Seeking cooler climes!

We did drive over to Tunica and spend a couple days there. They don't want us to come back apparently. We only seek to be entertained for a reasonable amount of time and that didn't happen, so we didn't hang around the casinos very long. And it was still so stinkin' hot down there. It was still close to 100* every day and once again, we spent a lot of time in the motorhome with the dogs. Kinda' hate to go away for too long.

We decided to head north since it was 20 degrees cooler back in northern Indiana and since we were headed that way, why not go now? We stopped the first night in Dover, Tennessee, and drove around this little town. It was named Dover because of its resemblance to the "white cliffs of Dover" in England. We looked up and down the river and only saw one small rock formation which looked to be limestone along the river. Nothing at all like the white cliffs of Dover, but I guess someone thought so.

There is a Civil War Battlefield here on the site of Fort Donelson. The fort was an "earthenworks" fort so it was hard to see the definition. There were a lot of trenches dug and still there. There was also some artillery and a few monuments. In the museum was a picture of the ironclad "Cairo" which is in Vicksburg. We have seen that ship. There was a display that showed the ironclads that were engaged in a battle on the Cumberland River here and played a strategic part in the outcome. It was quite interesting.

While we were driving through the battlefield there were signs indicated "eagle nesting areas" and we were lucky enough to see a juvenile up in a tree. I had a hard time getting a good picture that wasn't blurry. . . I need to work at getting my settings right on my camera. But he was huge. It is hard to believe how quickly they grow.

We left Dover the next morning and traveled a long day to Cincinnati to the FMCA campground. We had full hookups there and a nice yard for the dogs. We met some nice people. . . most are just passing through, but are very friendly.

We moved on Friday to St. Paris, Ohio, and spent two nights while we were visiting Tab and Deanna, our Alaska companions. We had a great time with them. We went to the golf course restaurant for dinner that night and their special was prime rib. It was delicious and I brought half of it home.

On Saturday we all went to Springfield. They were having a "food truck" event. It was in one of the parks and there were dozens of food trucks there and offering their wares for sale. They had everything from hot dogs to pizza to BBQ, etc. One even had kosher Jewish food. We found one we wanted to try, so we got something to eat. It was very good. It came in a styrofoam and was layered with BBQ and mashed potatoes. There were several kinds of meat, each layer separated by mashed potatoes. Terry and I split one. There was entertainment as well. Several musical groups played, a different one every hour. They were good as well. We really enjoyed our visit.

From there Tab drove us by his neighborhood where he was raised. Down the street from his home was a "rock garden" built by a man who lived there. He has a little city built out of stones. It is called the Hartman Rock Garden and is free of charge. They do accept donations. We walked around and looked at all the little creations and marveled at the work and time the man took for this labor of love. No trip to Tab and Deanna's would be complete without ice cream, so we stopped off at Young's Dairy for some ice cream before heading home.

We left there this morning, Sunday morning, and drove to Shipshewana. We are here for three nights. We plan to visit the town shops tomorrow, and the flea market on Tuesday and Wednesday before heading to Goshen. Terry needs to do some work on the motorhome so he wants to do that before we head over to the campground.

Till next time. . .

Dale