Day 11, Montgomery Bell State Park, White Bluff, TN, Day 2

Stream Along Side the Campsites

Well, no frost overnight, but it kept getting colder starting at midnight. Now, at 12:30PM, it is 38°F and still dropping.

When I checked my email this morning I found a $5.00 refund from Montgomery Bell - seems they overcharged my card. That brings the price down to $21.42 per night.

After breakfast I headed to a coin laundromat in Dickson to do the first load of laundry for the trip. I made an interesting discovery. As I tossed a Tide pod into the washer, I noticed that it wasn't a Tide pod, but instead a TST Drop In Max black tank treatment. The bags look the same, but luckily, the individual pods look & feel different. I wonder what would have been the result of doing a washer load with the tank treatment - probably not good. Maybe it would be a good idea to keep the two bags in different storage compartments (or look more carefully when throwing the bag into the laundry basket). I ended up buying a one load box of Tide from a machine at $1.25. Much cheaper to bring your own!

After putting the laundry away & making the bed, I did some reading. Most of the rain has stopped, although a light drizzle starts & stops.

While goofing off for the afternoon, I did an internet check. Verizon shows 2 bars of 4G LTE service, 46.9Mbps down & 1.6Mbps up. AT&T shows -97dBm, 38Mbps down & 31.8Mbps up. The park uses Tengonet WiFi which shows .8Mbps down & .3Mbps up. While I was able to check the speed, I couldn't connect to use my usual speed test, because, as usual, Tengonet has forgotten my password, however the Tengonet log on shows speed (or the lack of it).

Since the bathroom is well heated, I decided to try for a shower. The good? - heated bathroom, lots of hot water & a great high volume showerhead, and 2 hooks in the drying area. The bad? - the shower & drying room are combined with a shower curtain on the opening to the bathroom, not between the shower & drying area. A very small drying area with lots of water on the floor, no bench or shelves for your stuff, either in the shower or drying area. Another campground shower that was designed by someone who never used one.

I took a short walk around the campground to dump my trash & recyclables. Everything from large class A's to tents. There is a small one man tent that arrived in a compact car across from me that has three pit bulls tied to the picnic table. It is going to be a tight fit if he takes the dogs in at night (although he might appreciate the additional heat)!

There is a small stream along many of the sites, as well as a section with full hookups (that is near full). I did check out one of the other bathrooms while on my walk to the dumpsters, and it was much nicer, including fold down seats/benches in dryer rooms separated from the shower by a shower curtain. Interesting that the bathroom was in the full hook up area, the least likely to be used by campers...

Since it is expected to be well below freezing by morning, and the site is level, I hooked up the trailer & will disconnect the water after dinner. I'll save the electric connection until the morning since I'll be using the electric heater.

Dinner was chicken & rice soup & a salad.

Until Tomorrow -

Day 10, Montgomery Bell State Park, White Bluff, TN

Site 68

Lots of rain during the night & morning. I really appreciate my weather radar app. It showed a break in the rain arriving in 20 minutes, so I could plan a dry spell to pack up the trailer's outside stuff. Other than that short break, it rained all the way to Montgomery Bell Campground. I gained an hour, switching to central time.

I entered the park through the back entrance, and didn't drive by the office. There is a small campground office with a phone number to call to register. I'm in site 68, a water & electric site for $24.02 per night with a 25% in season senior discount. Lots of sites available, although many are small & sloped. The site I picked is a gravel back in that would be too tight for a trailer or motorhome with front slides, in fact a little tighter between trees than I like. It is close to the heated bathroom building that has showers. I'll report on them tomorrow.

After setting up, I headed to Krogers in Dickson for water & a few supplies, and topped off the truck at $2.09 per gallon, the least expensive gas so far. Of course I had just filled the tank a few miles back along I 40 at $2.17, so I could only add 7 gallons. By the way, the average using the truck's Tow/Haul setting over the last 1110.4 miles is 12.4 MPG. The truck gets close to 21 MPG highway without the trailer, so it does take a hit.

Back at the trailer, I put stuff away, then did some reading & started today's journal page. It looks like tonight will be another in-trailer dinner - it is still raining, so I probably won't dig out the grill. I have a bunch of frozen meals that either microwave or bake in the oven. I will dig out the electric heater - a frost warning & 47°F tonight, with a high tomorrow of 52°F and a low of 27°F! While I didn't need reservations for Montgomery Bell, I checked on the availability of sites at my next planned stop - Tishomingo State Park in Mississippi, and while there were a number of sites available for Friday & Saturday, quite a few less than when I checked yesterday, so I made reservations. Let's hope the description of a "slight slope" to site 10 is really slight!

Dinner was a Boston Market Sweet & Sour Chicken dinner.

Until Tomorrow -

Day 9, Melton Hill Dam TVA Campground, Lenoir City, TN, Day 2

I was planning to take a nice morning sun photo of the reservoir, but when I looked out the window I couldn't even see it. Lots of fog that didn't burn off until late morning. I spent most of the day reading - current book is Michael Connelly's Dark Sacred Night. I did take an afternoon break to trim my beard & hit the campground shower. Only one, and I can't give it any more than a C. The shower points at the drying area & floods the drying area floor (no shower curtain). Two small hooks, a very small seat, and a medium volume shower head. No place for your soap or shampoo, and barely warm enough water, no heat in the bathroom. On the plus side, both the shower room & drying area (really the same area) are large.

Back at the trailer I made dinner, a Lean Cuisine Chicken Ranch Club Flatbread Melt, which goes on my not-so-bad repeatable list.

After dinner I had a nice chat with Cathy, a fellow traveler who is heading in the same general direction.

Until Tomorrow -

Day 8, Melton Hill Dam TVA Campground, Lenoir City, TN

Melton Hill Reservoir

Last night was a bit cooler than the last couple of nights, dropping into the low 40's by morning. Since I had hooked up the truck yesterday, all I needed to do this morning was unhook the water & electric & put away the Anderson leveler.

Lots of traffic along I81 & I40. I arrived at the Melton Hill Dam TVA campground around 1:10, checked in and, with a little help from my neighbor, backed into site 10. Site 10 is a water & electric site (both 50 & 30 amp) for $29.50 per night with the Senior Card. It is a level concrete pad directly across from the park office. There are three tiered sections (I'm in the middle tier) that overlook the Milton Hill Reservoir.

I spent the afternoon reading - current book is Janet Evanovich's Look Alive Twenty-Five, then took the photos of the reservoir as the sun set. The site photo and a large panorama (2.7MB) is at today's LakeshoreImages page.

Dinner was a chicken breast, potatoes & Anasazi beans cooked in my Instant Pot. Twenty minutes works well on a frozen chicken breast & potatoes, but not quite enough time for the dried beans. I'm learning - the Instant Pot is new.

Until Tomorrow -

Day 7, Hungry Mother State Park Marion, VA - Day 4

No photo today.  For those that saw the barn photo at the head of yesterday's post, is changed this morning.  Much better lighting & a better composition, so I replaced it.

Lots or rain overnight, but by 10:00AM the sun was out. Partly cloudy & warm for the rest of the day. Many, many RVs, both fiberglass & stick built headed out this morning. There are 3 fiberglass trailers that stayed today. I have a new neighbor in a very large 5th wheel. I called & chatted with my son & Don & Anne, my usual Sunday phone calls. I also drove into Marion and the Ingles Market for a few supplies.

Back at the trailer I headed to the showers. There are two bathroom buildings. The old one is attached to the office, and at best, can be described as "rustic". The new building has 4 individual shower rooms; one handicapped. Good showerheads, a separate drying area that only gets a little wet from the shower, plenty of hot water, but no heat. Only one hook, but there is a bench. I guess I'd give it a B.

I did quire a bit of reading the rest of the afternoon sitting out in the sun.

Dinner was a microwaved frozen turkey dinner I made up with the leftovers from my Thanksgiving in July get together. I like cooking a big turkey dinner, and invite a bunch of friends & students (back when I was working) during Thanksgiving, but since I've been away keeping out of the snow for the last 5 Thanksgivings, I now do it in July. A bit hot baking a 20 pound turkey in July, and it really hard to find frozen creamed onions, but it worked.

Until Tomorrow -