We are no longer in Tennessee as we slowly wend our way towards our home. We left Goodlettsville around 0900 hours, hoping that we’d allowed enough time of rush hour to pass through. We hooked up with I-24 heading northwest.
We passed Clarksville, (166,722 souls), Tennesee’s fifth most populous city and Montgomery County’s seat. The city was founded in 1785 by General George Rogers Clark- brother of William Clark of the Lewis and Clark Expedition. The city is located ten miles from Fort Campbell, site of the 101st Airborne Division. The fort straddles the Tennessee- Kentucky state line. I-24 bypasses the city so we didn’t peruse it but an intreguing read of this city is located here.here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clarksville,_Tennessee.
This is another multi-state travel day- four states to be exact. We start off in Tennessee then travel to Kentucky, Illinois and finally Missouri.
On our way to Paducah, KY we pass an area called Land Between the Lakes National Recreation Area. After the Cumberland River was impounded in the 1960s and a canal was constructed between the two manmade lakes, Land Between the Lakes became one of the largest inland peninsulas in the United States.
Paducah Kentucky (27,130) lies on the banks of the Ohio River. It’s flood walls are reminiscent of those of Vicksburg MS in that beautiful murals have been painted on them.
We are supposed to head towards Poplar Bluff MO from Paducah. Jil’s smarty pants phone and Mr. Garmin are once again in conflict. Jil’s phone has a route beginning before the Garmins so we follow her phone. I’m only 50% confident about Miss Smarty Pants route selection but we went with it. We find US 62 and head west. All is good for a while as the road is four lanes.
Of course two lanes end and we are no longer on US 2 but County 286 and the county is chincy with its asphalt. Not only is the road now two lanes with 3 foot deep drainage ditches on either side of the roadway but the lanes are 11 feet wide including the center line and fog line- and the rumble strip is in the fog line. So in reality my 8.5′ wide rig is traveling on a 10′ wide roadway. I’m highly focused on keeping he rig in the center of the lane but every once in a while a low spot next to the fog line wants to pull the front wheels towards the ditch- and that’s not fun. I have to correct swiftly and not oversteer otherwise the RV crosses the center line which could spell disaster. On top of that the oncoming semi trucks also are guarding against going in the roadside ditch and are riding the center line- literaly tires right on the center line. Well that gives me about of foot clearance from those oncoming trucks. If I told you I was a tad stressed would you believe me?
I thought our road woes were over when we reached Cairo, IL (1733 souls), our third state since leaving Tennessee this morning. Cairo’s downtown comprises the Cairo Historic District listed on the National Register of Historic Places. The city was designated as a port of delivery by Act of Congress in 1854 and commerce flourished. During the Civil War the city became a repair depot for Confederate boats until was then taken by Ulysses. S. Grant. Grant then built Fort Defiance at the confluence of the Ohio and Mississippi Rivers.
We are still following US 60 and drive through Wickcliff (640 souls) on our way to the Ohio River Cairo steel bridge. The bridge is narrow and Mr. Garmin is going nuts. A big red sign on its screen read “weight limit”. Well I didn’t see a sign indicating a weight limit for the bridge so I continue over the very, very narrow bridge and meet a semi coming the other direction. So much for the weight limit overload. We then crossed the narrow steel bridge over the Mississippi River and the Garmin relaxed a little when we were over both of the bridges. I thought it interesting that the Mississippi appeared quite a bit smaller that the Ohio at the confluence.
We continued on the I-75 for a time until cross streets appear and it turned back into US 60- the Future I-75 as the signs indicated. We drove to the Camelot RV Park in Poplar Bluff. It’s nice park with a weird layout and weird unwritten rules. These fine folks have planted yucca, yes yucca plants around the pull through sights. I thought yuccas would do very well in the desert, never suspected Missouri to be desert county. What’s more weird is the old folks who run this joint don’t have a computer and do all their receipts with pen and paper- but offer WiFi to its customers. Payment is cash or check which is becoming an ancient way to do business anymore. As an example we had the RV washed in Tennessee and the fella that provided that service accepted Venmo…………….
We didn’t get into Poplar Bluff’s downtown- Maybe next time. Poplar Bluff is the seat of Butler County (16,770 souls). The city is known as the “Gateway to the Ozarks”, which is why we are here.
Hope to see you next time!
Travel With Jil and Mike 