Oct 25th to 28th - TN to South Carolina

Oct 25th - Sat - Pigeon Forge, TN
Took me a while to catch up on 5 days in my blog - sorry Bob & Bonnie, my most faithful readers!
Around noon we took off with Billy & Lauri to check out “the largest flea market in the region”. I do not believe that the ad is an exaggeration! This place is big - a huge building surrounded by permanent small buildings and tent-type structures. We enjoyed perfect, partly cloudy weather as we wandered around and picked up a few items.
The traffic was still very congested so we figured we better go back to the rigs for a beer and to change clothes before going out tonight rather than misjudging how long it would take us and be late. We went to the Dixie Stampede which is a Dolly Parton dinner and show production. It is different from any other dinner & show that you may have attended as it takes place in an arena. I will start at the beginning and this entry will be long as no photography was allowed.
First was a 45 minute “pre show”. On the way into this show, photographs were taken which were for sale at the dinner. A group of 4 musicians on an elevated stage were absolutely wonderful - a very energetic, unique bass player, an award-winning yodeler (woman) who played guitar and sang, a multiple champion banjo player and another guy who played the fiddle, guitar and banjo. Then into the arena with 5 tiered rows of seating with long tables in front. Each seating section held a dozen people.
The show began before the food was served and it is impossible to describe it all here. Just let me say that it included a performer flying on a cable from the ceiling, long-horn steers, horseback riders, horse drawn wagons of several sizes, trick riders, ostrich races, fog machines, white pigeons, pig races, a chuck wagon race, a stage with “southern belles” in lighted dresses that descended from the ceiling, audience participation contests, foot and mounted “soldiers”, a couple of comedy acts and formation horseback riding. Over all the events was a North vs. South competition. The audience was divided into North and South and encouraged to cheer for their side.
Now for dinner, keeping in mind that about 800 people are being served at once. After the soup & biscuit course, the servers came by with large trays of one food and placed each item on your plate - a small, whole roasted chicken, baked potato quarter, corn on the cob and a slice of pork roast. The entire dinner was eaten without utensils which was interesting. Then warm apple turnovers & coffee for dessert which we all needed. Cheering and clapping for the sides diminished as the food was served so they came up with a way to make noise. When the master of ceremonies said “Stampede”, everyone stamped their feet on the floor. The exit was quite slow as they funneled everyone through the gift shop! There was another show right after us and the servers had the place nearly cleaned and reset by the time we got out.

Oct 26th - Sun - Pigeon Forge
Another lovely, sunny day. Got up to 74 degrees.
Terry & I went to the Great Smoky Mountains National Park today. This took us through Gatlinburg which is a fun-looking town. Parking seems to be behind the stores and in parkades which leaves the narrow, only, main road through town packed with shops & restaurants. A stream runs through the town as well which adds to its charm.
The drive in the park was beautiful. Lots of traffic but there is a divided road with 2 lanes in each direction. We drove to Clingman Dome where the road ends at a ½ mile paved, STEEP trail to an viewing platform. The elevation is about 6600 feet so we gave new meaning to the phrase “sucking air”! The platform is on a huge concrete column which is accessed by a curving ramp - more climbing! You end up above the trees for a 360 degree view which includes Pigeon Forge 15 miles away. The walk down was much more enjoyable.
Stopped for groceries on the way back, had a sandwich and headed out to another flea market. Lauri had invited us for dinner and later we all went to a show called Country Tonite. Another very enjoyable performance of singing, dancing and a little comedy. An incredible harmonica player was showcased in Amazing Grace and Orange Blossom Special where he played the part normally performed by a violin.

Oct 27th - Mon - to Cherokee, North Carolina
After Billy & Lauri got their oil changed in Nashville, their “check engine” light came on during the drive to Pigeon Forge. A Chev dealer said no to worry if it wasn’t blinking and give it a chance to go out. They decided to go to Camping World in North Carolina to get it checked out and we would follow them in case they had problems. Just after we got into NC, we got a phone call from them saying the light went out and everything was working fine. So we stopped at a visitor center to decide where to go and picked a Harrah’s casino in Cherokee, NC. This meant driving around the east end of Great Smoky Mtn National Park which was OK as we would not have wanted to drive the RVs through the windy roads in the park. The casino allows an overnight stay so we parked, grabbed a bite to eat and went in to see how much damage we could do to the casino coffers.
Shortly after 5, Terry & I decided to call it quits and went back to find Billy & Lauri already in their rig. We went to their place and grumbled about our losses over a couple of drinks before returning to our rig to heat up some leftovers for dinner. It was pretty cold but we did not want to run the batteries down by running the furnace so we went to bed early. I read a line in my book about someone returning a call to their sister which reminded me that I had not called Marg so I called her and had a nice chat.

Oct 28th - Tues - to St. George, South Carolina
Woke up to see snow on the top of the truck. We were going to leave about 9 but we were ready sooner so headed out in light snow shortly after 8 - going east & south heading for South Carolina and hopefully some nicer weather. It snowed on & off for about a hour - sometimes quite a bit with maybe 4 inches accumulation on the side of the road. Then the sun came out and the drive became much nicer.
I have been intrigued by a large vine, like a big-leaved ivy, growing all over trees, power poles and rocks. I’m not sure what is - help, Georgia or Bonnie! Some areas are totally covered for up to a couple of hundred yards. DOT in SC has planted a lot of perennial flowers in large beds along highways and they are still blooming - very nice. We are in the southeast quadrant of the state and there are now a lot of pine trees along the highways.
We are staying at the Jolly Acres RV park (CCUSA) just out of St. George. Billy & Lauri pulled in quite a bit after us. Turns out Billy is not feeling well and they had to stop several times. Then their GPS sent them on a dirt road and they had to unhook their car so they could turn around. They have a much newer Garmin than we do and ours sent us right to the RV park - darned gadgets!
It is supposed to get down to freezing tonight in most of the local area. It is funny to see the “oh my gosh” coverage on TV even though it does freeze here every winter.