. Excuse me while I wipe the slobber off my key board!  Ha!

Here's a shot of one of their great pies with mile high meringue. (We just happened to make it home with three pieces of pie in tow)

 

Here's a shot of Karri and Kitty at Patti's

 

Here's Kitty and me.

 

These pictures were taken after we ate and our cloths are fitting rather snug!  We have been going to Patti's for many years and it always shrinks our clothes!  So, if you have an outfit that's a little too large, come to Patti's and it will fit like a glove when they get done with you.  Also, be sure to push your car seat all the way back before getting out of your car when going to Patti's.  That's some great advise and you'll only get it on this blog!

 

 

 



Pennyrile Lake, Dawson Springs part 2

Friday, August 24, 2012

After we finished our usual morning coffee, Kobie fixed his famous biscuits and gravy.  This was the first time we have used the oven this year.  We had problems with the oven burning the bottom of whatever we were cooking leaving the top undone.  So, we purchased a cooking stone to fit the oven and it worked perfectly.  Of Course, Kobie claims it was just his cooking skills that made the biscuits come out just right.  It's probably a little of both.

Around noon we headed to Pennyrile Lodge, about a mile from Pennyrile Campground, for lunch.  We were told they have a great buffet, but it doesn't start till four PM on Friday.  So, we ordered from the menu and were not disappointed.

Here is a shot of Kitty, Kobie, and me in front of Pennyrile Lodge.

Here's a shot of the three of us in the back of the Lodge overlooking Pennyrile Lake

 



 

 

 

Saturday, August 25, 2012

 

 

Karri and her boys, Brandon and Alex, Kobie, Zach, Gracie, Donnie, Kay, and Hunter came over to our site for a cook out.  Here's a shot of the group.

 

From L to R: Karri, Alex, Gracie, Kitty, Zach, Kobie, Craig, and Brandon.

 

Unfortunately, Donnie, Kay and Hunter left before we took this picture.  Later, Kami and Bret came by to say Hi.

 

Here's a shot of Gracie and Kobie watching something horrible on TV!

 



 

Here' Zach watching the same thing.

Well, they look as if they are enjoying the show!

 

It was a great night getting together with family we haven't seen in quite a while.  Gracie, Zach & Kobie spent the night at the RV.  We had wall to wall bodies but everyone had fun.  That's all that is important!



Dawson Springs, KY.

Wednesday

It was an easy one hour drive from Henderson, Ky to Dawson Springs.  But, once we saw our campsite, things started to get interesting.  We have site #50 at Pennyrile State Forest.  The site is up hill and trees on both sides making backing into the site a little tricky.  Despite the roads being black top, everything is on a hill and not very level.  The real challenge is getting level side to side and front to back. 

It took us about three hours to get the 5th wheel level and set up.  While I was leveling and unhooking, Kitty was checking to see if any better sites were available for our two week stay.  There is no one on site to check us in, so everyone has to check in at the lodge about one mile from the campground.  The clerk gave Kitty a list of sites that were available for two weeks.  The best site was #63.  I hooked the fifth wheel back up and was just getting ready to move to site 63 when Kitty called me on the walkie talkie to tell me the clerk made a mistake and 63 would't be open until Sunday.  So, I unhooked and went through the leveling process and hooked up the water and electricity again. We will stay on site #50 move to site #63 Sunday.  It is a pull through site, reasonably level considering the hills, and much more desirable.

Here's a shot of our 5th wheel on site 50.  Normally, I have to bend down to walk under the king pin.  But, we had to jack the front end up so high to get level, that Kobie and I can stand up under the king pin now, and we are both over 6 feet tall. 





We're up so high we get nose bleeds just walking into the bedroom!

Pennyrile State Forest is sort of centrally located around our kids, grand kids, and friends.  So, it is a convenient site, but not the most desirable campground in western Kentucky.  It was made many years ago and wasn't designed for large rigs.  Also, our cell phones don't show any bars, so we need to use our signal booster and the Internet is very slow.  It takes several minutes to upload pictures.  I will be doing this blog almost daily so there will be fewer uploads each time.

Kentucky, Here We Come!

Well, it's time to leave Carlyle Lake and head to Kentucky.  Having lived in Kentucky for many years, we have lots of friends and family to visit in the Bluegrass State.  Our first stop is John James Audubon State Park in Henderson, KY.

Site #20 is a pull through site just long enough for our 5th wheel and truck.  We parked the car at the bath house nearby.  We got set up and here's a shot of our site, number 20.

 

 

Obviously, no one is home in the above picture.  I am sure you are wondering who took this picture.  I think Kallie did.  Ha.

 

 

After getting set up, we had a visit from Kitty's cousin, Rita.  So, we threw some burgers on the grill and had a nice chat.  Kitty and Rita grew up together and had a lot of catching up to do.  Here' s a shot of Rita and Kitty in our living room.

 



 

 

 

 

Tuesday, August 21, 2012

 

 

Our plan today is to visit Aunt Ruthie and Uncle Dub.  They live in Owensboro, Ky., about a 35 minute drive from our campsite.  We were well prepared for this visit.  We brought our lap top to show them some pictures and the camera to take pictures.  Unfortunately, we did neither.  But, we really enjoyed our visit with them.

 

During our visit, their son Gary called, and we decided to all meet for lunch at the popular Moon Light BBQ.  The five of us had a great lunch and great conversation.  Gary is recently remarried and also a grandfather now.  So, Uncle Dub and Aunt Ruthie are great grandparents, wow!  We updated Gary on our travels and talked about life on the road.  Then Gary had to leave to attend a meeting, so we returned to Aunt Ruthie's and Uncle Dub's for some more conversation until they had to leave for a doctor appointment.  Darn, we didn't get any pictures.

 

We had a light supper back at Audubon State Park and got ready for more visitors.  Rita returned with Freda, David, and his wife, Louise - more of Kitty's cousins.  After giving them a tour of our home on wheels, we all sat outside and I had set up the camera so I could get a group picture.  But, the conversation was so interesting, I forgot to take any pictures!  When it started getting dark, we went inside to have some strawberry cake.  We had a great visit with these folks.  They are all such nice people, and they were a big part of Kitty's childhood.

 

We are only here for two nights, but it was packed with some wonderful visits and we thoroughly enjoyed see everyone again.  Now, it's on the Dawson Springs, Ky.

 





Carlyle Lake C.O.E.

August 13, 2012

We arrived at Boulder Recreation Area a little after noon on a pleasant Monday afternoon.  We had a choice of a full hook up site overlooking Boulder Marina, or a water front site with electric only.  We chose the full hook up site and it also has 50 amp service.

Through the years, we have stayed in a few Army Corps of Engineers campgrounds and they have all been nice.  Boulder has several nice water front sites, the roads are all paved and most of the sites are level and paved.

Carlyle Lake was built by the US Army Corps of Engineers to combat flooding from the Kaskaskia River and was finished in 1967.  Carlyle Lake has 83 miles of shore line, is 3.5 miles wide and 15 miles long.  It's a great place for boating, fishing, sailing, swimming, bird watching, hunting, and hiking.  Hey, we did all that stuff before breakfast! Now what are we going to do?  Right!

Here we are on site #8

The Lake is behind us, but you can't see it in this shot



Here's the three of us at the shore line.

Since we are on the east side of the lake, the sunsets are spectacular.  These shots speak for themselves.

Did you see the sail boat in the picture above?  Here it is again below.

We really enjoyed this campground, watching the sail boats on the lake and in the Marina, and meeting some interesting people.  From here, it's on to Kentucky.  More to follow later.