From Boomland to Bean Pot to Pulled Pork BBQ

Tuesday, 27 November.  We left the Boomland RV Park in Charleston pretty much on schedule and headed east again on I-57.  Before continuing with our traveling saga, just a word or two about the Boomland campground.  If ever in this area and you’re looking for an RV park – even for just an overnight stay – pass this one by and find another.  ‘Nuff said.  Even the $12 a night charge (which should have tipped us off) wasn't enough to make us want to consider a return trip.  Pretty nasty. At least the rain stopped during the night and we began today’s journey under partly cloudy skies.  We soon crossed the mighty Mississippi River and immediately took Exit 1 on I-57 in Illinois toward the small port city of Cairo that sits at the confluence of the Mississippi and Ohio Rivers. 

Confluence of Mississippi River (left) and Ohio River (right) with Cairo, IL, in the middle. Notice all the barge traffic on the Ohio.  And these a HUGE barges.

As we drove thru Cairo, much of the town almost looked deserted.  Lots of shops were boarded up; seems this recession has hit this area hard.  It wasn’t until we crossed the Ohio River over into Kentucky – on a very narrow bridge - on the southern edge of Cairo did we see all the barge traffic headed downstream to continue their journey on the Mississippi.  It was quite a sight, believe me.  I had no idea the barges were as large as they were.

Tugboat pulling a river barge on the Ohio River near Cairo, IL

Once across the Ohio, we continued our journey on KY SR 60 toward Paducah, where we picked up I-24.  I-24 quickly took us across the very tip of KY’s southwest corner and we were soon traveling on I-24 in the Volunteer State, Tennessee.  We stayed on I-24 till we neared Nashville, and then skirted the Grand Ole Opry town via Loop 155 until we picked up I-40 on Nashville’s southeastern edge.  We stayed on I-40 until we hit our overnight campground, Bean Pot RV Campground, in Crossville, about halfway between Nashville and Knoxville.  The Bean Pot is a well-kept little park and sits among a grove of trees a few miles north of I-40 on TN SR 101.  

We asked our camp hosts for a good place to eat and they suggested “Lefty’s BBQ” for some mouth-watering food.  The pulled pork platter was outstanding and the servings were quite large – enough for another meal down the road.  This place was certainly unassuming -- and is just a bit off I-40 -- but the food makes the trip well worth it.  It’s where all the locals get their BBQ pulled pork – what’s not to like?