TVA Circle completion & COE again

 Location: Canal Campground (Corps of Engineers); Grand Rivers, Kentucky 

It sure is good to be back in a Corps of Engineers (COE) campground. With the senior pass, the cost is $13.00 per night which is between a half and a third of the cost in the Indiana and Illinois State Park. Plus, I have a booming cell signal while still being in the woods. Something still ain't right about no cell signal in those state park, but I'm about to throw my hands up and just forget about it. Maybe, maybe not. 

That's Barkley Lake on the left. I had to back uphill to enter the campsite. It was a little tricky, but not too bad. 

My picnic table appears to be from "way back when". A pretty good lake view through the trees.

This concrete picnic table is near my campsite. It isn't associated with a campsite and doesn't have a parking spot so I'm not sure who uses it. I liked it because it looks like it may be an original one from when the campground was first built, many decades ago.

Liberty isn't in this picture but I thought it represents an overall view of what the campground looks like with the campsites scattered in the woods. Some campsites would be very difficult to get in and out of, so choose wisely.

Over the years, I've planned to stop at this campground but never was able to fit it in with my trips, until this return trip back to my homebase in Louisiana. This campground sort of completes the circle of my trip along the Tennessee River and the Tennessee Valley Authority from the summer of last year. Back then, I started the Tennessee River exploration at Pickwick Dam and went upstream towards Knoxville, Tennessee. At my current campground, I staying near the Kentucky Lake Dam which is the last one before the river empties into the Ohio River about 20 miles or so from here. 

This was a good plague at the dam site. It shows all of the dam sites along the Tennessee River and its tributary dams. 

This was interesting. This is from one of the viewing areas. A girl and her guitar sitting in the shade of a bridge. I couldn't hear her singing but I like think she was. It was good.

A good picture of the Kentucky Dam. The powerhouse is on the left and it appeared that two turbines were operating. As with lots of hydo-dams, the fishermen will get right into the outflow of the turbines. 

There is a very nice Visitor's Center at the Kentucky Dam that is staffed with retired TVA employees. The couple on duty were RV travelers and we visited for about 45 minutes about several things. One thing I learned from them that was surprising, but then after thinking about, maybe not so surprising. They said all of the TVA dams/powerhouses are controlled at a central location in Chattanooga, Tennessee. So if you see a turbine start up or a gate opening or closing, that is happening by somebody sitting in a control room in Chattanooga. Interesting.

Sunrise this morning. It was very peaceful in the campground at that early hours. Very nice.

I'm kind of tired. This trip is beginning to wear on me like never before in the past. I'm finding it harder to find interesting things to see or do and a lot of times it is due to my lack of interest. I'm not sure of the cause but I've had this feeling since I entered Illinois several weeks ago. I felt invigorated during the FROG rally, but the strange feeling seems to be returning. To sum it up, I'm looking forward to moving days more than exploration days, and that is worrisome. Maybe I'm just homesick and looking forward to getting back to Louisiana.

Tomorrow is moving day and I'll be going about 150 miles east to another COE campground on a lake about 15 miles northeast of Poplar Bluff, Missouri. The temperature is suppose to warm up into the mid to upper 90's so I'm hoping I picked a shady campsite. 

Ya'll take care of each other. Maybe, I'll Cya down the road.