We really didn’t mean to lie to you about staying put this winter, but here we are parked in a Wrangler’s Campground in The Land Between Two Lakes in Kentucky listening to the rain pounding on the roof while David Bowie laments about Ziggy Stardust.

We did enjoy the early winter we had in Ontario and could/would have stayed the winter.  An opportunity presented itself and we decided to take it and head south.  General destination somewhere along the Texas coast.  Maybe.  Surly, when we return sometimes in January we’ll have plenty of winter left to enjoy.

Best laid Plans

We planned our departure day carefully and chose a clear day to start our journey south.  Naturally, the clear day turned into a rain, sleet, and finally a snow blizzard.

Determined to carry our new cold-weather-tolerance philosophy with us, we were not discouraged.  This time we ‘ll be looking for the experience and not necessarily warm weather and sunny days.

We’ll see how this works out as we are being put to the test over and over again.

Our trip this far was uneventful, other than symptoms of an early head cold and one broken toe.  We stopped just outside of Columbus, Ohio for the night at a Cracker Barrel Parking lot.  A first parking lot boondocking for us.  It was okay, but because the proximity to the highway and a late dinner at the restaurant not famous for its light fare, we had a bit of a hard time sleeping.  That didn’t stop us from having a (light) breakfast the next morning at said restaurant.

Big Bone Lick State Park

First sightseeing stop was at Big Bone Lick State Park in Kentucky, a fossil bed that was large-animal butchering site.  This site was first excavated by Meriwether Lewis for Thomas Jefferson in 1803!

This is what the curators envisioned the place looked like some 15,000 years ago.

The small museum has some displays about archaeology, geology and palaeontology

Finally, we hiked the short trail to see their small bison herd.

These are big animals.  Good thing we were on the other side of the fence when they charged.  Did you know that they can run 40 mph and jump 6′ high?  Luckily the fence was high enough to stop them.

There are lots of Barn Quilts in Kentucky; big beautiful ones, but I keep missing the opportunity to take photos of them as we drive by.  You can check out more info here if interested.

The Land Between THE lakes

We arrived at The Land Between The Lakes at dusk, took some info from the visitor’s centre and got some intel about the best places to view Bald Eagles in the area.

It’s an aptly named park for us.  Yes it is a mass of land between the lakes, but it is also roughly the halfway point between the Great Lakes and The Big Pond.

It was raining, but we donned rain ponchos and went for a hike.

Pretty dreary out here.

It turns out that eagles are not fans of flying around in the rain.  Is this a rookie birders mistake?  We did see a few Pelicans and lots of Woodpeckers though.

Stopping for lunch at a picnic area we found a mini Christmas tree.

Someone took the time to bring some holiday cheer to weary travellers. Cute.

Back to the weather…this is what the weather looks like on the radar map.  This is part of a large system coming north from the gulf and the temperatures are dipping accordingly.  Really?  Is it because of us?

We crossed one state border in the rain,

and then another

It seems as if we are bringing this bad weather with us wherever we go.  Could we be responsible for this cold front?

We started seeing and increasing number of RVs heading the opposite direction, but our nagging suspicions were confirmed when we saw Canada Geese in large numbers above us heading north.  Back to Canada. In December. 

We could hear them quacking above us “hurry, hurry, they are coming, we have to get out of here!”  Looks like the word is out that we are on our way south bringing bad weather in our wake.  Hang on Texas, here we come.

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