Day 17,   May 14

 Left this morning in the rain and traveled 117 miles to our next stop which is Levi Jackson State Park in London, Kentucky. We drove mostly on Hal Rogers Parkway, which is a two lane road, beautiful scenery, saw one lone turkey and then a flock of turkeys, about six, the drive was hilly but really nice.

 After we had arrived, we had a short time before heading out again to Corbin, for Colonel Sanders Restaurant and Museum. This restaurant was not his original one, but this is where he made his seasonings and first coating for his famous recipe of fried chicken. The museum is part of the restaurant with different items and rooms around inside. We all had dinner there, chicken, mashed potatoes, and cole slaw, everyone seemed to enjoy it.

 We had rode with someone else, and afterwards, drove through the town of London, looking for an ice cream store, we missed the first one, 5 minutes after the closed. We then continued on and found another one, down the road, stopped and had our ice cream for the night.

 Day 18,   May 15

We had a free day today, did some laundry. Someone came around the campground and announced that in Renfo Valley they where having a free concert, so we decided to go and listen. But before we went we stopped at McHargue's Mill, this mill runs differently than our mills around home. It still runs with water, but it doesn't have a wheel, it runs with a turbine and it also uses different stones.

 At Renfro Valley, they were taping different groups for RFD TV, we had watched two groups, they were setting up the third group and we decided that we had better leave.

 Another couple had asked us to come for dinner, I told her that I would make spaghetti corn and bring over. When we were on the Yellowhead Caravan with them, they had made us dinner one night also. They make a tenderloin, marinate it for a short period and then put it on the grill, it is really tender and good. We had a nice pleasant time with them, we ate around 6:30 or 7 pm and then just sat around a fire and talked until 9:30.

Day 19,   May 16



Blue heron Coal Mining Camp

 We carpooled this morning to Big South Fork Scenic Railroad, Stearns, KY. When we arrived, we had a little time to spend and look around the gift shop and listen to two men playing their guitars. We then boarded the train for a 16 mile round trip, into the Daniel Boone National Forest and Big South Fork National River & Recreation Area. The trip is full of spectacular scenic vistas, lush vegetation and mountain streams as it descends 600 feet into the gorge before stopping at Blue Heron Coal Mining Camp, a NPS outdoor interpretive site. When we got to the mining camp, we had a coal miners lunch, the meal was packed in a souvenir bandanna, sandwich, cole slaw, applesauce, dessert and drink. We had time to look around and explore all the exhibits, one of the Park Rangers gave a speech about the town and how the company ran the coal and lumber company.

After returning from the train ride, we walked to the museum and took the tour. We then walked to the different stores in the area. We stopped at a bakery and had apple stacked cake, very good, this is made by layering dried apples between layers of cake.

We then continued to the Cumberland Falls, this falls is known to be the largest in the country, and is 87 feet high, but the water looks very dirty. We had walked on trails to see different views of the falls, and the mist rising very high.

We then had dinner in the DuPont Lodge that was on the same grounds as the falls, just around the corner. It was a buffet, with really good food, fried chicken, roast beef, and tilapia fish.