Fairfield By Marriott Knoxville East

... in a paw-paw thicket. The feud was on!

· A pawpaw tree produces fruit the size of your palm and can easily be grafted to produce a banana/pineapple or custard/banana flavor.

· Twice as many people visit the Smoky Mountains than the Grand Canyon. And, they’re called the Smoky’s because of the clouds that form in them and then billow out from the valleys - it looks like smoke ...

... Smokies, and that gave them their name, is due to the 85+ inches of annual precipitation that they get at the higher elevations...and because of their two unique climates, at higher and lower elevations, there are many species of living things (including several salamanders!) that are unique to the Park. There are over 1600 varieties of flowers in the park and a population of 1500+ bears,- but alas, we saw none of this, only a few leaves ...

... so once we got the motorhome in our site and parked - we chose to just stay in and watch lots of good stuff on TV ("good stuff" being defined as the Angels beating the Red Sox to win the Division Title, my favorite driver Jimmie Johnson winning the Nascar Race at California Speedway, and the not-so-good NY Yankees beating the Minnesota Twins).

Tomorrow, rain or shine...we're doing Smoky Mountains National Park!

... that they have finally developed that area and the riverfront. I had always wanted it like that when I lived there, but I must say that on a Friday Night before a home football game it is not fun to drive around there. We finally land at a Buddy’s BBQ which is fine. At this point my head is killing me and I hardly eat anything other than my fries dipped in the baked beans. We hit the Kroger ...

... the kids just love. Bicycles, tubes for floating down the river. some areas have pretty good rapids parts are slower and relaxing. The bicycle trail starts right there accross the road and runs to the other end of town (5 miles). The Tuckaleechee Caverns are amazing and only cost about $12.00 per person for an almost 2 hour tour and it is open not not cramped like most. Many horseback riding stables. The best one is 1 mile from Lodge and ...

Yesterday was a pretty relaxed day of driving, minus the extreme sticky southern heat. This stuff the horribly disgusting!!!!! We only made a few stops, one was to get our normal beer and glass, we tried to get one at a few places in Nashville but we struck out a lot. So we stopped in Knoxville and we finally got one. After that our mission was complete. We got back on the road and headed to our destination Pigeon Forge, home of ...

... One single python ate an aligator that is six-feet long. Imagine what ONE SINGLE python could do to one human. Thank you for ...

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....

... is called Windjammer. There are 3 stories. The first floor is the restaurant. The other 2 are rooms. I think there are around 8. I haven't counted. We are on the third floor in room 213. Dr. Becky and Nicole are in room 317 on second floor. Go figure. The rooms are actually pretty nice considering. Running water, electricity, TV, mini fridge, microwave, remote controlled AC... it would probably be about 15 bucks a night in a little US town.

... The orangish sand peeks through the balding hills and the city didn't seem to me to be much more than a collection of motels, fast food eateries and finally the college campus.  By looks alone, I'm really not sure why anyone would choose to move to Knoxville except for the purpose of going to college there.  I didn't get to spend more than a day or two there, so I'm not an expert on the city, but for the most part it was pretty lame. The people I met weren't lame ...