Smoky Bear Campground

This campground is the friendliest we've ever been at. The hosts, Barry and Chong O'Leary are extremely helpful. Barry came over after we got set up and made sure everything was ok. The next day we stopped in the office before we went anywhere. Chong asked what our plans were and she had us wait a minute while she printed out some information. We wanted to go to the Smoky Mountains so she got out a map and they both showed us roads and trails with some advice about the difficulty and or time required. One afternoon Barry came over with a stack of CD's. He'd heard us playing some Irish music and wondered if we'd heard those. He also told us about the Irish/ Scottish history of the area.
The campground is very nice and all the staff are very helpful and friendly.
We'll be sure to stay here again (there's lots we haven't seen yet).

Wind, Rain, tourists

Last night was extremely windy. The camper was kinda shaky. At midnight we got new neighbors- a big camper, the wind was blowing and they left about 12:30 (we think to a lower campsite). At 4:30 am the cooker blew over- Bob went out and picked up the pieces. We also lost our dishpan. (guess we'll have to use paper plates)
The rain started about 9 am.

We went into Gatlinburg to be tourists. We had driven through a few times but hadn't walked around. Parking is at a minimum (and can be rather expensive) I wanted to go to the Easter Craft Fair at the Convention Center. We found a parking lot near there, and there were places left. There is a school of Arts and Crafts and an 8 mile drive of crafters .
We saw lots of nice things, got some ideas, and made a couple purchases (limited by the fact everything had to fit in the Miata). We then walked -about 10 minutes-(didn't dare give up our parking space) in the rain to the Smoky Mountain Brewery. There were free parking places in front of the brewery. We dried out, watched the rain, had a couple drinks and a nice meal. It finally stopped raining so we walked back to the car and drove back to the campground.

It's raining again now and we're under a tornado watch until 9pm. I think the line of thunderstorms is now about gone and north of here. Rain is desperately needed but we'd just as soon skip another windy night.

More Smoky Mountains

Today we went to Cades Cove in the Smoky Mountain National Forest.
The drive there was as beautiful as yesterday's drive (but 2 lane and a little wider). I think we both got some sun/wind burn today.

The Cove is a valley that was inhabited by pioneers and has been preserved to look like it did in the 1800's. It's a one way, 11 mile drive. Today there were lots of cars with us and we were all slowed down by kids or kids and parents on bikes. (I think we're cursed- we seem to, even now, find kids on vacation - spring break here; almost everywhere we go.) With stops the drive was about 2 hours- the only wildlife we saw were some deer- too many kids running in all the rest of the fields.

We decided to stay here one more day before continuing our Spring Loop. There's lots to see and we've only done the nature/history part.

Tomorrow the Easter Craft Show starts- guess where we'll be?

Smoky Mountains part 1

Our hosts, Barry and Chong O'Leary, gave us some great information about the area.

We followed their advice and for a starter did the Roaring Fork Motor Nature Trail.
I wish I could download all my pictures. It was breath-taking- sometimes literally.
We fit around the curves in Bob's car but I wouldn't have wanted to be in any of the SUV's we saw on some of the curves. I was ok on the way up (I was hillside) but at one point on the way down Bob looked over at me and asked if I wanted to drive so I'd be safer. I really would have lost it if we'd been any closer to the side (no guard rails even). It was a fun drive with the top down and all the trees and cliffs and even some flowers.
In addition to all the beautiful scenery there are historic buildings. They've preserved some of the farms and buildings from the late 1800's early 1900's to show how people lived in the mountains. We stopped at one of the houses (10 people in 2 rooms). The lady in the car we parked next to asked Bob if she could ask him a question- "Is that (tow stuff on the front of the car) so you can hook up a plow? I know you do things differently up there in New York."
Bob was very polite and explained no it was to tow the car behind our RV and besides his car can't be driven in the winter at home. (The license plate was Alabama)
Tomorrow we're going to do the drive to Cades Cove.
Now I think we'll do a little St. Patrick's Day celebrating :)

There's daffodils!!

Bob is a much happier camper when he only drives 3-5 hours. Everything seems so much easier and quicker to set up when it all works on the first try.

We’re in Gatlinburg ,TN at the Smoky Bear Campground. We followed the directions from the website and email. The drive in Pennsylvania was practice for Rt,321 – it was a little better – no hills with stop signs at the bottom. After our short exploring in Bob’s car we understood why the directions to the campground took Rt. 321 curvy as it is.

Driving around Hilton Head was practice for driving around Gatlinburg (and we haven’t even tried Pigeon Forge). Tomorrow we’ll try parking and walking.

We watched the sunset and can see mountains from the camper. I like it here.

Getting Closer to Spring

West Virginia is a beautiful state to drive through.
We also drove through two tunnels. I don't know which I disliked more the tunnels or the high bridges over the river a million miles down with little tiny guard rails protecting us from falling.
We got here (Fort Criswell, VA) safely.
All the things that didn't work yesterday are fine today.
There aren't any flowers yet but the only snow we saw was at a ski slope on the side of the mountain.
Tomorrow we'll get closer to spring.

Looking For Spring

Looking For Spring
part 1

Let’s start with the good stuff:

We arrived Thursday afternoon and Anna and Dave moved vehicles and made room for us to park. We fit in the back of the parking lot even with Bob’s car attached.
We played lots with our granddaughter and had a very enjoyable afternoon and evening. Friday morning we made coffee in the RV and waved to the drivers going to work. Dave, Anna and Lucy brought breakfast out and Kim (Dave’s cousin) came in for some coffee. Later we joined more of the family for breakfast at ‘the diner’. Then everyone got out of our way and we took off.

We followed NYS 90 to the western edge of NY state (I’d never been there- Lake Erie looked very frozen). But I was surprised at all the vineyards. Soon after we took 79 South through PA and had our shortest trip ever through Pennsylvania. About Pittsburg we finally ran out of snow. We got about half way through W.V. before stopping for the night.

The real story- I planned very carefully and found three campgrounds that were (supposed to be) opened year round- two in PA and one in Morgantown, WV. The first we weren’t ready for and it really didn’t look open. The campground in Mt Morris PA was the one planned on (and had directions for). Both AAA and the GPS agreed on which way to go- it was not a road designed for a camper towing a car. The stop sign at the bottom of the hill and sharp left turn that had something major scraping the road was extremely frustrating and it got worse-when we got to the address for the campground- it wasn’t a campground. No choice but to continue on- eventually we did get to what looked like the campground (it was labeled a trailer park with a small sign for camping)– but it didn’t look open (did I say I called to be sure they had room for us and got a machine?). So now we’re at my last option- I called and same story another machine. So at this point we’re frantically looking through the camping books and while they were lots of campgrounds in northern WV, none of them open until mid April at the earliest. So we got back on 79 headed for choice number 3- but there was a welcome center-we figured we’d get lots of information- It was closed- we could get a map but none of the pamphlets that listed all the campgrounds etc. The Trailer Life (big) book had a campground that was near the highway, open all year- sounded great, it was after my planned 1st tourist stop but …, and they even answered the phone and were open. So we’re at Flatwoods, Sutton, WV. (Did I mention the rain and fog?- that added to the drive). As we got to the campground we hit one more bump and sharp turn and the cupboard opened and the jars of sauce fell out and smashed. So Bob cleaned while I went into the hotel to register for the campground. But the fun wasn’t done yet- the sites not level so we can’t open the slides. Apparently all the bumps dislodged something and we only had power on one side of the camper. So Bob went back out in the rain and eventually (several trips in and out and double checking the manual) he got things working right again.
I can’t wait to see what’s next. I think tomorrow will be a short drive.