2016XC: Day 21, July 5 – Sweetwater to Baileyton, Tennessee
CampSites: Sweetwater KOA –to– Around Pond RV Park
We woke up to a heavy rainstorm, which was kind of ok since it matched my mood about our trip being just about over, but not Gabriel’s – he’s always happy! 
We were leaving the KOA to go to the Lost Sea. We’d called the day before about parking the camper, and were easily able to park our camper in a special lot provided. We purchased our tickets and then had about an hour wait before the tour…
We found out about the Lost Sea through a book that Steve’s parents let us borrow named “Off The Beaten Path” by Readers Digest. We used it on our last trip too. There was a write-up about this place, and picture that looked very interesting. It’s supposed to be a cave system with an underground lake about the size of 4 and 1/2 acres. Pretty incredible! Our tour began with a walk down a yellow tunnel…
We entered the cave which mostly resembled many others that we’ve all seen before, but it was still interesting. Because I only had my phone camera, the pics are awful…sorry!
This was actually a part of the stream that ran from a small waterfall that eventually led into the lake.
We’re waiting here to get into the boats…yes, boats, so our tour guide can take us on the lake. It was just a small glass-bottom (which means the very center of the boat has glass in it, but we couldn’t really see down through it anyway) barge-type of boat. At the dock, the lake is only a few feet deep, but as we maneuvered to the middle of the lake (which was only about 30′ away from there, we were told it was about 60 to 70 feet deep. The lake was clear and looked endless. If the lights weren’t in it, it would have been hard to tell where the water began and ended. We were able to see some of the rainbow trout that are stocked in the lake, and they were quite large – after all, no predators! The only fish in the lake are the trout, and the tour guides feed them daily so they can show off their jumping-out-of-the-water skills. I wish I could have gotten a good picture of it.
So the tour ended, and we were on our way to Baileyton RV Park in Baileyton for just an overnight, but saw this place on the way and decided to check it out first. We drove into the park, and a man with a long white beard and glasses in a red pickup truck swung around behind us and then towards us. He stopped us, and Steve asked if there were any sites available and how much. The man said “Yup, $30 bucks.” Steve asked if we should go back to the office to for info, but the man just put his hand out to Steve and said, “Got cash?” We gave him the money, then asked where we should park, and he said “wherever you want” and he drove off. Not the usual welcome, but never judge a book by it’s cover. The sites were spacious, and there was a nice pond with lots of swans and geese, and a few guinea fowl. He had some interesting decor, though I only got to take a few pics before my camera died and it was too dark after that.
Never saw a black swan in real life before! She was beautiful!
We walked across the road and ordered pizza, then walked up to Family Dollar to the Red Box to rent a movie…
We decided on “Daddy’s Home”….well, all the older non-female members of the family decided on it. Back to the camper, and the pizza arrived…
It, the pizza, was good…
…and the movie was funny. Turns out maybe wasn’t (well, not maybe) the best movie for Gabriel and Christian because of the language and innuendos, but Will Ferrell really is funny.
Well, last night in the camper and of the trip… 🙁