Last day on the river. . .

We spent Saturday sightseeing around the area. We had thought there was a lot to see, but it was more quaint and sparse, which was okay. We enjoyed watching the river traffic. . . lots of barges going up and down river. Just down from us was the Markland Dam and the locks. We saw a lot of boats hooking up and floating downstream. There was one group of NINE large cruisers and houseboats together. When they would drift down closer to the dam, they would then all power up and move as a group on up river. Once it got dark, they turned on their lights. Not sure where they ended up, but we didn't see them at all this morning.

The restaurant here at Smuggler's Cove does a big business. Their evenings are really hopping and they have both inside and outside seating. It may have been noisy closer to the building, but we weren't bothered by any noise where we were at. We had our A/C and fans running and that pretty much eliminates the noise.

We had a couple blue herons that would stand out on the brush in front of our site. At one point one caught a pretty good sized fish and enjoyed his dinner while we watched. They just swallow them, which is pretty amazing considering their very slendar necks.

We drove across the river to the town of Florence, which really isn't a town. They have a post office and that's it. There are some homes and some RV lots along the river. That is where Chris from Mooreland has his place.

We drove back west to the town of Vevay, Indiana, and found a car wash to clean the car. We stopped for a couple things at Dollar General, then drove around the town. We found this beautiful old house, the Schenck house, which is now a Bed and Breakfast. Very nice.

Today we broke camp and
drove on west to I-65 and are stopped for the night at Singing Hills Camp near Cave City, Kentucky. We've been here before and it's a nice stopover.

Till next time. . .

Dale

Smuggler's Cove and Riverfront Campground

There are several Smuggler's Coves around the country. We are at one just west of Warsaw, Kentucky, across the river from Florence, Indiana. We came over here because we wanted to relax for a couple days right on the river. The views are awesome and even though it is expensive, the camp is well kept and comfortable.

When Terry was looking for a camp down this way, he was looking at all the conventional internet sites and didn't find anything. So he got on Google maps and zeroed in on the area. He found what looked like a campground with just four or five spots. He used the street view and found a sign at the entrance with a phone number on it. So he called. He was referred to a person who owned the property. It turns out it isn't a big camp. The man has a few sites he rents to power plant workers for the season and he didn't have any available for us. But when Terry told him his name, he asked if he was the Terry Pace who used to live in Mooreland. WOW! He said, "Yes I am." And the guy said he wanted to know what had happened to us. He was from Mooreland, living out on US36 with his parents. Now he moved down here and bought property, but still maintains a business in Sulphur Springs, Indiana. He said he knew we had left the area but never knew where we went. So Terry filled him in on what we had been doing. Talk about strange. He gave Terry some suggestions on where we might stay across the river and a couple places to avoid.

So Terry followed up on Smuggler's Cove which is a marina, hotel, restaurant and campground. He called on the way down today and got us a site for 2 nights. We arrived and wiggled our way into our site. It was a bit tricky because there really wasn't enough room to pull a 40' motorhome in, but we managed to make it. It will be easier to get out, but it was a chore today.

Once set up, we drove over to the marina to check in. We talked to the lady a bit. . . she was very nice. Terry browsed through some boats for sale on their bulletin board. We started telling the lady about how our boat sank two years ago. She was very interested and asked a lot of questions, etc. We were there talking about half a hour or so and she asked if we had ever heard of "Just Add Water" boats in Indianapolis. I said, "Well, yes. That is where we bought our two boats, including the one that sank." She asked if we had ever met Tim Meyer. I said that he is the only one who ever sold us a boat. Turns out he sold his interest in the Indy business and bought this Smuggler's Cove Marina. LOL I think we need to either a) go the the casino, or b) buy a lottery ticket. Turns out Tim's wife had just walked in, so we had a nice chat with her. They live there full time now on a house boat and she took us over and gave us the tour of their houseboat. . . very nice. Tim had gone to run an errand, so we hope to see him tomorrow. What a story! We dug out the pictures of our poor sunken boat and will show him then. He will be disappointed, I'm sure. It was a nice boat.
 
We took a drive later and made a small grocery run. We followed a road out to Sparta and found the Kentucky Speedway! Wow. Looks like a really nice track.

We sat out this evening and watched the boats, barges and seaplanes on the river. There was a nice breeze and there were no mosquitoes, which was nice.  We are across the river from the Belle Terra casino, which I'm sure we will hit tomorrow.

Life is good.

Till next time. . .

Dale