One curious thing about the farmland we’ve driven past. A great number of the barns are solid black. We haven’t stopped to investigate one yet; I can’t imagine a fire would provide such a uniform black without destroying the barn, but painting a barn black seems unlikely as well. We’ve also seen numerous signs that warn of possible horse and buggy traffic on the roads. Is this Quaker country (or Amish, or Mennonites, or…), and are the black barns related? Hmm…
After a day of driving under solid gray skies, we finally made camp at the Tailwater Campground next to the Barren Lake Dam, a nice site courtesy of the Army Corp of Engineers. The campground had a little hiking loop through the forrest, including a wildlife viewing station that looked like nothing so much as a duck blind. After staring at the weeds and insects for a few minutes, we decided that the wildlife didn’t care to be viewed this afternoon and continued hiking. The trail was regularly strung with spider webs, so thick that we took to waving sticks in front of us as we walked.
For perhaps the first time, we seemed to be the only Eurovan camper in the entire campground. Several time we heard people quietly comment as they walked by “Look, that van is a tent too!”
We read a little, made dinner, played some cards, and finally bedded down. Although it wasn’t as hot as Missouri, it was still plenty warm, terribly humid and not a hint of wind. We laid in bed for a just a few minutes before the skies suddenly opened up and dumped a heavy and steady rain on us. Within minutes, there was wind blowing, and the temperatures dropped at least ten degrees. Sleeping in the upper bed with all of the tent flaps rolled down to reveal the screens, the barest hint of cooling mist could be felt on the windward side. That may have been the best night of sleep we’ve gotten in the camper this trip.