Magnus to Mass., with Jamestown Jaunt, Return day

Tuesday, September 2

The slide-out managed to crack and croak its way in, far enough that we could travel. What a horrible design that is!  Ed thinks it broke because he hadn’t been lubing it, on account of the Lippert manual saying that those slide-out mechanisms didn’t need to be lubed. But he has it on good faith from an RV repair expert that no, that is wrong. They do need to be lubed and if you don’t, a big repair bill is in order.

So we will see.

I’m hoping the rest of the trip will hold little of the *adventure* we’ve been having all along. No more losing the routes; squeezing up hills and down narrow roads; bashing the side mirror; having the water heater break on Day 1; bashing my little toe on Day 1 and battling pain ever since; loose dog in campground; hearing the large slide-out rack slowly tear itself up; taking a wrong exit and having to wait for a train and then still missing the driveway into the truck stop; having to back out of a parking space at a rest stop. Or any other adventures.

 

NOTES

1.    On long trips set a max miles deviation from the route, and stick to it.  Maybe 10 miles is a good limit.

2.    Go ahead and pack all the non-perishable foods that will be needed for the whole trip. There’s plenty of room and it’s a pain in the butt to have to shop for them halfway. I’m thinking things like iced tea, soda, popcorn, candy bars. In other words, the junk food.

 Good-bye little fuzzies!

 

Magnus to Mass., with Jamestown Jaunt, Day 27

Monday, September 1

Why do these little fuzzy guys love hanging out on our jack stands? 

We were ready to be leaving Tennessee, even though our route was on secondary roads at first. It soon got better. 

I’d chosen a Love’s in Memphis, and Ed had it programmed onto the app. But he somehow managed to exit the highway one ramp too soon—I noticed it but not after it was too later to revert. There was no way to get back on, so we rerouted; waited on a train to cross; and then when the turn into Loves finally appeared, Ed wouldn’t take it—it looked like the turn was a little further down but it wasn’t. So we ended back up on the highway.

No matter; there is always another Love’s. We went on to Palestine, AR or some such burg like that.

Ed is tired and I’m tired. Having to walk the dog many times a day is one factor in that--I have to be responsible for every bit of exercise she gets anytime we don’t stay in a park with a dog park. Which is pretty much every time. We had two dog parks this trip, if I remember correctly.

And I’m also tired of the constant contact with Ed’s television, and the near-constant contact with other people and dogs in the campgrounds. It’s tiresome—to me—to have to listen to other people’s chatter and to always have to keep an eye out for dogs off leash.  Also I’m a little disappointed that it’s been a trip of so few birds other than the marvelous few hours at the Wildlife Refuge. 

For our last night, we ended up on the Arkansas River near Little Rock. Again.  We’ve stayed at three different locations with that same description—cool, huh?  First was the COE park on the northern suburbs of Little Rock. I can’t remember the name of it, but it’s a very nice park with sites right on the river.  My main issues with it are driving, because it’s on the north loop and we don’t typically need to go there. Plus you have to circle around through a couple of neighborhoods and business areas to get there.

That was a couple of years ago. Then this time, on the way up we stayed right in the heart of Little Rock at the Downtown Riverside RV Park. Cool place, with that big bridge you can walk over. I’d definitely do that again, and if my toe ever quits hurting I can jog all the way across and down around the little parks on the other side.

Here at the end of the trip we stayed at Willow Beach Campground, a COE park south of Little Rock off the I-440 loop. And it’s my favorite so far. Nothing much to do or see, but the sites are well spaced apart, they’re right by the riverbank and have great views, and there is a big marsh over toward the day use area. With a grassy walking path and benches.

The only drawback to this place is a purely seasonal thing happens to be occurring right at the season we were there—every time Molly and I walked close to the river, we were swarmed by thousands of little flying bugs. Damselfly nymphs, maybe?  I’ve seem them before but never in such profusion. They didn’t bite or scratch or anything, but they clung. Hideous!  I probably swallowed some.

For Molly’s long walk we went to the end of the day use area and back, which was pretty boring, but we came back by the great big swamp you can walk around. (We didn’t—I was tired). The swamp was mostly dry but was bordered by these gorgeous flowers—

Strange signage in the park. I had no idea that one of the many branches of the trail went through here.

 Actually one other drawback is that I had to listen to someone’s loud music as I sat outside to write notes. So inconsiderate! It wasn’t all that loud but still almost as annoying as the constant television in the Magnus motorhome.

 

REVIEW: Willow Beach Recreation Area Scott AR

Easy fishing along the Arkansas River

Although this place was really close to the I-440 loop around Little Rock, it was so quiet and tranquil you could imagine you were out in the boonies. The only noise was a very occasional siren in the distance and our neighbor’s radio across the drive.

Large sites, well spaced. Ours backed up to the Arkansas, not too close or low down so that we would be swarmed by mosquitoes, but very pretty for sunsets. It was back-in with an asphalt pad; 50-amp electricity and water; dump station on the way out. The dump station hose did not have threaded ends and you couldn’t disconnect it, so we couldn’t do a tank cleanout.

The road into and out of the park was very nice for a COE campground—narrow, but newly paved. No one was at the gate, so we headed to our site and met a host in a 4-wheeler on the way. He checked our reservation and told us how to get there, including the information that there was a circle turn-around drive at the end of the loop. Easy and hassle free—my favorite.

Since it was a weekday in September, there were no big parties going on.  Just a handful of people fishing or picnicing here and there. We walked the dog to the day use area and back; not very exciting. But there’s a swamp along the road coming in that has a mowed walking path all around it.  It would have made for a pleasant dog walk.

Magnus to Mass., with Jamestown Jaunt, Day 26

Sunday, August 31 

Note at the time: People in Tennessee are fat and they drive instead of walking. It’s a pretty place nonetheless.

Ed backed out of the spot. It was scary, but not as bad as I anticipated.  He was able to back straight, between the trees, and go uphill beside the playground. And from there just head straight out, along the road in front of our site. I watched carefully, and no scraping occurred.

On to Chickasaw State Park near Jackson, Tennessee. During the drive I noted that the trees are just beginning to turn in the hills of Tennessee. Lots of brown and yellow breaking up the late days of green. Other than that, I noted that the drive was not very memorable but somehow it took an hour longer than I’d planned. It took us a while to back out of our campsite and to dump and hook up the Jeep (none of this included in the drive time.) 

And then we had a small adventure at a rest area. There were no spots free, so Ed pulled in behind a pickup truck with a U-Haul. We didn’t really fit there, but it was close enough.  But when we were ready to leave, the U-Haul driver was still working on his load. So Ed backed backed up the Motorhome with me sitting in the jeep and holding the steering wheel straight so that it didn’t jackknife. With the engine off, that was hard.

Two cars came into the rest area while we were performing the maneuver, but too bad for them. They just had to wait—a punishment for being so stupid as to pull into the “Trucks” side of the rest area instead of the “Cars” side.  On the way out, we noticed that there was a car taking up one of the truck parking slots further down. But not a single other one of the truck spots was empty.  Makes you wish that a trucker would come along and just kind of push the car out of the way.

The rest of the drive was okay. But I have to add a note—Chickasaw State Park is 30 minutes off the interstate to the south of it, which is way too far for an overnight stop on the way home after a long trip.  Tomorrow we won’t have to go all the way back north to hit the Interstate—Memphis is due west of us—but we’ll still have a half-hour or so on secondary roads. Probably two-lane, too.

Other than the drive, I kind of liked the place. It was really pretty. The RV camping loop kind of sucks—the sites are spaced out okay but there’s nothing to see except your neighbors opposite.  There’s a sidewalk behind our site which leads to the bathroom, which was nice.  But the place was pretty much completely full of campers on this Labor Day weekend.  I’d booked a pull-thru site but somehow put it down as back-in on the trip plan, so we unhooked and re-hooked the Jeep unnecessarily. No big deal but a stupid waste of time.

Also we couldn’t find the check-in station, so before re-hooking the Jeep I decided to drive around and figure out where it was. Ed was on the top of the ladder putting up the starlink, Molly was tied up to a pole, and I had just gotten into the Jeep and started to pull away when I heard dogs barking. Molly was one of them. I backed up and ran around only to find the situation under control—the neighbor opposite us had a dog who’d pulled his leash and ran over to have it out with the intruder. Ed had descended the ladder and the neighbor had scurried their fat butt over; between the two of them, they’d separated the dogs. I don’t think anyone got bitten but if they did, I hope it was the neighbor dog’s owner.

So I resumed my journey, only to come up behind a park ranger truck circling the campground. I followed, intending to ask them where to check-in, only to find them stopping at our site. They were delivering the tags for people coming in that day.  So I didn’t have to go anywhere after all.

Too bad, though. Later when Ed and I took a walk to find the bathroom and give Molly some exercise, I couldn’t figure out how to get to the lake. So instead we took a trail up to an old water tower hidden in the woods. Interesting and I saw a pine warbler, but we didn’t get to see the lake or get a trail map. Later when I took Molly for a short jog, I went the opposite direction and found the lake about 15 minutes away. There was a walkway that appeared to go all around it, too. But I didn’t get time to take it.

And I hope that’s all the adventure for the day. Although later I took a second walk, trying to get a picture of the flycatchers on the wire. Merlin had flagged a yellow-throated flycatcher, which didn’t match the ones I was seeing. But try as I might, I couldn’t figure out what they were.

Unknown flycatcher, darn it!

 

To sum up, Chickasaw has asphalt sites, nice spacing. Full hookup. Not exactly “charming” but more than adequate. The rest of the park was really nice, with tennis courts, swimming area in the lake, fishing, horses, bats flying around the horse pasture in the evening, lots of trails.  There was a lot of noise both in our camping loop and over across the lake in the other camping loop, but it was a weekend and that’s to be expected.

The bathroom shower was really nice. There were two in the ladies room.  In both cases the water from the shower got your shoes wet, but the rest of the stuff stayed dry. And the water was hot with good force.

So, I’d say yes to a return trip, but only if our route takes us this far away from I-40. Maybe if we’re headed to northern Alabama or something.

 

 

Magnus to Mass., with Jamestown Jaunt, Day 25

Saturday, August 30

There was a hawk on a treetop by the road; he said there preening for a very long time. Best I could guess it was a juvenile Broad-winged Hawk. The tail seemed very short and there were no markings on the face at all.

Since we were staying at the Floating Mill COE park for two nights (to break up the driving), we needed an excursion. I’d chosen to go see the waterfalls at Burgess Falls State Park. So, we tried--but the parking lot there was packed so full that it was hard to even turn around. And there were people parking down at the restaurant and walking up the hill. It was so crowded and there were so many people that we chose not to stop. Of course, it was a Saturday of Labor Day weekend at 10 o’clock in the morning. What were we thinking?

On the way back I googled us a farmer’s market in Cookeville and we stopped there. I’d hoped for cantaloupe, but there was none. Just a lot of butternut squash and peppers. I did get a tomato but, instead of letting me pay for it, the farmer just gave it to me--I felt guilty, but what the heck. Probably he thought I was a city slicker who’d never had a home grown tomato before. Or else he was just doing his pay-it-forward deed for the day.  I also bought a butternut squash on the way out.

Nice rock for a pillow

 

So it was a very discouraging day. After looking into the shower situation, I decided to hold off until the next day to get clean. Molly and I did get in a nice long walk.

First we went all the way down to the tent camping area—it was mid-afternoon and most of the people were either on the lake or inside their trailers/tents and not out and about to disturb our walk.  Then we came back and went up to the top of the hill again. This time I was able to locate the beginning of the trail down by the amphitheater and we walked even farther than the day before.  The trail was less rocky that before. At the very top of the hill we found a very old picnic bench and a newer one, at the scenic view. Not very scenic with all the trees, but you could at least see that there was a lake down there.

It was funny, though, that on that whole walk where we saw just two people, we also saw no animals, snakes, spiders, and very few birds. I think I heard a nuthatch once. What a sad place…made me think of Silent Spring. Where were all the critters gone?

View from above

The old and new benches at the overlook

 

Magnus to Mass., with Jamestown Jaunt, Day 24

 Friday, August 29

Anticipating the time change to CDT, we left late on purpose. We’d be gaining an hour, so why not? There were turkey on the railroad tracks on the way out. Only wildlife sighting for a while. Sigh.

It turned out to be an okay drive, ending at Floating Mill Park, a COE campground in Tennessee near Cookeville--about halfway between Knoxville and Nashville. Traffic was heavy and there were several slowdowns due to congestion or is that due to construction congestion?  I don’t recall, but there was a lot of it.

The trucker app got us there easily and we ended up arriving about an hour before check-in at 3:30. I’d not been able to find a check-in time on the website, but I saw this on the printed rules sheet they handed us. But there was no problem with us checking in early.

Getting into the campsite was horrid, as described in the review. My population of gray hairs increased by a quarter in the ten minutes of abject fear I experienced watching Ed edge the Magnus RV around a tree and hearing the Thor emblem drag on the pavement as he climbed the wickedly angled pavement connections.

View from our site 

There appeared to be a few other OK RV sites for small trailers but the the bulk of the RV sites were hideously cramped together in a snarl. Even if it wasn’t a holiday weekend it would be horrid.

But after we were set, it seemed a very nice spot. At an okay campground.  But a very bad day to be there—Friday, Labor Day weekend, at a COE park by a lake. That part was hideous.

Molly and I took a walk and after zig-zagging back and forth to avoid other people’s campsites and other people’s dogs, we ended up on the Lost Springs trail. It was built a long time ago and showed it, but the trail was still pretty easy to follow. It went up, up and more up the very large hill right behind the campground.  We got to the top after about a 20 minute walk and could almost see the lake through the trees. I’m not sure if we were at the “scenic view” on the map or not.

To remember this place, here are a couple of notes. Picture a really big hill, aka a small mountain. Down at the bottom of the hill is a reservoir. At the edge of the reservoir is a swimming area/beach.  At the end toward the gate a bunch of campsites and a boat ramp are all squeezed up together. Up a level from the beach is a road with some RVs along it. Up another level is another road leading to the playground. Up another level is our driveway and campsite. Up another level is the bathroom and another road. Up another level, across the road, is a little camping loop and an amphitheater. And up from that, the “mountain” rises. So there’s a lot of stuff stacked on the side of a mountain.

If there were no other people, it would be a really nice place to be.

 

REVIEW: Floating Mills Park COE  $15

Headline: Dragged coming in and will probably drag going out

We were in site 52 which was pull-thru; asphalt surface; 50-amp electricity and water; and only a little slanted back to front, with the back higher, front lower.  It is halfway up a hill with one site below it and past that, the kid’s swimming area. It has a nice view of the lake.  There’s some shade in the mornings and afternoons, but the site is mostly in full sun which makes satellite easy. It’s right by the bathroom, if that matters to you, but downhill from it so no one walks through your site. (The hill is pretty steep)

But the problem with this site is the access to it—the connection of the driveway with the street going out has a really sharp slant—any way we took it, we’d scrape bottom.  And the driveway coming in has a really, really sharp turn with a tree on the right and a steep slant of the asphalt. It took us three back/forth adjustments to get into the site and still we dragged the decorative symbol by our left front tire on the asphalt. We have a 35’ class A and an experienced driver, and it was very hard to get in.

So even though the site is plenty long, a longer RV could not do it at all. A 30’ RV or a trailer might be okay; possibly an experienced driver of a fifth wheel could back into the space.  The guy at the gate warned us to take a look before attempting it, and said that some people preferred to back in. That would not have helped us but it might someone with a more flexible rig. 

There are other RV sites along the roads at the west end of the park that are okay. Mostly for smaller RVs. And there is a little loop containing about eight sites up on the hill. Two of those even have sewer; they seem pretty long. But the sites at the east end, between the guard station and the lake, are really close together and hideously cramped in an ant farm-like snarl.  I would not recommend them unless you’re really into togetherness with strangers.

There are a lot of very nice tent sites down at the west end, including some walk-in sites right by the water.

The bathrooms are old but clean. There is only one shower on each side men/women. There are washer/dryers at both the RV bathroom and tent camper’s bathroom.

Other than the site issues, it seems a very nice little park by a very pretty lake.  The swimming area is clean and has a roped off section for the kiddies. It’s remarkably tidy for a COE park.  We unfortunately chose to stay there on a Labor Day weekend, and it was crowded and very noisy (dogs barking, kids playing, boats on the lake) but on a week day at other times of the year it might be very pleasant.

There is one trail called the Lost Springs trail. It’s a little overgrown and old, but it climbs up the big hill behind the park. It took me and my dog about 40 minutes to walk to the top and back. You can also take the trail that starts at the “amphitheater" and connect to it that way.

Magnus to Mass., with Jamestown Jaunt, Day 23

Thursday, August 28

 It was a really chilly morning. I got up before Ed, so I took Molly for an extra long walk around and up onto the flood wall…and I got my socks soaking wet. (Socks with sandals--bad idea)  I was not unbearably cold, wearing two hoodies and sweatpants, but I wished I’d worn shoes.

Sherando Lake is a great place. I’d love to stay another day and do the trails. But for now, it’s off to the next.

Note during the drive:
Stop me if I've said this--a couple of hundred times--but it’s very frustrating to plan these trips with 3 to 4 hours drive time per day, only to have him decide to go 10 miles under the speed limit and blow my estimates to hell. For no good reason. We have this big honking diesel engine so we can go up the hills. Why not use it? It will be amusing to see how long this mode lasts. I hope.

Sorry about the griping—I’m just a little upset that my planning is going out the roof.

So we arrived at Warrior’s Path campground in Tennessee.  I was not thrilled with it at all.  There are two camping loops. The main campground doesn’t fit our size RV, but the Moody Bluff one is big and has full hookups. It’s nice, but it’s crowded full of old rich people with their yappy little dogs. The two spaces on either side of us are empty and there are a few spaces over by the dumpster which are empty.  But pretty much all the others are full.

It was very crowded but it is nearing Labor Day weekend. The whole place had the look and feel of an RV Park, and there was constant traffic noise. And there was no way a kid could ride a bike on the roads—too much traffic.  There was a river behind us, but you couldn’t see it through the trees and there’s no trails to walk down to it.

The campground did at least have nice hot showers. And technically speaking, I might stay there again if it wasn’t not a holiday weekend and I needed a quick and convenient place near I-81 in far eastern Tennessee. Maybe.

 REVIEW: Warriors Path SP in Tennessee

Headline: needs a bike trail between camping loops

 This place has two campgrounds, and whether you’re in a RV park or a state park depends on which campground you’re in. The RV campground (Moody Bluff) is crowded and has no “appeal” at all. The main campground, which is more suitable for smaller trailers or tents, seems to be very nice and park-like.  But the only way to get between the two is to walk alongside a very busy road with no shoulders.

However, I will admit that it was the Thursday before Labor Day weekend. Which might explain the crowding.  But it was still pretty awful. There was a constant stream of RVs going and coming.

Our site 118, was very large, pull-thru, and full hookup. Very, very unlevel. Paved driveway. Room to park the Jeep beside the Motorhome, but just a little too short to leave it hooked up. Plus the utilities are at the back of the site and staying hooked up would have required more sewer hose than we possessed.

The bathrooms were okay and the showers functional but basic, with private units. 

The camping loop is mostly cleared of trees—a few here and there—but there are big trees all around it making shade for the back-in sites. If you need satellite, best choose a pull-thru site or choose a back-in site carefully. In most of them you could put your dish on the ground at the front of the site and get okay sky access.

All of Moody Bluff had had the vibe of a private RV park—big sites very close together, few trees in the camping area, no view and and a lot of people. There was nowhere to walk the dogs, except round and around the campground, and no place for kids to ride bikes or play. The only road in or out was a narrow curvy one with cars going 50 mph in a 25-mph speed zone, with a lot of traffic and no paved shoulder. And very little grassy shoulder. 

Over in the main campground there are a lot of sites for smaller RVs and trailers.  And lots of places to walk dogs and for kids to play.   So if you’re staying at Moody Bluff and you want to walk any of the trails—and it does look like there are some good ones—I’d suggest driving over to the main campground and parking near the marina.

We had to check in at the park store, over in front of the main campground. No one told us this in email or on the web site, but it was pretty easy to find and the lady there was nice.  By the way, the campground’s emailed driving instructions told us what roads to avoid, but NOT which one to take.  Follow the posted signs, which direct you to turn on Hemlock Road and stay there. Easy.

Magnus to Mass., with Jamestown Jaunt, Day 22

Wednesday, August 27

And so we were off again, this time to Sherando Lake Recreation Area. It appeared to be a National Forest Campground (Washington Forest, I believe). We were discussing on the way over what it was and that was our answer.

It was very nice, although a little too far off the route for a one-nighter. It would be ideal for a two or three-nighter, and in summer we could even take our kayak out on the lake. There are two lakes—one, near our campsite, is the upper lake which you can walk around on a little trail, and the other is down past the day use area. The lower lake which is big enough to have a beach area and lots of picnic areas. The beach was pretty much deserted at the time we were there—I saw one woman sitting by the water and one man walking over to it.  But then, it’s only about 70 degrees right now and the overnight low is supposed to be 48.  It’s not exactly swimming weather.

  

Our bear box

But perfect for sitting outside. Inside, of course, Ed has the air conditioner cranked down and the motorhome is weird about air conditioning. Whenever it’s sitting in full sun, even with lots of clouds, it seems to eat heat. Ed is having to wear a jacket inside. Whatever—I’m outside.

Our lake 

Steps down to our lake 

 

The other lake, with "beach" 

After our walk around the lake, I took Molly and my aching foot for a short jog down to the beach area. No dogs allowed, of course. I found a little trail that seems to parallel the campgrounds, or at least the ones on the left side of the road, and it was a pleasant place to jog/walk. Squirrels, a chipmunk, goldfinches. Not much exciting in the way of bird life, but still nice.

 

REVIEW: Sherando Lake Campground   site C2

Plan on staying a few days, it’s nice

We were there on Wednesday near the end of August, when school had already started. So the park was not crowded at all, maybe 1/10 full. And it was quiet and pleasant. We were only doing a one-nighter, but it would be a great place to stay longer—trails; a big lake and a little one; mountains all around. It’s a little too far off the Interstate for just a one night stay.

 Our site C2 was roomy, but the road coming into the campground was narrow. It was asphalt and in pretty good repair, but I’m not sure you’d want to bring a big rig into this campground.  In fact, I shudder to think what would happen if two big RVs met on the road in.

Our 35’ Class A and toad fit nicely into our spot.  The site didn’t look unlevel but our front tires ended up off the ground by a couple of inches.  That may have been because we were parked at the very front of the site with the Jeep hooked up behind the motorhome.  If the motorhome had been at the back, it might have been more level.

The campsite surface was pea-sized gravel, very clean. We had our very own bear box!   The hookups were 30-amp electric; no water.  But there was a well-marked water fill station easily accessible on the way in. I’d heard that the water fill location was hard to access, but there were no cars parked in the lot when we were there so I don’t know if it would have been hard to fill up at more crowded times of the year. We already had a full fresh water tank so I can’t advise on pressure.

Check-in was easy and efficient. We reserved our spot online a couple of months earlier, so I don’t know how hard it would be if you tried a same-day reservation or a walk in.

Magnus to Mass., with Jamestown Jaunt, Day 21

Tuesday August 26

Today I found the coolest thing! But first—

Ed and I walked Molly down to the canoe launch and this time, I got a chance to look at it carefully. It’s a rather long walk down from the parking area. If you had a kayak on wheels, like Bob’s, it would be excellent. For two people carrying a full-sized canoe, it would be easy going down but a bad return trip. Still nice, and the actual “chute” is designed for a disabled person to use. Which is cool.

The launch is into an estuary—a shallow place of brackish water that changes salinity with the tides. A very productive area that provides an excellent migration stop-over for those birds that migrate along the coast. Serene and beautiful…and a good bit stinky.   Oh well, it’s supposed to be.

 

After that we headed back to Jamestowne to take in the glass blowers. Apparently glassmaking was a short-lived enterprise at the settlement. I suspect they quit because no one had any money with which to purchase the expensive glassware., or else because all the skilled glass blowers died out in the starving winter.

Then we went over to Jamestown Settlement, a recreation of the original settlement with costumed workers manning the various stations.  There were very few visitors (first week of school) and so we could have had the demonstrator people pretty all to our ourselves--except that we weren’t feeling all that curious and didn’t have too many questions. There was a huge museum, too, but we didn’t stop in it.  We just used it as an air-conditioned route out to the outdoor exhibits. 

The ship reproductions were interesting to me, but they came before the time period I was familiar with. I’d read all of the books comprising the Hornblower Saga--my field of knowledge leans more toward big sailing ships of the 1750’s or later.  So these weren’t as riveting as they might have been.

 

 

Huts occupied by the natives 

 

 

 

 

By the time we’d had enough, it was after 1 pm and I was eager to return to my dog. So back we went for Molly’s big walk of the day. It was still very hot in the sunshine, so Molly and I took a trail that wound around a meadow and then went through the big trees near the river. It was a lovely, lovely trail. Every thing about this park so far is lovely. (hold that thought)

 Near the end of the trail, where it joined back into the canoe launch road, we passed this huge tulip polar enclosed in a wooden fence. There were no signs or information, but it was totally spooky.

Big tulip poplar

And then we went back, stopping to look at the signs in the soybean field in the middle of the park—Warning! Pesticides!  But how is that sensible? The park has a big pollinator garden, several in fact, but I didn’t see hardly any pollinators. Were those soybeans the kind they spray with the pesticide that makes the whole plant poisonous, so that any caterpillar that eats it will die instantly? If so, what’s the point of having a pollinator garden?

Human beings are so stupid. When will we ever learn?

We did Bubba’s Shrimp Shack again for dinner, this time as carry out. Again very yummy.