When looking about my progress for the day I didn’t realize how far I traveled. I put about 500 miles behind me today. Half the day was rainy and the other was just right. I still managed to fit in a few diversions along the way.

I went through Kentucky and Tennessee and even touched into Alabama before ending up in Georgia for the evening. The route I took was the scenic one a majority of the time and I did travel well into nightfall. I spent a couple hours combined driving though the Land Between the Lakes National Recreation Area visiting both the Elk & Bison Prairie and the Golden Pond Visitor Center.

The first was a drive through where I should have seen, you guessed it, elk and bison. Well, I saw two turkey and spied a herd of elk bedding down in the trees due to the pouring rain. I was exiting the park and saw evidence of the bison (which I photographed thinking that was exactly what I got out of the entrance fee) and then there to my left were over a dozen of them grazing away. The woman that sold me the access to the loop was right, they aren’t bothered by the rain. Tricky buggers though . . . left me in suspense both loops around the park.

When I went to the visitor center I decided to check out the planetarium show. I hadn’t seen one since I was a kid and was different to see one in the middle of a recreation area. It was a very helpful review of things about space I already knew, but it also enlightened me on many things I had no idea about. At the end of the movie (by the way they have a few and since I was the only one there I got to pick . . . I chose the ranger’s favorite – making it easier on myself) there was a demo on the constellations of the area I would see had I been there at night and a laser light show. Nice way to spend the afternoon.

Back on the road I decided to keep moving. I stopped where I thought I was going to camp for the night, but it was too early and I was too antsy. I did have a nice time talking with some Tennessee locals, Mike and Somalia (he goes by that, I know his name but I will keep it to myself). They cracked me up as they are very silly, but even more so is that I had a hard time following their dialect. They teased me about that and a few other things, but I felt it was all in good fun. I said my goodbyes and headed out.

I took the extreme back way to Russell Cave National Monument, which was closed due to the time of the day, and I am glad I did that while it was still light out. It was a beautiful yet steering wheel gripping ride down a steep and windy one lane road. Thank goodness no one was coming the opposite way, as it really was a two way road. With no signal and it getting dark I had to keep going to a main highway. I got there just as it got dark and managed to get to a good place to stop a few hours later . . . thus the 500 miles. I will plan on less miles tomorrow.