Well,  we made the pilgrimage to Missouri to see the Eclipse and returned with out incident.  It was a great trip. Found some awesome new spots to return to later. And even met a bunch of very interesting and fun people.   So lets get into it.

We first went to the Great Smoky Mountains National Park and Cades Cove campground for a 4 day “primitive camping” adventure. While we made our reservations many months ago, when we got to the park, we were told it had just re-opened from being evacuated during a terrible wind storm.  And as we looked around the evidence of serious wind damage was everywhere. Trees were down everywhere. Piles of branches and cut up trees were piled all over. 

The rangers told us the winds had been over 80miles per hour on Thursday night.  They had to evacuate the campground of everyone. Amazingly there was only one incidence of campers damage or injury. And that was a Road Trek Van that a tree  fall on it while 5 people were sleeping inside.  No one was injured. Though the top was a bit smashed, they drove it out that night for safer lodging options.

Cades Cove has an 11 mile loop that takes you through the extent of the original settlement and past historical buildings and churches. Most are associated with cemeteries. As with the campground, the road was littered with huge trees that were toppled by the previous weeks wind storm.  The remarkable work of the park staff and whatever resources they mustered up to clear that was very impressive.  The even more amazing thing was that it appeared none of the historical buildings were damaged, and no additional damage was done clearing the fallen trees.  Though there were very large freshly cut stumps everywhere.

After Cades Cove we took a slow and scenic drive over near Nashville to a small Army Corp of Engineers (ACE) Campground called “Cedar Creek”. It was located on Old Hickory Lake just northeast of Nashville. I was amazed at the million dollar houses that were all around the campground and the great location on the lake this campground occupied.  The sites looked like many had recently been upgraded as they were very large concrete pads and picnic areas surrounded by lush grass.  Like most ACE campgrounds it had water & electric, and an immaculate shower house. There was also an attached beach and boat launch with playground and picnic area. So it was a full service and facilities area for a days worth of fun.

From there we went to find out what “The Land Between the Lakes” was all about.  And boy were we impressed.  Technically I think this is just a piece of National Forest Land between two bodies of water that are actually 2 dammed rivers.  One is Kentucky Lake and the other is Barkley Lake. Between those is a real wonderland of forest, camping, hiking, biking, boating, fishing, hunting and all sorts of fun. They must have over 1000 campsites inside the area and around the lands, and there are Bison and Elk, and a cool “Nature Center” with a zoo like collection of all kinds of animals.

The Land Between the Lakes was a great stop. I wish we could have stayed.  But the real goal was to get to the center line of the Eclipse shadow. So on we went to practically the only available camping spot I could find.  That turned out to be the Mark Twain National forest and the Silver Mines Recreation area.  When we got there we were pretty confused.  Our designated campsite was no where to be found, and all the campsites at the “Silver Mines Campground” were all taken.  Of course, no one was around so we drove around until we found a little sign indicating another campground up on top of this mountain.  On top of the mountain we found the “Primitive campground” with vault toilets and one water spigot.  We did find our campsite and got situated for the 3 day duration.

It was fairly obvious the sites were set up for tent camping as any reasonable sized RV and car would not fit in the little driveway parking space designated for such.  They had those concrete curbs to show the end of the driveway. And it was obvious a lot of people had driven around them, or moved them out of the way so as to fit better into the campsite. The tiny little knats/black flies were a nuisance, but not bad. And they disappeared once the sun went down. This upper campsite had two loops and one loop was the “Summit Campground”, and the other was the “Prospect Campground”.  Not sure why, since they were just 2 small loops connected, but that’s the way they were named.  You actually had to drive around the Summit Campground to get to Prospect Campground. So that made it even weirder.

The road continued past the Summit and Prospect Campgrounds to another very small primitive campground(Spring Branch). Then on to a picnic area with some fine fishing spots and a nice footbridge. The footbridge was one end of the “Dam Trail”. The dam was a CCC era structure that was built using native granite stone piled up like cinder blocks to make the dam.  I t had been opened up in the 70’s to allow fish movement, but was still quite a sight to see.  So the trail proved to be a nice hike we did later. When we did find the “dam”, we climbed down around the rocks and ledges to get along the river.  It was almost like exercise, but fun.

We spent the Eclipse afternoon in a Walmart parking lot with about 200 other people watching the sun slowly disappear and then come back. We had just a very thin layer of  clouds so you could so the eclipse clearly, but the sun’s aurora was blurred by the clouds. But we did meet a few good people to talk to and share stories. All in all it was a really good time with the crowd.  And since Walmart was open the whole time, we all had snacks to share and a bathroom!  Better than going to a ball game!

After that we returned to camp, made dinner and went to bed.  You’d be surprised how tiring it is to be looking up at the noon sun for 2 hours in 80 deg temps. Next we hopped just a few miles up into Illinois to Rend Lake Recreation area.  This was my first, 2nd, third, choice for the eclipse, but it was all sold out. So I wanted to see what it was like.  The video isn’t out yet, but you might be able to see it with this link.  Rend Lake Rec Area-South Marcum Campground. I don’t want to spill the beans on what happened, but maybe you saw the Short on Akela that got the internet all mad at me!!  Drama!!

The next campground was outside Nashville called Seven Points on Percy Priest Lake. This also was a Army Corp of Engineers campground and was very nice. Check out the Video if your heading to Nashville as it was 1st class.

Then the next stop was a very weird campground we found on Google Maps. It was a Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) campground. You have to go on a site called “Campspot.com“ (this may change in 2025) to reserve your site.  This particular campground was all on the side of a hill and the sites were very narrow and small.  But we lucked out with a nice site right next to a brand new bathhouse.  And the area around the dam and river was had lots of room to throw a ball and fish and hike and bike and learn all about the TVA and the dam.  Oh, and the name of the campground was the Melton Hill Dam Campground.  But  “Campspot” has all the TVA dam campgrounds I’m told. Around 14 different campgrounds.

Just up the road was the Oak ridge National Labs research area. There were a couple of places that had a lot of information about the Manhattan Project during WWII. That is the development of atomic bombs. And the current work at the labs. A very educational visit but we only had a very short time to spend there.  We will have to go back.

Anyway, That pretty much ends our 14 day trip.  As a accounting of the entire trip we drove just 1543 miles and spent $424.57 on gas. Gasoline averaged around  $3.35, except in Illinois where it was $4.  The total cost of the camping (which were all federal campgrounds) was just $221 for 14 days.  So total trip cost came out to around $650.00.  Not really too bad. But it does go to show you, any trip with guaranteed camping spots does run into some money.  Will the YouTube revenue cover it??  Not on this channel.

We did 9 videos covering this trip. They might eventually get 1000 views each, so 9000 views total.  YouTube pays roughly $6.60/1000 views, so the videos may bring in $59.40.  So your views help, your shares help, your comments and likes help spread the video to new people.  Could I redo my thumbnails to “drama” people to watch? Maybe.  Could I do crazy things that might get People to watch? Maybe, but I really like my audience. I don’t need a lot of thrill seekers.  I’ll try for better scenery, more impressive hikes and more Akela.  Maybe more of my 11,000 subscribers will visit more often. Or just follow this link to the Donation Link at the top of the page!  But I’m really pretty happy with the way the channel chugs along and I don’t feel pressured to get videos out.   So I hope what I like, you also like, and I’ll try to get more out to you.

Thanks for stopping here for all this blabber.  The website almost pays for it self, but not quite !!   But I love to write and record. So it’s really for me!   Stay Safe, Stay Smiling!  We hope to see you on the road !

Rick & Akela
GoingNoWhereFast