We
stayed in the Bay Springs campground and then slowly made our way
toward Southeast MogFest 2012. SEMF was being held at the
Windrock OHV park near Oak Ridge, TN.
The photos below are what we saw.
We
continued north on the Natchez Trace parkway and came upon a small
cave that was accessible from the road. Bob and Kathleen
went to check it out.
Our
path north took us over the Tennessee River. The river is
dammed at a number of places and in some areas the lakes behind
the dams are quite large. Above, we saw a tug pushing a
barge on the river.
I
have owned several Mercedes 4x4 trucks and none of them look like
this. We spotted this frankentruck next to our path.
Ouch.
I backed into a tree that I could not see while camping at a state
park. Of course, that statement is somewhat axiomatic in
that I would not have backed into the tree if I could have seen
it. There was quite a bit of damage: the blackwater tube was
very deformed; the shell was cracked and the inside wall was
damaged as well. The only good news here was that the
ability to raise the top was not impacted.
After
the state park, we headed toward a cave that Bob knew. Next
to the cave was a nice waterfall. The flow of the waterfall
went underground and then into the cave.
Bob
and Kathleen.
Bob
leads the way into the cave.
Near
the mouth of the cave we discovered this fossil of an old beach or
lake bed. Note the ripple marks in the rock.
After
the cave we passed the "Rock House" that was built in 1835.
The house was visited by several presidents and Sam Houston.
From
the rock house, Bob took us to a large waterfall. Above, he
peers over the edge. It is at least 100 feet high, so a slip
would likely be fatal and caution was indicated. Kathleen
and Kitty are visible at the upper left of the photo above.
There
was a reasonable flow over the falls.
From the freeway, we passed this large coal-fired power plant. There were 3 generations of smokestacks at this plant and all 3 are visible in the photo above. The first generation stacks are on the right; the taller, second generation stack is in the center; the scrubber based third-generation stack is on the left.
En-route to Bob and Kitty's farm, we passed over the Tennessee River again. This crossing was at a dam and there were locks that allowed passage of ship traffic.
Bob and Kitty have a very nice farm and the entry path to the farm goes through the trees. We stayed at the farm for several days doing repairs and maintenance on Thor and the camper.
To
repair the damage to the camper, I bought a can of fiberglass
repair compound at NAPA. This compound is essentially a
2-part epoxy with a filler and it likely the same as Bondo.
The compound was mixed, applied with a spatula and pressed into
the wound with wax paper. 20 minutes later it was ready to
sand.
The
inside wall was another story. The damage refreshed my
memory that the build quality of the camper was suspect: in many
places they used staples and no glue. The entire left edge
of the panel was only held in with staples. We fabricated a
splint out of 1/4" plywood and then painted it gloss almond.
The wood was thirsty and took 5 coats to get a reasonable
finish. Meanwhile glue was applied to all visible joints and
nails were applied to hold the components solid while the glue set
up. We could not complete our repairs before MogFest, so we
left it as-is.
The farm had nice green fields with grass and flowers. Above, the insects were busy gathering pollen from the flowers.
The center of this flower has a nice spiral pattern to the pollen producing capsules.
On Thursday, we headed to Windrock OHV park. We were early, so we decided to go up the mountain to the wind farm before setting up camp. The path to get to the top of the ridge was very steep and narrow. The top of the ridge was at about 2900 feet elevation.
While looking at the windmills, we spotted this small turtle in the gravel road.
The underside of the turtle was rough and scaly. Note the secretions at the side of the shell.
From the top of the ridge, the Oak Ridge National Laboratory was visible. We returned to camp and setup for the night. Later, were were joined by other MogFest participants.
Next morning we saddled up for a trail run. I rode with Garret in his 416.
Above is Pat's trail-ready 404.
Bob's clean 1300L with Klaas overdrive.
The group is ready to roll onto the trail.
John and his daughter Jessica came with their 1955 model 401 mog.
Garret's 416 with dump bed.
Pat's 404 which has been modified for trail work. He has mounted a tent on the upper deck of the bed.
The Windrock OHV park is on in an old coal mining area. In addition to bituminous coal, the area also produces oil and natural gas. The facility above is for separation of gas from oil and water. The separator module is on the left and the storage tank for the oil and water is on the right.
On the trail we passed a large coal seam, so the group got out to investigate.
On our return to camp we passed through Oliver Springs, TN and saw this odd building next to the road.
Back at camp, we discovered another mogger, Steve from Ohio, that came with his 406. We knew this 406 as it used to be owned by Patrick and Jamie Kennedy in Los Alamos. He recently left the Los Alamos area and sold his rig. Steve bought it from Patrick and drove from the Cincinnati, OH are to Windrock. Note the hydraulic winch on the back.
This 406 is very clean and everyone had their cameras out.
A parting shot of the 406 before sundown.
We had a pleasant night with the group. We exchanged stories and talked-mog until it was time for bed. Tomorrow, we would do another trail run.| Previous Adventure | ||
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Photos and Text Copyright Bill Caid 2012, all rights
reserved.
For your enjoyment only, not for commercial use.