Gatlinburg Town Square

... Once they left peace returned and we made our plan for the next couple of days so that we will be able to see Nancy's cousin, Carol. She and her husband live north of Memphis, which is still 6-8 hours away, and as it happens they are leaving Sunday afternoon to come to Gatlinburg. Our hope is to meet somewhere in between for a few hours. So, we decide to move west toward Nashville.

The first ...

... This street is about 5 miles long.

· Ad – “If you’re having ejectile dysfunction, visit the best fireworks store in the valley.......”

· A round bale shaped in the form of a gigantic turkey – very colorful and looked like the real thing. The wings and tail look like venetian blinds cut & colored to look like feathers.

· Gate entrances made from a ...

Update from Tuesday - the rain stopped during the night and we didn't float away. Wednesday was sunny and 70. We took the trolley tour of downtown Asheville. More on that tomorrow.

Today we took the Great Smoky Mountains Railroad ride. Weather was warm (70) and sunny and colors were at their peak. The pictures tell it all.

Train ride tips:
1. Take the PM ride. At least this time of year the fog is ...

... TN. Quite the mountainy town with cabin themed everything, Dixie Country, Dollywood, Graceland. Massive everything! Pancake houses galore (southern stylee).

We were all rather tired and hungry by this point and stopped to have dinner. Sumner made pasta for us and we sat down at our little Lola table to have a cute little dinner. We commemorated with a picture, chilled out a bit, scoped some things on the internet, and made back out to the open road. Now we're headed to Memphis...ish.

... to do that another day! ) From the movie (and the website), we learned, to our surprise, that this is the most visited National Park (although we question how they know that, as this is the only one we've ever been to that does not have an entry gate or an entry fee!) With the highway running through the park, I guess they figure every car that comes down 441 South is a "visitor to the park"! The smoky-looking fog that always hangs over ...

... 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 ...

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....

... with rooms. The bathroom walls were moldy from the peeled wallpaper and the name of the hotel "Microtel" was very fitting for the room size. But - it was a room with heat and internet and did the job. Gatlinburg is an, uhhhhh, interesting town. A faux Alpine village with numerous taffy shops, outlet malls, not 1 but 2 Ripley's Believe It Or Nots, a replica Space Needle, and a couple ski lifts/gondolas. We found a pub nearby - named "Hogs and ...