“Home is behind us. The World is ahead.” – sticker on the back of a neighbor's RV
We’ve been on the road a little more than a week, but it already feels like ages! We’ve packed a lot in, including two national parks and two big cities. Tonight we have just returned from a long chat with Karen and Steve, native Chicagoans who have been full-timing since November. They showed us around their RV (a Newmar New Aire) and shared a lot about their experience on the road. They even have a YouTube channel, Home Wherever We Roam. We have met lots of friendly RV-ers this week.
Monday & Tuesday (4/29-30): Dandridge & Great Smoky Mountains National Park
The week began with a full day’s drive from Staunton, VA to Dandridge, TN. It was a bit grueling thanks to road construction and our trailer tire pressure monitors malfunctioning. Somewhere along the route we stopped into a Gander Outdoors store and bought a new system, which Dave installed in the parking lot.
That evening we were rewarded with a beautiful campsite (site 26) at the Anchor Down RV Resort (full hookups, $69 a night). What we had intended as a 20-minute stroll after dinner turned into more than an hour, as we encountered a number of friendly and voluble people on our walk. “Where are you folks from?” is the standard greeting. We met three couples from The Gardens, an RV community in Crossville, TN. We were invited into one couple’s Newmar Dutch Star (swanky!) and another couple invited us to visit them at their home at The Gardens. We also learned along the way that Anchor Down is apparently in Trailer Life’s Top 10 RV Resorts list, so the fact that we were able to get a gorgeous spot up on the hill by calling the same day was somewhat miraculous. After our walk we collapsed into our zero gravity chairs with ice-cold cans of seltzer (yes, we do party hard) and enjoyed the view.
On Tuesday morning we drove 45 minutes to Great Smoky Mountains National Park, running the gauntlet of tacky tourist towns Pigeon Forge and Gatlinburg. The ranger at the Sugarlands Vistors Center told us that more than 11 million people visit the park every year. Luckily we visited early enough in the season that we didn’t have to fight crowds anywhere. We only had time to take one of the two main roads into the park, so we chose the one that goes over the top of the mountains to Clingmans Dome, the highest point in the Smokies at 6,643 feet. There is a half-mile very steep walk (Dave’s iPhone registered 27 flights of stairs) up to the Clingmans Dome tower, and the views are spectacular, as you can see. Unfortunately, there are also a fair number of dead trees, the result of air pollution.
Apparently the portion of the Appalachian Trail that goes through the Smokies is the most challenging of the whole AT. We walked a little piece of the trail so we could say we did (but the piece we walked was easy, just the way I like it). While in the park we also visited Mingus Mill, a working grist mill that has been in continuous use since the late 1800s.
We tried to leave the park via Cherokee, NC, but the traffic was so snarled that we turned around and went back the way we had come. This took us back through Gatlinburg and Pigeon Forge. Here are just a few of the businesses you can see on the main drag of Pigeon Forge: Quaker Steak & Lube, Rebel Dish Barn, Sexy Stuf, the Hatfield & McCoy Dinner Theater, and Dolly Parton’s Stampede Dinner Attraction. There are also giant replicas of the Titanic, the White House (upside down—symbolic?), King Kong climbing the Empire State Building, and other crazy buildings. You can also rent machine guns at Bud’s or visit the world’s largest knife store. If you want.
By the way, did you know that a low spot between two mountains in a range is called a gap in the south, a notch in the northeast, and a pass in the west? I didn’t. I learned this tidbit in one of the little tourist papers I picked up. Just thought you should know. You’re welcome.
Wednesday (5/1) – The Gardens, Crossville
Since we had met several couples from The Gardens and it was on the way to Nashville, we decided we would stop in and get a tour of the place. We met Lois & Bob, realtors from Hagerstown, MD who have been living at The Gardens for four years. They gave us an information packet, took us on a tour of the community (about 200 homes with RV garages, along with beautiful ponds and green spaces), and took us into a few homes that were being built. The RV garages are 80 feet long!
Lois & Bob invited us to spend the night on “Homeless Hill,” where people checking out the community or those who are having homes built can stay for free. We weren’t planning on staying, but we decided to take them up on it. We also used their laundry facilities (also free!).
Everyone we met at The Gardens and the surrounding area was super friendly. Lois & Bob invited us to join them for dinner out, and another resident there invited us to have lunch with them when they saw that a storm was brewing as we were leaving. We didn't take either of them up on it, but we appreciated the offers.
There are a few downsides to The Gardens, though. The first—and biggest—is air pollution. There is a ghastly smell that comes wafting through the community when the wind is just right, and I think it may be from a nearby mine. And I think we're not quite ready to live in such a homogeneous community. Plus the town of Crossville itself seems to be struggling. But it was fun to look around!
Thursday (5/2) – Nashville
The fact that we hadn’t been reserving campsites ahead of time had had been working out fine for us up to this point, but we could only find a site for one night when we hit Nashville. It was at a U.S. Army Corps of Engineers campground on J. Percy Priest Lake called Seven Points. It was $22 per night, electric & water only, which meant we had to dump our tanks on the way out (no big deal).
That night we went to the Grand Ole Opry. What a hoot! The show was called Opry Country Classics, and featured Larry Gatlin as the host. It was his 71st birthday, and he and his brothers still have their gorgeous harmonies in good working order. They practically blew off the roof with the Star-Spangled Banner.
It was a great night for people watching. I was surprised that everyone had to go through a metal detector to get in, but that gave us lots of time to observe our fellow attendees. There were wiry old country boys in their cowboy hats and boots, retirees in their practical white sneakers and capris, hippies in full-out tie-dye and ratty hair, and on and on. Every type of person loves the Opry, evidently!
For me, the highlight of the evening was Marty Stuart and his band, who looked like they had stepped straight out of the 1980s. Marty himself was resplendent in all black and big silver hair, but his band wore periwinkle polyester suits with a floral pattern in pastel rhinestones, black shirts with rhinestone bolos, and white boots. Unironically. What they lacked in cool they made up for in sound, though—they were terrific!
It was a glitzy, kitschy, big-haired evening, and I wouldn’t have had it any other way. Nor would the hundreds of other people who attended that night.
Afterward we drove through “the District,” which looked and sounded very much like the French Quarter of New Orleans on any night of the week. There was music coming out of every door and window. It’s a happening place!
Friday & Saturday (5/3 & 4) – Memphis
We were unaware that May is a big month for music festivals in Memphis, so we ended up camping at our very first Yogi Bear’s Jellystone Park in Horn Lake, Mississippi (full hookups, $69 per night), which was about half an hour away. We got the last site in the park, 140, which backed up to a chain link fence and the highway beyond. It was noisy, but we didn’t plan on spending much time there anyway.
Saturday morning we visited the National Civil Rights Museum, which is attached to the Lorraine Motel where Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. was killed. They incorporate the motel room into the exhibit at the end, but what I thought they did so well was to show how many people besides King were leaders in this movement. We also drove by Graceland, but we didn't have time to visit. Next time!
That night we had dinner with friends from Unity of Fairfax who had moved to Memphis. We met Forest and Laura in Overton Square, which is a bustling area in midtown, and had dinner at an Indian restaurant. Afterward Forest pointed out an enormous wind chime, which is apparently the largest in the world. Who knew?
Sunday & Monday (5/5 & 6) – Hot Springs National Park, AR
Because we are on a quest to see national parks, we decided to make a slight detour to see Hot Springs National Park, which is southwest of Little Rock. We drove straight to Gulpha Gorge Campground, which is in the park, and were able to find a beautiful tree-lined spot (site 13) with full hookups for $30 per night. We were intending to stay only one night, but it’s so peaceful and beautiful here that we stayed an extra night.
On Sunday we did a tour of the Fordyce Bathhouse, which doubles as the park’s visitor's center. The Fordyce operated as a bathhouse from 1915 to 1962, and there are 23 restored rooms that show what the spa was like in its heyday. There is a whole row of bathhouses (called Bathhouse Row), although only two offer baths now. We decided to take a private bath for $49 at the Quapaw Bathhouse next door. It wasn’t as beautiful as my favorite spa in Capon Springs, WV, but I did like the ice-cold peppermint-scented face towels at the end.
Fun fact: Hot Springs is the only national park that incorporates a town.
Onward to Texas!