July 4

This was probably the worst day of our trip. Bill wanted to be on the road by 8 and surprise, we made our first goal. We reviewed my itinerary and decided we didn’t have time to go to Lynchburg, TN for lunch and then Russell Cave National Park and get to Scottsboro, AL before 5 or 6. We don’t like getting in that late and setting up and fixing dinner. So I said we could skip Lynchburg. Well, once we exited for Russell Cave, Bill said he thought we’d been there. I told him it wasn’t marked off in my parks book and even when we pulled into the parking lot, it still didn’t look at all familiar and Bill insisted we’d been there. We parked and I made lunch. I got out my park book and there it was, big as life, a stamp from 2004, when we rented an RV to test out the camping routine. I was ready to just head out but Bill said while we’re here, lets go. As soon as we walked in and I say the painting of the site behind the ranger desk, I remembered exactly what it was. It’s not a cave with formations, it’s a huge dugout cave that goes back in for 7 miles. 3 civilizations of ancient Indians lived in the cave and water from the spring that flows right in front. There were sections for each civilization depicting their life. On the walk back to the RV I spotted a doe down in the hollow having an afternoon snack. My keen spotting ability came through once again!

We drove on to Scottsboro, with the plan of scoping out the Unclaimed Luggage Store so we’d know how to get there tomorrow. Well, we found our campground and it’s the worst one we’ve pretty much ever stayed in. There is no bathhouse or any amenities, but does have water, electric and sewer. It appears there were only 2 opens spaces, both pull thrus. The rest look like permanent residences but it was late before we ever saw a soul. The 5th wheels on both sides of us are really nice units but still look like they live here, which means most of them are rather trashy. It’s on a steep hill and all gravel with almost no where to walk Xena. Thank goodness it’s only 2 nights. The really nice upscale place would not take reservations, they told me to call the day of arrival to find out if there were spaces, but since it’s 4th of July weekend, she told me my chances were not good. So there wasn’t much to pick from.

The next issue was as soon as we unhitched and I pulled the truck out from under the RV, the bottom plate on the hitch pin was almost off. It was one with 4 bolts and 3 were rusted and broken. We start to wonder when will all the issues end. Bill called the guy who installed our hitch after reading our literature about the hitch. It says to have a minimum of 10 bolts to hold it on. The hitch guy didn’t put it on, it was done by Dusty’s RV’s when we picked up the RV since it goes on the RV, not on the actual hitch in the truck. The hitch guy called back and said he welds the plate on but 12 bolts minimum should be used. He explained what needs to be welded and that we could take the big king pin off and take it to a weld shop. So we stopped at an auto parts place and asked if they could recommend a welder. He gave us 2 names and numbers but being a holiday we got no answer. Will call first thing tomorrow and see if one can come here to do the welding. We can drive it like it is, but it will limit the turning radius we have and sometimes we get in tight spots. Bill and I used some WD40 to loosen the remaining bolts and the broken ones and got them out.

We finally got to go for our ride and found the luggage store, the movie theater and went to see the campground we couldn’t get into just to see how the other half lives!

I grilled our hamburgers, cooked the last 2 ears of that really good corn, sliced up some home grown tomato, lettuce and cheese to go on the burgers. Bill was very happy with his potato salad and the rest of the meal. I decided I wanted to go to a movie since there are several out we have missed so after dinner we went to see “Killers”. Totally unrealistic but entertaining. Xena was excited to see us and we took her for a little walk. Then we put our 36” fancy sparklers in a row in the ground and lit them all. We had to have our fireworks to celebrate along with our hanging lanterns, flag and red, white and blue table décor.

So it didn’t turn out to be a very good day. At least the TV reception is some of the best we’ve had but it’s getting late and time to hit the sheets.