Life Rocks when your living room rolls
The second stay in Tennessee was at a quiet campground in a town called Ten Mile. On our drive there we were going to make a couple of stops to check out the state parks and the waterfalls. The first to stop was at Cummins Falls State Park in Cookeville. Parking was a little strange but we were able to fit the truck and rig in the back corner and not to take up a bunch of spaces. It was beautiful out and a perfect day to visit the park. At arrival you buy a permit to walk into the gorge, from there you have to watch a safety video, then you are set to begin. It is a nice trail with some stairs that bring you to the river. Here you can walk in the river or on the sides but you follow that for about 20 minutes to get to the gorge. It is a super cool trail to take just to get there but when you make the corner you see the falls into the gorge and it’s beautiful. We walked our way up to be able to cool off in the water. We swim around a bit and play in the falls then I grab my phone to get some photos in the water. Once we had enough of the water we got out to dry off and make our way to the upper part of the falls. It is getting busy now and people are all over. I should have taken pictures with the camera before I went swimming. We are still able to capture some shots to remember the place. There was a couple who we were talking to in the water who were sitting at the bottom of the trails. I captured a photo for them and got her social media to send it to her. She was pretty excited to get the picture when I sent it to her. It was now overcrowded with people so we decided it was time to make our way back out. As we are walking through the water Chris feels something weird on his shoe and finds that his sole is about to fall off. He pulls it off but luckily has a thin layer remaining so he isn’t completely barefoot. At the camper, we change and make some lunch. We also have cars parked in the most inconvenient locations so we will have to find our way around them to get out of the parking lot. We check to see how far the next state park is and see it is about 2 hours, plus it is in EST so we also lose an hour. Then we would have another hour and a half to get to the campground from there. With just drive time it would put us at the campground after 5 so we decided to skip making the 2nd stop and head to the campground. It is about a 3-hour drive to make it to Hornsby Hollow. There isn't much but fields and ranches all around on our drive. As we get closer to the campground I notice sirens on the light poles but couldn’t imagine what they could be for. I was thinking Tornados but I later find out that they are for the Nuclear Power Plant and if there is ever an emergency they will go off. We find our way into the campground and pull to the front of the office to check-in. There is a sign that says they are at site 2 so I walk over. She first asks if I am with the church group, that’s a big NO, then she completes the needed paperwork and gives me the details of our site. We get no map of the grounds so I confirm if we just pull forward. She states no, to follow the road to the right and it will go up around the back. She indicated the road that goes straight ahead will be the exit. I hop in the truck and Chris drives to find our site. It seemed to keep going following along the water. We go around the last curved section and find our site which is right on the water. It was actually very nice but I also noticed there was no sewer. No, biggie, the campground has free showers so we will use those while we are here. We get the camper all leveled and in place but from being on such a hill downwards our front jack can’t be on the block it usually is on and we have to use the flat orange square instead. After relaxing for a bit and enjoying the view outside our door we take a walk around to see the campground. When back we make dinner outside and eat at the picnic table. Having the silence and peacefulness was exactly what we needed especially after the time we had in Nashville. We sat out by the water to watch the sun set. I got a sweet tooth and remembered I had everything for strawberry shortcake. I go in to cut the strawberries and add the sugar so they can macerate. Once the sun is down they should be ready so I make Chris and I our snack. He had bought some Vodka infused cool whip so we tried some of that on it. He only uses that, I have to add some regular Cool Whip for mine. We head inside around 8:30 for bed. We have no plans for this stay so our day consists of working and evenings are making dinner and hanging outside. We head in once the sun is down and chill on the couch watching some TV for a bit before, then heading to bed. Same for the next day but it was our 4-year anniversary so instead of sitting around when he got off work we walked to see the crossing in the water that leads to the island across from us. There was a stop sign in the middle of the water which I could not understand why. The sand creates a walkway in the low-level water which allows the deer to cross from the island to the land at night and first thing in the morning they cross back to the island. Unfortunately, we did not get to see this happen but while talking to our neighbors later that evening he told us about it and was able to see it last time he stayed there. I guess the sign tells kayakers or SUPs to stop if the deer are crossing. The water fluctuates too much for a regular boat to make it down this section of the water. Using a STOP sign still seems a little weird to be but I guess it works. We turn in early this evening to spend some time alone inside 😉. The next morning is a move day but we only have an hour’s drive so we wait until Chris has his 11 am meeting before we leave. We have everything put away and hooked up so we can head out as soon as he is done. I entertain myself with the minnows in the water while he is in his meeting. He makes a quick meeting and we are off by 11:15. We stop in Knoxville to have lunch with a coworker of Chris’ at the Smokey Mountain Distillery. I’m meeting Nick and his wife for the first time and had a great lunch catching up and getting to know them more. After about an hour we say goodbye so Nick can get back home for a work meeting he has at 1:30. We make a quick stop in the liquor store that is next door then back in the camper to head to our last stop in Tennessee.
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