Miles Landing Campground

We stayed at Miles Landing Campground in Elberfeld, Indiana. (Campground Reviews listing.)

A one night stop on our journey home, but we would have been happy to stay here longer.

Dates:

Check in: 2024-07-12
Check out: 2024-07-13
1 night

Weather:

Cloudy, light rain
High temp 89°F, low 70°F
Negligible wind, gusts to 11 MPH

Noise:

No road noise
No train horn noise
No neighbor noise

Site:

#4, pull-through, gravel
Didn’t need to disconnect toad, and didn’t
Mostly level site, a little high in the front; used air leveling, since only one night
Gravel driveway about 70 feet long by 15 feet wide
20 feet to neighbor on passenger side; about 50 to neighbor on driver side
Picnic table
Fire pit
Some small trees
Clean site

Utilities:

50 amp power, conveniently located
60 PSI water, conveniently located
Didn’t use sewer connection, but conveniently located (1 10-foot pipe would be needed)

Internet (in usage priority order):

T-Mobile: 60 Mbps down, 50 Mbps up, 70 ms ping
AT&T: 160 Mbps down, 60 Mbps up, 90 ms ping
Verizon: 11-70 Mbps down, 2-25 Mbps up, 30 ms ping
Starlink: not used
Campground Wi-Fi: none?

Amenities:

Garbage dumpsters

Our review on Campground Reviews:

Lovely spot for a quick stop

This is a nice campground not far from the interstate but far enough away that you don’t hear it. Our pull-through site was long enough that we didn’t need to disconnect our tow vehicle, which was very convenient for a short stay. We also enjoyed the nice view of the pond and wetlands below the campground. We camped at Miles Landing Campground in a Motorhome.

Tip for Other Campers: Your GPS will lie to you about the road leading to the campground and where to turn….

Campground map:

Map

An interactive map:

Our site:

Our site

Other sites:

Other sites

Pond view:

Pond

A nice campground; we would be happy to stay again, and for longer.

Travel from Park City, Kentucky to Elberfeld, Indiana

We drove our coach 165 miles, about three hours of driving, from Park City, Kentucky to Elberfeld, Indiana.

Here’s a map showing our route, heading northwest:

Route map

An interactive map:

Toading up:

Toading up

I-65 South:

I-65 South

Bridge:

Bridge

Fun with zoom:

Fun with zoom

Exit to a service area:

Exit to service area

Huck’s service plaza:

Huck's service plaza

Lunch:

Lunch

“The Journey is My Home”; that could be our motto:

The Journey is My Home

Back to our coach:

Back to our coach

I-165 North:

I-165 North

We had a fun new issue: we turned on our generator while driving, so we could run our air conditioners, it being rather hot. But when we tried to turn it off via the switch on the dash, it didn’t turn off. I also tried using the Coach Proxy web app, which also failed, and reported an error:

Coach Proxy screenshot

This has been a problem since; we’ll probably get it looked at when we go back to Red Bay in December. In the meantime, I have to open the generator compartment (once we stop, of course) and turn it off via the switch on the generator itself. A bit of a pain.

Owensboro water tower:

Owensboro water tower

Rusty twin bridges over the Ohio River:

Rusty twin bridges over Ohio River

Ohio River:

Ohio River

“More to Discover in Indiana”:

More to Discover in Indiana

I-69 North:

I-69 North

Road to the campground:

Road to campground

The GPS alleged that the road had a 10 ton weight limit, but it didn’t (I knew about that ahead of time from reviews of the campground):

GPS

Pond with water lilies:

Pond with water lilies

Entering the campground; no human interaction required:

Entering the campground

We just headed to our site:

Approaching our site

2024 travel map

Back in January I published a map of our planned travels for 2024. We’ve mostly stuck to that plan, though have changed a few stops. Here’s an updated map of our motorhome travel route this year; click or tap for a higher-resolution image:

I thought it’d be fun to share a Google Maps edition too; an interactive map with markers for our stops. Click or tap this link to view the map.

Without the above image to guide you, the east coast part of the Google map would look like a random distribution of markers!

Abraham Lincoln Birthplace National Historical Park

We visited the Abraham Lincoln Birthplace National Historical Park in Kentucky, a small park with the country’s first monument to Lincoln, enclosing the Symbolic Cabin, a reconstruction of the tiny cabin where Lincoln was born. The memorial was built between 1909 and 1911.

Entrance sign

56 steps up to the memorial, one for each year of Lincoln’s life:

Memorial

Info

The symbolic cabin inside the memorial:

The symbolic cabin inside the memorial

Peeking inside:

Peeking inside

Model of the cabin:

Model of the cabin

Info outside:

Info

Boardwalk to the visitor center:

Boardwalk to visitor center

Visitor center:

Visitor center

Parents and kids:

Parents and kids

Visitor center

Passport stamp:

Passport stamp

Gift shop:

Gift shop

Family Bible:

Family Bible

More exhibits:

Exhibits

Table made by Lincoln’s father:

Table made by Lincoln's father

Boundary oak tree:

Boundary oak tree

Exhibits

Model of the memorial:

Model of the memorial

Mammoth Cave National Park

We visited Mammoth Cave National Park in Kentucky. It is notable as the longest cave system in the world, with over 400 miles of passages.

Entrance sign

Visitor center:

Visitor center

Mammoth cave has several guided tours available. We did the “Domes and Dripstones” tour, which required taking buses to a cave entrance:

Buses to a cave entrance

Down into a sinkhole:

Down into a sinkhole

Cave entrance:

Cave entrance

Looking down:

Looking down

Underground ranger talk:

Ranger talk

Not too bad a picture of me:

David

Lots of steps:

Lots of steps

Historic graffiti:

Historic graffiti

Very flat cave ceiling:

Very flat cave ceiling

Ranger talk area:

Ranger talk area

Cave

Ranger talk

More steps:

More steps

The “Frozen Niagara” formation:

Frozen Niagara formation

Formations

Selfie

Formations

Steps

Formations

Vertical panorama of a dome:

Panorama

Formations

An interesting cave, but we’ve seen nicer-looking ones. Just shows that size isn’t everything.

Thousand Trails Diamond Caverns RV & Golf Resort

We stayed at Thousand Trails Diamond Caverns RV & Golf Resort in Park City, Kentucky. (Campground Reviews listing.)

Convenient to Mammoth Cave National Park, and free with our membership, but rather unlevel.

Dates:

Check in: 2024-07-07
Check out: 2024-07-12
5 nights

Weather:

Partly cloudy, some rain
High temps 82-90°F, lows 66-71°F
Little wind, gusts to 19 MPH

Noise:

No road noise
Occasional distant train horn noise
Minimal neighbor noise

Site:

#503, back-in, gravel
Needed to disconnect toad, parked in front of coach
Rather unlevel site; high in front and passenger side; back wheels would be off the ground, so used air leveling
Gravel driveway about 65 feet long by 22 feet wide
Immediate neighbor on passenger side; 50 feet to neighbor on driver side
Picnic table
No trees
Unclean site; cigarette butts, bottle caps, etc.

Utilities:

50 amp power, conveniently located
60 PSI water, conveniently located
Good sewer connection, conveniently located (1 10-foot pipe needed)

Internet (in usage priority order):

T-Mobile: 15 Mbps down, 1 Mbps up, 35 ms ping
Verizon: 10 Mbps down, 5 Mbps up, 45 ms ping
AT&T: 2 Mbps down, 0.01 Mbps up, 200 ms ping; unreliable
Starlink: not used
Campground Wi-Fi: paid, not used

Amenities:

Garbage dumpsters
Pool

Our review on Campground Reviews:

Close to Mammoth Cave NP

This is an older Thousand Trails campground, and like most of the older ones, it needs some serious TLC. Most sites are seasonal/annual so there were only a handful of sites available when we arrived, with most of them being either too short or on a really egregious slope (or both). We found the one site that would fit us (503) but it was so unlevel we couldn’t use our hydraulic levelers and had to use the air leveling, which is less preferred. They obviously had some serious rain recently because there were a couple of sites showing extreme erosion and I worried about the stability of the terrace they were on. But for a short stay to visit Mammoth Cave, it was serviceable. We camped at Thousand Trails Diamond Caverns RV & Golf Resort in a Motorhome.

Tip for Other Campers: There’s a new Buc-ee’s not far away and Bowling Green has pretty much everything you could want….

Campground map:

Map

An interactive map:

Our site:

Our site

Utilities:

Utilities

Air leveling, with the rear wheels raised as high as they can go (and jacks up):

Air leveling

Other sites:

Other sites

Swimming pool:

Swimming pool

Playground:

Playground

Mini golf:

Mini golf

Clubhouse and quiet room:

Clubhouse and quiet room

We probably won’t stay here again, though it’s hard to argue with free.

Travel from Pigeon Forge, Tennessee to Park City, Kentucky

We drove our coach 227 miles, about four hours of driving, from Pigeon Forge, Tennessee to Park City, Kentucky.

Here’s a map showing our route, heading northwest:

Route map

An interactive map:

Dollywood:

Dollywood

Gocart track:

Gocart track

MagiQuest:

MagiQuest

Leaning building:

Leaning building

Crossover intersection:

Crossover intersection

I-40 West:

I-40 West

Knoxville:

Knoxville

Fun with zoom:

I-40 West

Fuel stop:

Fuel stop

A tank or something on a truck:

Tank

Our coach:

Our coach

We went to the Iron Skillet restaurant at the truck stop for lunch:

Iron Skillet restaurant

Breakfast for lunch

Truckers chapel:

Truckers chapel

“Enter Central Time”:

Enter Central Time

Fun with zoom:

Fun with zoom

Rest area:

Rest area

Monterey:

Monterey

Livingston Highway:

Livingston Highway

Paladin asleep:

Paladin asleep

Fun with zoom:

Fun with zoom

Celina Highway:

Celina Highway

Celina:

Celina

Horses sign:

Horses

Bathroom stop at a gas station:

Bathroom stop at gas station

“Welcome to Kentucky”:

Welcome to Kentucky

A pond:

Pond

A horse and buggy sign:

Horse and buggy

Fun with zoom:

Fun with zoom

Paladin asleep:

Paladin asleep

Entering Mammoth Cave National Park:

Entering Mammoth Cave National Park

The RV park’s office is across the road from the campground, at the Diamond Caverns attraction:

Diamond Caverns

RV office

Our coach

Paladin sat on the dash for the drive from the office to the campground:

Paladin on dash

Welcome:

Welcome

We untoaded here:

We untoaded here

Following the coach:

Following coach

Our site:

Our site

Blue Ridge Parkway south end

South of Great Smoky Mountains National Park is the southern end of the Blue Ridge Parkway.

This park, barely wider than the highway, is 469 miles long, between Shenandoah National Park in Virginia at the north end and Great Smoky Mountains National Park in North Carolina at the south end. We visited the northern end a few weeks ago.

Entering the southern end of the parkway:

Entrance sign

There were several tunnels:

Tunnel

Parkway

Tunnel

Views:

View

Fire lookout:

Fire lookout

View

Visitor center:

Visitor center

Elevation 5,820 feet:

Elevation 5,820

View

Camp Margaritaville RV Resort and Lodge

We stayed at Camp Margaritaville RV Resort and Lodge in Pigeon Forge, Tennessee. (Campground Reviews listing.)

One day we’ll learn that staying at resorts is a waste of money for us, but it was not this day.

Dates:

Check in: 2024-06-30
Check out: 2024-07-07
7 nights

Weather:

Partly cloudy, some rain
High temps 83-91°F, lows 64-73°F
Negligible wind, gusts to 12 MPH

Noise:

No road noise
No train horn noise
Some neighbor noise (mostly kids)
Nightly fireworks at nearby Dollywood

Site:

#84, back-in, concrete
Needed to disconnect toad, parked behind coach
Somewhat unlevel site (surprisingly for concrete; high on front and passenger side; used hydraulic leveling
Concrete driveway about 50 feet long by 18 feet wide
25 feet to neighbors on both sides
Picnic table
Fire pit
A couple young trees
Clean site

Utilities:

50 amp power, conveniently located
50 PSI water, conveniently located
Good sewer connection, conveniently located (1 10-foot pipe needed)

Internet (in usage priority order):

T-Mobile: 25-55 Mbps down, 4 Mbps up, 65 ms ping
AT&T: 90 Mbps down, 9 Mbps up, 90 ms ping
Verizon: 15-24 Mbps down, 2 Mbps up, 90 ms ping
Starlink: not used
Campground Wi-Fi: not used

Amenities:

Garbage pickup from site
Pools
Restaurant (in theory with to-site delivery, but that didn’t work when we tried it)

Our review on Campground Reviews:

Nice resort near Great Smoky Mountain NP

We’re not “resort” people, but this one was nice. It was the nicest-looking resort close to the entrance to Great Smoky Mountain National Park and far enough off the main road, so it was reasonably quiet. The sites are all concrete pads, so you’d expect them to be level, which ours was not. Weird, but not a problem. We were down in “the valley,” which is the farthest you can get to the resort amenities, but that probably contributed to it being quieter. Our site was spotless, and all the utilities worked well. I loved being able to go up to the restaurant for coconut shrimp and a margarita (super spendy, but a bonus nonetheless). We camped at Camp Margaritaville RV Resort and Lodge in a Motorhome.

Campground map:

Map