Cades Cove

We drove to Townsend and on through this tunnel,up the mountain and over into Cades Cove. This use to be an old settlement in the 1800's. There is a one-way 11 mile loop around it. There are churches that are still standing that were build in that time frame. Old houses,barns and cabins.

Even though there are a lot of mountains there is still flat and rolling land. I imagine this was the farm land.

You can usually see some wildlife here. All we saw today were a few deer.

On the way back we stopped to enjoy the sites and sounds of a mountain stream as it rolled over and down the mossy rocks.

Rain

It has been raining all morning, but the cattle on the hill doesn't seem to mind the rain. Maybe they know when it rains the grass will grow faster? Just another lazy day today.

Cabin?

Every twist and turn there are roads up into the mountains with cabin rentals. There are small one and large ones. You can rent one family and up to four family or more. If several families rent one and split the cost it could be cheaper than each one taking a motel room. Before we started camping we rented these type cabins and were very satisfied. They are complete with everything you need except you have to bring your own food to cook.

Dollywood

A trip to Pigeon Forge,Tennessee isn't complete until you go to Dollywood.
We always park at Patriot Park and take the trolley. The cost is 50 cents a person and it drops you off at the entrance. You can drive your car,that will cost you $6.00 extra just to park the car. So the easy and cheap way is the trolley.

Carousel

Once inside there are shows to see and many rides for the young and old alike. One ride is the old fashion carousel with the hobby horses.

Steam Locomotive

The coal fired old time steam locomotive is a favorite ride and is always full. It goes up the valley and back for a 5 mile round trip.

Furniture

If you are looking for unusual furniture,they have it in the Smokies.
You can find it made of cedar and polished up or you can find roughly made out of logs and limbs. It all looks good.

Music Barn

If you like country music. The Gatlinburg,Pigeon Forge,Tennesse area is for you.
This place is on Lyons road in Wears Valley. They have live music every Saturday night.

Mountain River

We went to Medcalf Park today and enjoyed the mountain stream. This water is around 55* even though the temps are in the 90's. It is a good way to really cool off.

Tubing

As we travel down river into the town of Townsend the river widens and gets a little deeper. The favorite thing to do is to go tubing on the river. They have old buses that take you up river and put you in to let you float down. You can do this for $8.00 all day long.

Smokie Mountains

We are now in Wears Valley of the Smokie Mountains. We are staying in the Wonderland Acres Campground,which is a nice area.
The bottom picture are horses in a pasture located just up the road from the park.
On the top are some of the many houses the dot all of the mountains around here.

We are leaving Allatoona Lake today and heading up to Tennessee. We don't know how far we'll get because the life of a fulltimer is just taking it easy and slow. We've ejoyed our time here around the lake. There are alot of people here boating and swimming in the lake.

WalMarting

Well here we are in Tennessee. We are spending the night in the WalMart parking lot. This one is located on RT 441 south east of Knoxville. We had a very pleasant day driving and taking in the scenery.

Allatoona Lake

After several days and a good visit with Nick,Joan and the twins. We left Warner Robins,Georgia. Continuing north on I-75.

We are now at The McKinney COE Campground on Allatoona Lake for a few days here. This is a nice campground,one of several located on the lake. It is on I-75 exit 278.

Brother

We are now in Warner Robins,Ga.,visiting with my brother Nick and his wife Joan. We will be here for a few more days then we will continue slowly north.
We'll be on the road until December 1st until we settle back in New Port Richey,Florida for the winter.

Watermelon Truck

While we were out riding on the back roads today we came upon this truck loaded down with watermelons. The poor old truck was squatting.

Watermelon Capital of the world.

Yesterday they were having the watermelon festival in Cordele,Ga. So we went up to see what was going on in town. A little intertainment with the usual carnival. They had a nice crowd of people for the day. We drove thru town and got out to walk at the strip mall. We walked up to one end where the theater was,thats all it took. Nancy saw "Pirates of the Carribean" was playing so the end of our walking. She has been wanting to see this movie from the time she heard about it. We don't go to the movies often so this was a small treat and the movie was good.

Heading Out

We left out of Valdosta today going north. Here we are in a Georgia rest area stopped for lunch and then a walk around to strech our legs.
We got as far as Ashburn,Ga and will stay here for a few days.

Swamp

This looks like a swamp but,its actually Banks Lake. It is located near Valdosta,Georgia.

On trhe road again

Finally on the road again. We left New Port Richey,Florida 11:30AM friday.
Instead of coming north on I-75 I came up US route 41 to have some different scenery. It was a nice trip seeing huge horse and cattle farms. We pasted little towns with the old houses and their historic districts. I like to travel on the roads that were once the main roads before the interstates took over. Saw some old mom and pop motels that were still in operation and some that were still standing that looked like they were out of business for years. It is kind of sad to see these places that once was popular before the roads were routed around them.
We are parked in the grandsons yard for awhile,I don't have any plans made so I have no idea how long we will be here.