We left Shenandoah on Saturday, 10/15, and stayed one
night at Ft. Chiswell Campground in Max Meadows, VA. They had a decent laundry
facility so you can guess how I spent my evening. Lol. On Sunday, we decided to
made a slight detour and treat ourselves to a soak in Hot Springs, North
Carolina.
It was supposed to be a pretty straightforward route on
state highways. Unfortunately, the Garmin led us on some back country roads
that were, shall we say, challenging
in a motorhome. We passed lots of motorcyclists enjoying the narrow, windy
course so that gives you an idea of the kind of road we were on.
We purchased the Garmin RV760 specifically because you
can enter your rig dimensions and it is SUPPOSED to keep you on RV-friendly
routes. To say its performance has been less than stellar is an understatement.
The last straw on this route was a 90˚ turn onto a one-lane bridge that was
physically impossible to make while towing our car. So Rog bypassed that and
instead of rerouting us back to highway, the thrice-cursed Garmin kept trying
to make us do a U-turn. Really??!
We ended up stuck in a Forest Service campground where we
had to unhitch to back up. We had no cell service so we couldn’t employ any of
our alternative mapping apps and our road atlas didn’t even have enough detail
to see the roads we were on. UGH! Yeah, things got a little tense. Luckily there was
ONE camper staying there and she gave us directions to get back to the highway.
Whew.
We finally made it to Hot Springs and by then we were
more than ready to relax. While the hot springs were a bit on the pricey side,
we’d earned a long hot soak! You rent a Jacuzzi tub by the hour which they fill
with hot mineral springs water for each session. Didn’t realize how much I’d
missed our hot tub at home until I sunk in up to my chin and got warm to the
bone. Aaahhhhhhh.
We headed out much refreshed the next morning and made it
to our destination - Smokemont Campground in the Great Smoky Mountains National
Park - late in the afternoon on Tuesday, 10/17.
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| A peek at the fall color. |
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| Great Smoky Mountains. |
We love the campground – we
really don’t need to go anywhere else to enjoy fabulous fall color and we have
a lovely stream running right behind our rig. We knew there were no hook-ups,
but we hadn’t realized when we made the reservation that there were no showers
at the campground either. Hmmm… nine days – three people – long hikes – and
only 100 gallons of water. I’m thinking Rog will be dumping and refilling tanks
at least once during our stay. Lol. We also found that there is NO cell phone
service at the campground – none, nada, nothing, zip, zero, zilch. So we’ll be
driving to town to say hi! Lol.
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| The creek runs right behind our RV, love falling asleep to the sound of running water. |
We were up early on Tuesday for the 2½ hour drive to
Knoxville, Tennessee to pick Rian up at the airport. We stopped at one overlook
just as the rising sun sent shafts of light through the clouds. Beautiful.
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| Sunrise through a break in the clouds. |
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| Morning light and fall color. |
Pigeon Forge – was not so beautiful. We drove nearly 40 miles
through the park, marveling at the gorgeous fall color and mountain vistas. It
was so peaceful. Then we exited the park and drove through Pigeon Forge. OMG!
Such things should not exist. It is a pantheon of commercialism, consumerism
and rampant capitalism. Live Alligators at the T-Shirt Shop, at least a half
dozen Nascar style go-kart tracks, Hatfield & McCoy Musical Dinner Show –
every kind of trashy (we’re waaay past kitsch here) tourist trap attraction you
can think of. Disney designers on a bad acid trip could not have come up with
this mess. And there were miles of
it. You just want to take your eyeballs out after driving through there and
give them a good scrubbing. Lol. The only saving grace was a Starbucks with
free WiFi – yeah!! Pictures, you ask? Not a chance – I’m still trying to block
the memory. Lol.
We made it to the airport and were happy to see Rian.
She’d had a long red-eye flight, with several stops and layovers. When we got back to the RV, she napped until
dinner. Rian will be visiting for six days and we have lots planned, the
weather is supposed to be unseasonably warm (70-80’s) until Friday when rain
and cooler temps are forecast.
We got a leisurely start on Wednesday since Rian is still
adjusting to the three-hour time change. Today’s hike is about nine miles
roundtrip on the Appalachian Trail to a spot called Charlies’ Bunion. It’s a
lot of ups and downs – Rog says that’s to be expected since we’re hiking in the
mountains. Guess he has a point. Lol. The trail is mostly
in the woods with a few spots along the way with views, but the real payoff is
at the end. The “bunion” is a big rock outcropping with eye-popping vistas all
around.
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| Hiking the Appalachian Trail - won't make it to Maine today. Lol. |
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| This is what we came to see! |
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| "Closely Control Children" Good luck with that. Lol. |
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| Panoramic view with Charlie's Bunion front and center. |
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| Happy to be hiking with the itty-bit. |
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| Beautiful day and awesome views. |
Tomorrow we have plans that do not involve hauling our
tired butts halfway up a mountain. Lol.
