Arrival Friday, July 17
279 Miles | 5 Hours
We added this stop to our tour on the advice of our Jackson, Michigan, chiropractor Dr. Brian, who describes the Smoky Mountains as his favorite place on earth. He he has gone there every year for the last 12 years. Pretty hard not to take that kind of an endorsement.
He had recommended driving the Great Smoky Mountain parkway and checking out Cades Cove. Along the route we stop in Lexington, which is a mixture of grand horse farms and a regular big city in its mix of affluent suburbs and poorer neighborhoods, with some industry and a major university thrown in for good measure.
A definite horse theme pervades—both the airport and the road it’s on are named after a racehorse (Man-o-War). We would have liked to stay longer to check out the Horse Museum and other sites we have heard about but we are on a pretty tight return trip timeline and stay on task to get the foam replacement and the upholstery recleaned.
The shop where we get the foam is a serious crafts and fabric store and in addition to the foam Mari and Sibri pick up a few extra custom masks to add to their collection. Its $200 for the foam, but the lady informs us we can wash our upholstery with borax, which will help recapture some of that cost, and more importantly will save is from having to wait days for a dry cleaner.
Mari is on constant calls and Webex meetings for the afternoon so we stay in town where there’s good coverage while Datta searches everywhere for borax. We discover the town is sold out of the stuff, after checking the shelves of the nearby Walmart plus five other drug and grocery stores. After an hour and a half of driving through busy city streets and parking lots with a trailer on the bumper through intermittent rain and Mari still on calls, Datta makes the executive decision to hit the fabric with a combination of an enzymatic pet stain and odor remover, plus an industrial spray cleaner caked Krud Kutter that he finds at Home Depot after giving up on finding borax anywhere in this town.
With three hours of driving still ahead of us, we elect to skip stopping at a laundromat to wash the upholstery and instead let the mixture of chemicals sink into the spots we have sprayed it back in the trailer and start to head towards our next destination. Mari has been too busy to call ahead but she scrambles through the various camping options and manages to score us a spot for one night at the Pigeon Forge/Gatlinburg KOA last minute—on a Friday night, in one of the most popular tourist destinations in the Eastern United States, this side of the range.
As we approach Pigeon Point, we drive right by Dollywood, which it turns out is less than two miles away from our campground and add that to our list of possible places to see even though we’re only planning to stay two nights and we only have 1 confirmed.
The KOA is an absolute zoo, with hundreds of spots crammed into a relatively small area. We pull onto the property properly stunned by the hustle and bustle with kids and grownups floating around, minimal social distancing in the elaborate pool and lazy river, and all ages zooming around on foot, on bikes, scooters and rented golf carts.
In spite of our last-minute booking, we score a nice little spot (space 63) with some space around it so Datta is inspired to set up the awning and lights. A friendly Polish couple in the campsite behind us gush over the airstream and offer us to come over for beers, but we never get around to it as nightfall has come and Datta is a full day behind on emails, we also note that they’re hanging a Trump flag next to their flag of Poland, which is an interesting odd mix to us.
Mari and Sibri dash off under the light of the fireworks show from nearby Dollywood to watch Wreck It Ralph outdoors on the big screen, while Datta settles down out under the awning to catch up on his work for the day with a kombucha in hand. It’s nice to be back at a full-service campground with something for everyone.
In the morning we double check and still aren’t able to stay at that site, but the staff are able to shuffle us to another site in the park which costs a little more but means we don’t have to pull to another campground. After checking it out we notice it’s an in-line pull through surrounded by giant RVs so we ask about any other options and the staff give us a pick of 4 smaller back-in sites on the perimeter. We end up getting a nice spot (space 119) looking out over the open fields of a pleasant city park with a walking track that has a friendly flow of joggers and dog walkers, ah, it's even better and a lower rate, too.
We set up the awning and lights again, adding clothes lines and decide to extend our stay to a total of 3 nights, which will give us more time to hit the growing list of things we want to explore, including the campground and all its activities—Sibri would be happy staying at the KOA all day, in fact. While we float around the lazy river (who needs Dollywood’s water park?) Datta pops the upholstery in the camp’s heavy duty washer. Mari is worried that the fabric has shrunk because D put it on a deep cleaning cycle and we are disappointed to see the dark stains still visible when we pull it out, but to our relief once it has dried the stains fade away and the cover fits around the new pad even though it’s noticeably thicker than the old one (and firmer) and we finally have a functioning sleeper couch again. Best of all, the musty smell is gone!
In the afternoon we take off toward the Smoky Mountains, driving through Gatlinburg along the way, which is surprisingly touristy at the mouth of such a scenic national park. In fact, with all the museums, large resorts and tourist attractions it’s like a strong dose of Times Square, Fisherman’s Wharf and Cancun have been somehow doused right into the Smoky Mountains. The sidewalks are packed with tourists and masks are almost non-existent as we drive by the mirror maze, mini golf, Ripley's, a space needle, two different gondolas and a host of other attractions on our way through.
In complete contrast, during the rest of the drive to Cades Cove are some the most scenic natural beauty we have seen on our trip, bearing similarity to the woodlands of Big Sur back home, with the road winding along by the river, through a stone tunnel. We explore another campground along the way and also check out the KOA at Cades Cove which has some beautiful sites along the river as a steady flow of inner tubers float by, but we decide we are happy at our campsite for this time around.
At Cades Cove we park at the entrance of the 11-mile scenic loop and get down the bikes. The loop is a paved road that takes you through a quiet valley of 17 or so old farmsteads that were acquired by the park service to create a scenic nature preserve. In these original homesteads, chapels and graveyards you can almost feel the energy of those who spent their lives here.
It’s closed to vehicle traffic on Wednesdays but today there’s a slow procession of bumper to bumper traffic making the rounds, stopping at the series of sights that include old cabins and several churches that once were inhabited and frequented by the occupants of this valley. We are the only visitors on bikes, and with Sibri on the third wheel behind Datta, we weave between the cars and feel like celebrities as they cheer us on our way, even passing them several times. We joke wondering why all these people came out to watch us cycle through.
In addition to the historic buildings we see wild turkeys and deer up close, and a pair of black bears in the distance before dusk falls. We pack into the car, worn out but happy to have been able to find such a memory to experience at the end our day of exploring.
The next day we decide to check out Dollywood, and after Datta gets a flat on his bike, we get the car pony up the $30 for preferred parking to save precious time, hitting the park with 5 hours before closing. Dollywood is an unexpected pleasure: Disney-level decor with a distinctive regional flair and a steady soundtrack of Grammy-award winning bluegrass and Americana. The service is on point with southern hospitality, there are an unexpected number of quality shops featuring traditional arts and crafts, and the rides are some of the best we’ve ever experienced.
The park is nearly deserted, the potter's whose wares we purchase to ship home are feeling a bit desperate and dejected, saying that normally this time of year there would be 15,000 visitors, but today there are barely 3,000 across the many acres. We fill every minute racing from ride to ride after the guy at the measuring stall fudges a little to give Sibri her first ever 48” wrist band.
We start off with a long wait for the river rafting attraction which is understandably popular in 92 degree heat, high humidity, and its placement at the front of the park. Then Sibri decides she wants to try the lightning rod which is billed as the fastest wooden roller coaster in the world. We don’t object and Incredibly Sibri doesn’t chicken out. Afterward tells us her cheeks were pressed back too tight for her to scream. After that roller coaster, she can pretty much go on anything and not be scared so we go on a slew of other roller coasters before getting cut short by a thunderstorm warning. All-in-all a very worthwhile stop, with the possible exception of the food which has limited vegetarian options, but we didn’t go there for the food.
Departure Monday, July 20
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