Missouri to Tennesse

10/20

We were up and at um early, getting things together to get on the road. In many ways I wish we were not leaving so early this morning, but miles to be driven make the days long. One other reason it would have been nice to have a slow morning in Bucklin, MO is the American Legion has a fund raising breakfast. One can not beat the real home cooking here in the heartland. But, alas, as I said we have miles to go before we sleep. 

Our route took us along I-70 past some very interesting locations -

Fulton, Missouri

The National Churchill Museum (formerly the Winston Churchill Memorial and Library), located on the Westminster College campus in Fulton, Missouri commemorates the life and times of Sir Winston Churchill. In 1946, Winston Churchill delivered his famous “Sinews of Peace” address in the Westminster Historic Gymnasium. In it was the line: "From Stettin in the Baltic to Trieste in the Adriatic an iron curtain has descended across the Continent." This sentence caused the oration to become known as the ”Iron Curtain” speech. "Sinews of Peace" heralded the beginning of the Cold War. 

Horseshoe Pitchers Hall of Fame, Wentzville, MO

Opened in 2007, with horseshoe pitching regalia dating to the 1800s, 21,000 square feet of exhibits, including lucky horseshoes, videos of some of the greatest horseshoe pitches of all time, and memorabilia from when President George H.W. Bush invited horseshoe pitchers from across America to play horseshoes at the White House (There are over 10,000 members in America's National Horseshoe Pitchers Association). The museum also has 32 indoor and outdoor horseshoe courts. There are currently 166 inductees in the Horseshoe Pitchers Hall of Fame, but only six from Missouri.

There is also OZARKLAND in Kingdom City, MO

Ozarkland is one of six retail tourist traps in the same vein as South of the Border. If you don't have enough souvenir shot glasses, thimbles or hillbilly crap, this is the place for you.

We passed through St Louis with ease and across the Mississippi River into IL. Our destination for the night is Archway RV Park in Mount Vernon, IL. Granted, it is 80 miles from “The Arch” in St Louis but it is a nice place to stop for the night. 

As you can guess, Mount Vernon was named after George Washington’s residence. It was founded at time when there were no roads to this village. After statehood, it became the seat of the 5th District Court of Appeals. When the Supreme Court was in session, the important lawyers in Illinois, including Abraham Lincoln, gathered in Mt. Vernon to argue their cases.

Frosty Morning 

Nice campground lake 

When we left Bucklin, my mother forced addition food upon us,  so our camper stores are full. We have lots of good leftovers for our camp meals the next few days.  

10/21

We had a somewhat leisurely morn as we made French toast before starting the days journey. 

Diesel Truck was in need of an oil change, so as we got to Evansville, IN, we located a Walmart and pulled in to the lube area. What was to have been an hour wait turned into 2.5 hours and delayed our day a good bit. 

Even with this, we carried on across Indiana, Kentucky and into Tennessee. 

As we crossed the Ohio river into Kentucky, the odor of mash filled the air and soon we drove past the Glenmore Distillery.  October 18-20th was the grand opening of the Bluegrass Music Hall of Fame & Museum. Darn it we missed it by one day, had we known, 10/20 was a day of an outdoor concert. The museum was closed when we got to the area. 

Anyway, we pushed on and made to the Bean Pot Campground for the night. With our Good Sam discount, it was only $27 for the night with full hookups. We got a nice level pull through site in the heavily wooded campground. Nice friendly folks checked us in, I set up the camper as Lynn took The Boys for a walk. We were barely set up and boom, it was dark. 

We decided to get rid of some leftovers for dinner and after another pup walk we were ready for bed. 

I did a bit of research and learned the why of “Bean Pot”.  Well, up until recently there was a local restaurant named the Beanpot. It was a popular stop on I-40 where one could order “aigs, taters, and sumpthin’ to warsh it all down with.” The Beanpot shut its doors on Feb.11, 2012 and was demolished in December of 2017. 

10/22 

We were up, doing the morning necessities, feeding pups, walking pups, breakfast etc etc and got on the road. Although it was a short day we planned on stopping at Smokey Mountain Knife Works, and the Lodge Cast Iron Outlet. 

Smokey Mountain Knife works is rather amazing as there are so many knife choices from inexpensive to high end knifes. It’s a Bass Pro, Cabelas, REI of knifes. I really can not describe all the choices offered there. My quest was a hatchet for a friend and a Smokey The Bear Swiss Army knife for me. It takes one a bit to find the section you are looking for, then finding just what one wants can take a bit of time. But I did find the two items and another camp knife for me. 

One note is the parking lot at GSMKW is not very RV friendly, actually this surprised me. So if you are pulling a trailer or driving a good sized RV keep this in mind. 

I then walked across the street to the Lodge Cast Iron Outlet. Knowing I had everything I needed and then some, I just did a quick tour of the shop. One good deal is the factory seconds, good selection and good prices. 

We next got some fuel and a bit of food and headed to Warriors Path State Park Campground where we will be for the next four nights. We got set up and a good friend stopped by for dinner. I made steak fajitas and apple pie. 

We had a nice evening talking and catching up and making plans for the next few days. 

The campground is very nice and we have a great site, with a water view out the back of the camper. 

One more puppy walk then sleep.