Best Western Fabulous Chalet Gatlinburg

... bigger, it stretches on for about 14 miles or so it seemed. It was fairly busy this day and we couldn’t even imagine being anywhere near the area in summertime, the crowds would be overwhelming.

Finally through Pigeon Forge, which by the way sits on the Pigeon River, we move onto the interstate and enter the beautiful green rolling hills of Tennessee. We leave the highway at Crossville, a ...

... they have a bluish haze.

· Sam Houston was born in Tennessee. Even without a formal education, he went on to become the Governor of Tennessee, Congressman of Tennessee, General of the Texas army, Governor of Texas, Senator of Texas and the President of the Republic of Texas.

June’s Comments:

I got a kick out of a flower bed that had a sign pushed into the dirt beside a well ...

... great in the AM the first 1/2 of the ride it's hard to see the views.
2. You'll be tempted to take pictures when you first get off the train during the 1 hour break. Don't. Everyone else has the same idea. Take your break first. Then after 1/2 hour everyone will be taking their break and you can take pictures without crowds of people.
3. If you do take the PM ride at least this time of year the only thing that ...

... to wander over the Elk and get a closer look. As I inched about 50 ft from a few, they looked up and I sensed I had reached my boundary with them and just stayed at the safe distance. Standing with Elk all around, with water in my shoes, staring up into the sky, raindrops falling on my skin, I felt at one with the Earth once again. I love it.

We went through tunnels carved from Mountains.

Although it rings so familiar..and I have no clue why? we rolled through ...

... rain on and off all day, and we had packed sandwiches, so we stopped in a picnic area and ate lunch in the car. I took a lot of pictures (are you surprised?!), but we're on the road now, and the signal may not be steady/strong enough to trust to the uploading process, so I will do that later.

We came back to the motorhome and had dinner after our day-long exploration, and decided to take advantage of a buy one/get one free ...

We left Crittenden Kentucky this morning at 9 AM, traveling south on I-75 and picking up I-40 in Tennessee. It was pretty much a standard travel day for us, covering about 250 miles total, with a half hour or so lunch stop around Noon time. We stopped at a very busy Tennessee Welcome Center (that's where we made our sandwiches and ate lunch) to pick up brochures so we could make good use of our one day in the Smoky Mountains ...

... Al has the Yankees game on (he’s rooting against them). We watch as A-Rod hits the two run homer to tie up the game. We switch over to the History Channel and catch the end of a show on shotguns and then it is ammo time. I never knew the minie ball was actually named after the Frenchman Minie that invented it. Ah guns and ammo all in one day. I am ready for bed. Wonder what I might dream about?

It has been many years since I've been in Cherokee and little has changed except for the Casino which is undergoing major expansion. We were nestled into a nice RV park with a brook flowing through it. Cherokee is close to many attractions and we enjoyed our stay there.

We found a spot somewhere on the border of North Carolina and Tennessee. It was so beautiful we spent a few days here and did everything.

We did some white water rafting near our site and met a friend. She was a cat the lived there and loved sleeping in the tent. ha ha ha.... We named her Nantahala, 'Nanta' for short.

It was Beautiful....

... as you move down the walkway, directly in front of you is the famous motel balcony we have all seen in the photo of the slain civil rights leader, with his aides pointing to the window where James Earl Ray fired those shots. The façade of the hotel is intact, and the museum traces the civil rights battle from slavery days through to a dramatic climax as you actually walk into room 307 where Dr. King spent his last day, left exactly as it was that day. You then move ...