Land Between the Lakes, Kentucky

I arrived at the Land Between the Lakes in Kentucky, a National Recreation Area. My first stop was to see if I could catch a glimpse of a bison and fortunately one was out grazing in the middle of the morning. The heat is ramping up again. There are fenced off areas where you can view elk and bison. I headed on to a stop called Home Place, which is a 1850's recreated farm. There were not a lot of people out and about, so it was quite enjoyable in the peace and quiet. I met two women in period costume that were knitting, and stitching, and a carpenter who was carving a wooden soap dish. There were farm animals, and crops, including tobacco. This whole area was well known for iron production, and there are the ruins of large limestone furnaces throughout this area. Over the last 100+ years, the trees have grown back into a forested area, but was once clear cut down to the ground at about an acre a day at one point. It took an acre of wood to run the furnaces to make the iron ore. I walked through a dried creek bed and low and behold found fossils, yes my latest past time, it seems. It was a snail shell. I found several crinoid stems, and shells with coral imbedded in limestone with iron deposits. The ground is orange/red here like in Sedona, AZ or Kauai. I found a great campsite overlooking the lake, and decided to spend a couple nights here. Its $7.00 for up to 3 nights, no hookups. I did more fossil collecting, hiking, and just laying low since I've developed a sore throat and feel a bit tired. It must be the cool nights. One of the best finds that I came across were the persimmon trees in my campsite. So I've been enjoying eating them, which brings back great memories of my father's trees on the farm in New York.