Summer Road Trip To Necedah

We just planned out our trip to Necedah and back to SC in June. Time to get Jeremiah a checkup and do a few updates while we have at the mothership.

Planning on camping in Cumberland Gap National Historic Park (VA, TN, KY)
Kentucky Horse Park,
Illini State Park(IL)
Perrot State Park (WI)
Bellevue State Park (IA)
Moraine View State Park(IL)
Fort Boonesborough State Park (KY)

We are in the Lexington, KY area twice since our daughter is living there now. This will be the first time we've done anything in Illinois outside Chicago. I know when we are in Iowa, we'll head over to Cedar Rapids. Almost grew up there, but my parents did not like the winter of '68 and got transferred back South with the corn syrup company he worked for. I don't remember it at all and have always wanted to see this place I could have grown up in.

 

When you're in Kentucky, I assume you'll be visiting Mammoth Cave? Its a great park to visit! I heard a rumor that one of the old tourist traps

There's another place which I had a great time at -- look for the "Shaker Village" -- its a living history center, much like colonial willaimsburg. I have no idea what it is like post-plandemic, but it was a fascinating trip that I would highly recommend. It's just south of Cave City. The craftsmanship and simplicity of the shaker woodwork is astounding.

If along the way you need a hotel --- Cave City is also home of one of the 2 remaining "wigwam villages" --- back in my motorcycleing days, I stayed here a couple of times. I think a camp-inn parked in front of one of these would be an amazing flashback to the 1950's

Do not expect 5 star anything but it was an amzing slice of americana that I hope can be saved for future generations. It felt a lot like I stepped into a time machine on my visit.

 

Sounds like a fun trip. How many days and nights will you take?

 

I second this. Amazing cave. It used to be as famous as Niagara Falls in the old days. Easily one of the top caves in the country (though my #1 favorite is still Carlsbad Caverns in New Mexico).

Since we're on the topic of caves, you might consider making a detour to the Lost Sea in Tennessee. The cave contains the largest underground lake in America (and the 2nd-largest in the world, I believe), and you can take a boat ride on it once you hike to the bottom of the cave. Super cool. On the hike down, you can see where people secretly made whiskey during Prohibition, as well as where the Confederates mined the ingredients for their black powder. The Lost Sea Adventure

 

The Shaker Village we will definitely do when are in Lexington, Mary Ellen's degrees are in Forestry specializing Wood/Paper Products. We want to go to Mammoth Cave NP at some point, but it may be a different time this. I know my daughter is discovering things living in Lexington she wants to show us. Mary Ellen's brother lives in Dayton, OH and we are trying to arrange meeting them in Cincinnati in there too. And then there is bourbon & rye to be checked out. Came home with 4 bottles when we were up there in early March, but still have not done a tour so that's a big possibility.

We are trying two different campgrounds in the Lexington area since our daughter is there, it looks like we will be in the area a few times a year for the foreseeable future. Kentucky Horse Park is closer to where she lives in Lexington and her job in Georgetown so we thought we'd try it and we doing Ft Boonesborough on the way back home. We did the Christmas lights tour there in December when we went up to look for her apartment, but of course it was mostly dark since it was night.

Cumberland Gap is partly in Kentucky but it's in the area where KY, TN, & VA meet. The campground is in Virginia. We were hoping it was in Tennessee so we could say we camped in the Volunteer State. This will be the second time we have a campsite where we could walk into TN from the campsite. There is a cave at in this park and they do Ranger tours so this may be the cave we see this time. I've done Carlsbad Caverns a long time ago and liked it a lot. I never been to the Lost Sea near Chattanooga, but I know about it.

Thanks for the suggestions and keep them coming. We are mostly going into uncharted areas for us, so we need them.

 

21 days and we can extend it a day or 2 at the end if we need to. It wasn't thing to plan partly because I was a little late doing it. Also, we were trying to coordinate getting the camper to Camp Inn early in the week to get the work done and we also wanted to be in Lexington over a weekend so we could see our daughter some since she is working. Independence Day limited where we could find reservations too.

 

Not sure if you have any interest in motorcycles, but the National Motorcycle Museum is in Anamosa, near Cedar Rapids. Didn't seem like much on the outside, but inside...there are some REALLY interesting and historical machines, from both a technological and cultural standpoint. We actually camped at the Blue Inn Apartments & Campground in Monticello, just north of Anamosa...wasn't anything fancy, but it had clean bathrooms/showers and a stream next to our site (we're normally state park and national forest kinda people). There's a good little coffee shop called "Java Jones" in Monticello that was a superb place to have breakfast and soak up small town Iowa.

Further south, and on that same eastern side of Iowa, we camped at the county campground in Bentonsport, a really cool little historical town. Had a nice bridge to walk across the Des Moines River. Absolutely beautiful at sunrise and sunset.

 

Three weeks is that sweet spot of not being to long or to short. Have fun!

 

Looking forward to following your trip, then we will see you at Bellevue State Park,,Ron and Missy…

 

Looking forward to getting on the road and meeting y’all too.

 

If you are ever crossing South Texas looking for a quiet night or two stay, friendly folks; check out the Sonora Caverns Campground:

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