Spring Fling 2026 - Day 15: A drive to Martinsville and Philpott Dam

We drove the 22 miles or so to the town of Martinsville to run errands and just do some light shopping.  We passed through town of Bassett and Martha realized it's the Bassett name associated with a furniture company that's on par with the likes of Lazyboy.

After lunch in town, we drove back to camp with a slight detour to view the Philpott Dam which was built to control flooding for the area.  Apparently, a big flood in 1947 was a big motivator.

The dam has a small but nice visitor center.

There's a couple of overlooks near the visitor center for not very close views of the dam itself.

Spring Fling 2026 - Day 14: Philpott Lake COE Camping

A relatively short drive today, and except for an annoying detour by Google Maps who routed us through a narrow road neighborhood, it went without incident.  Sometimes,  Google Maps sucks.

I am rethinking the concept of using COE camping almost exclusively while on the eastern half of the country. Some of the ones we have ended up at were pretty out of the way and whatever savings there was to be had through my veterans discount were negated by the extra gas used to get there.  

Also, so far they have been accessed via narrow country roads which though paved have no shoulders and significant drop offs at times which makes for some nerve-racking driving. 

Having electric power is really nice on cold nights but not sure the trade off is worth it in the long run. 

Anyhoo, we got there safely and after some careful maneuvering got the RV and the CRV inserted into the camping spot I had selected.  Let's just say the site looked a lot bigger in the pictures when I made the reservation online. 

We will be here till Friday morning and from there head to the home of friends of mine from college in Marshall, VA.

The afternoon was sunny but the plethora of trees kept things rather cool.

Altitude: 1165 Feet

High temp: 73F

Spring Fling 2026 - Day 13: Lot docking in Virginia

We crossed into Virginia from Kentucky today, only drove 274 miles, about halfway to a COE at Philpott Lake.  From there, after 3 nights at the COE, we'll be staying with friends near Marshall, VA.

This is a one night stay (basically breaking up 500+ mile drive).

We're lot docking at a Harvest Host location, the 3 sites have electriciry and water.  We're the only rig here this Monday night.

We sampled their craft Bourbon, pretty good stuff.  One is supposed to patronize a Harvest Host's wares so we had some samples and a cocktail.  We also procured a bottle of their Smoothbore Bourbon.

The name of the place is Axe Handle Distilling in Pennington Gap, VA.

Being a former artillery guy, I'll admit the picture of a cannon was a factor in my choosing the bourbon above.

It's been years since we've stayed at a Harvest Host, this one was a nice one.

Spring Fling 2026 - Days 11&12: A do nothing day before seeing Mammoth Cave

Saturday, May 9

A do nothing day here in Kentucky, just resting up and listening to a book while Martha did likewise along with some stitchery.  Weather was sunny and warm.  

The campground was over 80% capacity believe.

Sunday, May 10

Happy Mother's Day!

Martha and I drove about an hour or so to the Mammoth Cave National Park.  It's claim to fame is that it is the largest cave system in the world at 426 mi of surveyed the caves as of September of 2022. 

We only took the self-guided discovery tour which was very short.  There are several other tour packages as well for those who want to hike more and see more of the cave formations. 

The historic entrance to the cave system, behind the visitor's center:

Veterans Memorial:

It took a couple of minutes to adjust to the lighting in the cave.  Some portions were paved, some were packed dirt and required some attention.

End of the line for the self-guided tour:

The saltpeter mining site:

Tomorrow, Virginia!