Day 40 of our 2025 RVing Adventure with Historical & Musical Interludes

It's Tuesday June 10th, day 40 of our 2025 summer adventure, Debbie and I enjoyed a beautiful morning for our walk. I need to back track just a bit this morning.

We stayed at Laurel Branch Campground a Corps of Engineer park on Rough River Lake. 

Getting to the campground last night, we drove across the Rough River Dam. The dam is located on the Rough River near the community of Falls of Rough, of Route 79. The US Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) completed Rough River Dam in 1959. Although flood risk management is the project's primary purpose, the dam also provides recreation, fish and wildlife conservation, and provides water supply to nearby communities.

There are four COE campgrounds on Rough River Lake. We had reservations at Axtel, but they were cancelled because of flooding. We were able to find sites on the high ground at Laurel Branch. After walking last night and this morning, there were many sites along the lake at this campground that were under water too. The walking trail went along the lake's edge too and it was soggy and I am sure if I had pushed further ahead, it would have been under water too.

The Rough River Lake is a Y-shaped reservoir.  During the summer the lake is about 5,000 acres, has 220 miles of shoreline, is 39 miles long, and is 65 feet deep in the deepest portion of the lake, which includes the area around the dam. During the winter the lake decreases to 2,000 acres. 

We departed Laurel Branch this morning on KY 259. It is a 95-mile-long state highway that traverses five counties in west-central Kentucky. We were on it for only about 10-miles, before it T'd and ended at US 60.

US 60 is the longest route in Kentucky, running 495 miles across the width of the state, passing through 22 of Kentucky's counties. Driving along US 60, we saw a ton of farm land and lots of grass, but no Kentucky Bluegrass, just green grass!

We turned onto US 231, just before crossing the Ohio River. We crossed the Ohio River on the William H. Natcher Bridge. It is a cable-stayed bridge. The bridge connects Owensboro, Kentucky to Rockport, Indiana. It is the longest cable-stayed bridge over any inland waterway system in the US. There is an active maintenance project on the bridge right now. The bridge is supported by cables that are in need of necessary repairs. The cables are coated in a material that keeps them safe from the weather. They have kind of developed some holes and some voids in that coverage since the bridge opened in 2002. The crews are going to check each cable individually, fill in those voids and just make sure those cables are safe and sturdy for a long time to come. This is one of the biggest maintenance projects the bridge has seen since its inception. Due to its size, the project could take some time.

In Kentucky, US 231 was originally signed as Kentucky Route 71, one of many charter routes of Kentucky's statewide system of highways when it was established in 1929. US 231 enters Indiana on the William H. Natcher Bridge over the Ohio River from Kentucky. The road enters as a four–lane divided highway and immediately has a folded diamond interchange (also called a "parclo" interchange) with State Road 66.

Rockport Power Plant or the Rockport Generating Station is a coal-fired power plant, located along the Ohio River near Rockport, Indiana. The two identical non-cyclonic Babcock & Wilcox units were launched into service in December 1984 and December 1988. They are among the largest coal units built. The plant is connected to the grid by 765 kilovolt transmission lines (the highest rated voltage used in the US). The power plant features the tallest smokestack in Indiana, and is one of the tallest smokestacks in the world at 1,038 feet.

Traveling on Indiana State Route 66 it is part of the Ohio River Scenic Byway and the Lewis & Clark National Historic Trail. 

The Ohio River Scenic Byway in Southern Indiana is your gateway to adventures, with 302 miles of scenic roadway to explore, you can take a journey along the river and into the Heartland. 

In Indiana, the Lewis & Clark National Historic Trail follows the Ohio River from the Indiana/Ohio border, to Clarksville, then southwest towards Indiana's toe.

We headed into our home for the next few nights. We are staying at Miles Landing with Debbie and Jim. 

Our night was complete, when we got the "Taco Tuesday" gang back together. We are just in Evansville Indiana instead of Zephyrhills Florida!

It is great to see Larry & Marcia! After they enjoyed margaritas and we all enjoyed chips & salsa and tacos we headed back to their place for more conversation. The company was awesome for our Taco Tuesday, but a bill for two people that was less than $15 was better yet!

Stay tuned for more Two Lane Adventures!