Our next stop on our 2012 Eastern Motorhome trip was Hohenwald, TN. We arrived at the Natchez Trace Thousand Trails Park on April 24. This is a really nice park with a large lake and some steep hills on the park roads. Roundtrip from our campsite to the entrance was 3 miles, so it was a nice workout. The drive up the Natchez Trace from Tishomingo, MS was really pretty with hardly any traffic. We had a surprise when we arrived at the park. A friend, Patrice, that we met 2 years ago in NC and have seen at many campgrounds since, was camped there. We had some nice visits with her. We visited the Merriweather Lewis Memorial Park, and then went on a hike off of the Natchez Trace. Someone at the RV park told us about a hike that was really hard and was 3 miles long with a waterfall at the end. Well, it was a very short hike and was not difficult at all, so we ate lunch at the waterfalls and then went and found a longer hike through the woods. There was a family parked in two large buses across from us in the campground. They were the Weaver family who sings Gospel and bluegrass. They have 7 kids ranging in age from 11 to 23. They all play different instruments and sing. They were awesome. We went to a concert they had at the campground and one they had at a church. At the church they had a luncheon with lots of good food. So, it was an enjoyable day. The Weaver's played before lunch and then most of the afternoon. The kids have always been home schooled and were really polite and friendly. Their website is www.weaverbelievers.com. We moved to Charlestown State Park in Charlestown, IN on May 3 so we could attend the Kentucky Derby on Saturday. The park was a little pricey for a state park, but it was beautiful and we had full hook up. We had infield tickets for the Derby, so we were only able to see a very small part of the track. The horses went by so fast we could barely see them. But, it's one more thing we can mark off of our bucket list. We felt like we went to a party and a race broke out! The race was at 6:30 pm and we got there at 12:30 pm. A lot of the tailgaters were already partying and I doubt if some of them made it to the race! It was very crowded as you will see in the pictures. We had to go through a tunnel and we felt like a bunch of cattle. It was just as bad after we got to the infield. We bought a Mint Julep (one, as it was $11.00 for it) and found a place to sit in the shade and watch the crowd. It was fun to see all the crazy hats. We made a small bet, but didn't win. We made a small bet for our brother-in-law and his horse came in first! We should have listened to him! We arrived at the Indian Lakes Thousand Trails Park in Batesville, IN on May 8, but that will be in my next journal.
