Traveled to Natchez Trace State Park, Pin Oak Campground
We got an exceptionally early start--8:35--due to being in a full hookup site and Ed skipping his morning TV show. It wasn't necessary, but we were glad to get the drive through Nashville over with. Nashville isn't supremely trafficky, but the Interstate takes at least four left-right-left-right splits requiring a lot of lane changes.
After a 28 minute rest stop and a 17 minute gas stop, we arrived at the visitor center at 12:39. 4:04 total time; minus stops--it matches up pretty wel with the google map time. 3:19 vs. 3:27 or so.
Sadly, the visitor center wasn't the end of our journey. It was about 10 miles from there to the campground and when we arrived there was a camper and two cars occupying our site. It turned out that they had originally reserved the site across the road, but then changed it and were assigned a site up the hill. But they mistakenly read the tag on ours and occupied it. They graciously agreed to move--we wouldn't have minded swapping with them, but the other site 30 that they thought they had (but didn't) was really unlevel and just would have been a beast for our plan to hookup the Jeep in site, behind the Motorhome. That would give us a much faster exit time in the morning, and the morning's drive is NOT a 3:37 drive. It's 4:10, last time I looked.
But this is a beautiful, beautiful camp site. Right beside a lovely, clean lake. Full of fishies and no power plants in evidence. I'd love to come back when we can stay longer. (And it's not so damn hot.) It's only about an hour from Memphis (plus the 25 minute "inside park" drive time) and well worth another stay.
BEAVER alert! Just after supper, when Ed was sitting outside and I was doing the dishes, at about 7:00, a beaver appeared on the mowed grass in front of our campsite. He lingered there for a while, gnawing up grass roots or some such edible, until Ed decided to take a picture and (mildly) harassed him into leaving so he could get a picture including the tail. From my higher viewing point in the motorhome, I could see it fine when the beaver shifted position.
He didn't appear to be all that scared--he simply waddled down to the water and slowly swam away.
Wow, totally.
The campground will also be memorable for the "3D target range". Molly and I took a walk on the roads since I didn't have a trail map and it was too tired to waste energy looking for one. We went down to the day use shelter area where they had something called a 3D target range. What the heck?
It was a small trail winding around plastic statues of the hunter's target animals. I saw a deer which much perturbed Molly, who wouldn't believe it wasn't real until she got close enough to smell it. And a turkey, and a coyote. I didn't go on further to see what else they had. Wrestling Molly over the deer statue was bad enough--I didn't see the point it fighting over the others.
Note to trip memoirs: I hereby dub Tennessee as "the land of lots of beautiful water."
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