April 9-10: Camping in Kentucky

We left Cincinnati/Covington late afternoon, hoping to arrive at the free campsite we found (freecampsites.net) before sunset. We had initially thought we'd stop in Lexington on the way, but were feeling more into the idea of getting into our first escape into nature.

The directions to the campground, on every site I could find, only gave directions to the beginning of the forest... the directions would simply say "turn onto Old Whitney road, then follow the signs". So, we figure a few minutes past this turn down the path into Daniel Boone Forest. Right? Just a bit down the road.

We were still driving through country roads as the sun began to set, and since we hadn't seen any businesses for miles we stopped at the first little roadside store we saw, thinking we would be there in a few miles. We walked in to the strange store, owned (stangely) by an old Indian man (why did he end up in backwoods Kentucky? We asked ourselves later). We bought ice, bread, eggs, cheese and butter. It came to $morethanyoudthink.

When we finally reached Old Whitney Road, the sun was definitely setting. We turned left, relieved to see the campsite sign with a helpful arrow pointing the way. But was it just a few miles down the dusty, windy gravel path? Oh no, my friend. No no. It was at least another hour and a half into the night. We were also driving very cautiously, which probably lengthened the journey.

We didn't arrive until well after 9, initially assuming we'd be there by 7 or 7:30 latest. It was not to be. When we finally did arrive in the darkness to the free site, we pulled into what seemed in the darkness to be a camp spot with a little parking space and a fire pit. It was what it seemed, of course.

There was only one other camper in sight. Alone. With his fire. And we realized how much scarier we both find being not alone in the woods than not alone in the city. One other camper seeming much worse than 2. Or 3. Or 4. Visions of this one man, the only one for miles, turning out to be the Carnivorous Cannibal of Kentucky floated through our minds. That would be just our luck, wouldn't it? To be smoked over his roaring fire? (Of which we were envious, as we had no wood.) They wouldn't find us for quite a little while, we assumed.

We decided to sleep in the van. Who wants to set up a tent at 9:30pm with a potential cannibal next door? So we engaged the alarm and settled in to watch a DVD (the only one we brought) on my laptop. (It was a documentary on the bassist from New York Dolls. Very good. Sad.)
It was pretty hot that night, and Yoshi seemed uncomfortable in the van. So, the gentleman of the group (KG) offered to put his cage outside and sleep on the ground next to him with no tent. I said I hoped dogs didn't attract bears (or carnivorous cannibals) as much as I'd heard rumor, and settled in to sleep in the van.
KG hopped in shivering a few hours later.

The next morning, we went straight down the hiking trail. It was purty. Then we walked back, and all of the park ranger lawn mowing loud hard hat workers had arrived. The cannibal left, it wasn't his vibe anymore. They. Were . Loud. Nature was a bit ruined.

We used our camping stove for the first time just the same! Adorable!

I made breakfast with the supplies we bought from the mysterious Indian man the night before. We realized then, that although we had planned to keep two of each dish we owned, we accidentally donated ALL of them in Chicago. So, we had our mini cooking dishes, but no forks, plates, knives, spoons, etc. Here is the crafty cooking creativity that I created:
Step 1.) find your new 80 cent ikea peeler
step 2.) peel some butter into the frying pan
step 3.) brown all the bread in the butter, put it in the one dish -- cleverly titled "BOWL" on its side
step 4.) peel more butter in pan, crack eggs in pan
step 5.) scramble eggs with ikea peeler
step 6.) put the eggs and cheese on the bread and eatitttttt.

It was "real good".

We wondered if we'd stay another night and set up the tent, but since the water was "NOT SAFE FOR HUMAN CONSUMPTION" and we couldn't find the "nearby" beach, and we didn't have firewood, and we only had enough water for the 3 of us to survive one more day, we figured we'd go for one more stroll down the one path (away from the vroom vroom workers) and think about it.

Yoshi followed us down the path again verrrrrry reluctantly. Then he stopped altogether. So we stopped. "Yoshi, what's up? Come on." ....
"Nuh-uh.... I don't know guys. Let's go back. I think we should leave. Seriously. I've got a bad feeling about this. No sir, I don't like it. Are you guys coming??" (Yoshi seemed to say.)
Seriously. He stopped, and slowly turned around and started to trot back to the van, periodically stopping and turning back to urge us to follow. Maybe he smelled a bear and saved our lives. We followed him. We said, "You're a smart dog Yoshi, let's go." So after our first solar shower (in our bathing suits and after the workers finally left) we left too.

Once we finally had nature to ourselves, and no longer wanted it.

We passed these beautiful spots on the drive, and let Yoshi go for a swim and a drink in a reservoir near Lake Cumberland (he only seems satisfied with the cleanest, freshest water from their sources... we can barely get him to sip un-pure sustenance) -- we were all calm and excited once again, en route to Knoxville.