Sunrise on the Great Smokies and Baby Makes Three

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. 

A peek at the fall color.

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.

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.

Sunrise through a break in the clouds.

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.

Hiking the Appalachian Trail - won't make it to Maine today. Lol.

This is what we came to see!

"Closely Control Children"  Good luck with that. Lol.

Panoramic view with Charlie's Bunion front and center.

Happy to be hiking with the itty-bit.

Beautiful day and awesome views.

Tomorrow we have plans that do not involve hauling our tired butts halfway up a mountain. Lol.