This is another new area for us and it
turned out to be an enjoyable time. The area is full of little towns
with interesting names and not much else, but we enjoy that, so life
is good. The nearest grocery store is about only 20 minutes away and
the countryside is lush green forests and rolling hills, so what is
not to like? As with all Corps of Engineers parks, the campground is
situated on a lake, and since this is a holiday weekend, it is
expected to be full. The campground we're in is walk-in only (no
reservations accepted) and since we arrived mid-morning on Monday, we
had no trouble finding a site. By Thursday, most were occupied,
though. It's a well cared for campground with a reasonable amount of
green space between most sites.
After we got settled in our new spot,
we drove across the main road to a Civil War battlefield. There are
some photos with information about the battle – the last
significant one in the area during the Civil War. A footnote to the
info in the photos: The Confederate force outnumbered the Union two
to one, twice the Confederate leader insisted the North surrender to
which Captain Mattingly responded, “I will fight until Hell freezes
over and then I will fight on ice.” The battle lasted 12 hours,
with the South suffering 8 killed and 8 wounded while the Union
leader, William Mattingly, was not mortally wounded and the only
other injuries in the Union camp were slight.
As we began walking, we noticed a
strange buzzing noise. The farther we walked the louder it was and we
decided it had to be insects. I'm glad I wasn't alone in the dark,
though, I'd have been a bit apprehensive. As we rounded the last turn
in the walk, we noticed some insects on a tree and walked over to
take a look. All around the base of the tree were what looked like
hard-shelled bugs about three-quarters of an inch long, and on the
trees there were some hard-shelled bugs and some with wings. Rich
thought it was cicadas, but the sound was different from any we had
heard before. After some conversation with locals, we found that it
was an emergence of brood V of the 17 year periodical locust. The
nymph stage, which spends its life about six inches underground where
they feed on roots. When it's time (don't know how they know) they
crawl to the surface, then crawl up a tree to begin to shed the
exoskeleton. The noise can be quite loud, especially if you are in
the middle of an emerging group. A species of cicada in Australia has
a call of over 120 decibels and one species found in North America
was measured at 108.9 decibels. On a website called cicada mania, you
can learn all about them and even play audio clips of various sounds
– courting, chorus, help, etc. Who knew? Not me, for sure.
We didn't do a lot here since I was
still under the weather, but we hit a local “outlet mall” and
found a couple kitchen tools and wandered around a bulk food store.
We took some drives around and went through little towns with names
like Heaters, Gem, Flatwoods, Guardian, Replete, and Caress.
Burnsville, the tiny little town just outside the park had a little
Memorial Day parade that was enthusiastically greeted by viewers. I'm
not sure, but the number of folks in the parade may have
outnumbered those watching,
but it was good to see the tributes to the military personnel and
their families. Too often we think of it as just a day off rather
than a time to honor those who have died during their military
service.
Now we're headed to Shawnee Campground,
a state park in Pennsylvania.
No comments:
Post a Comment