Friday, 16 June to Gatlinburg, TN

Up at 7am as we want to get on the road early today, we have a three hour drive not including trying to get some propane, and we are paying a premium for two nights at Twin Creek RV Resort ($70/night) so we want to spend as much time as we can enjoying that.  The last time we were in this area we drove through Gatlinburg and I made myself a promise that if we came this way again I would like to stay here.  It’s beautiful, like a US version of our Queenstown, surrounded by hills, trees and sky lifts etc.  There is a trolley to take us into town and Gatlinburg is supposed to be a foodies paradise so will def check that out tonight. 

So, the first propane hunt was a wild goose chase, nobody home, but the second works out fine, went to Loves in the end.  Diesel is cheap ($2.189/gallon) around these parts too so we fill up enroute.  The drive was great, even if the road through the Smoky Mountains was a little narrow for my liking, but we didn’t want to go I 45 or the same way we went last time.

Smoky Mountains in the distance

Lovely smooth, narrow road with blue wild flowers alongside

We drove through Pigeon Forge and remembered all the cool stuff and shows we saw last time. Even recognised where we bought Kim's guitar : )

Dolly's Smoky Mountain Adventure, Pigeon Forge

The road between Pigeon Forge and Gatlinburg is real pretty, two lanes each way with a stream separating the two.  It's only about 10 miles, or less.

Stream between the two carriageways

We found Twin Creek RV Resort easily and checked in, we are in site 13 right beside the babbling brook.  The website says they have a family of otters living in the creek so we might be lucky enough to see them.  They also say they often see a mama bear who has twins or triplets every year so will keep an eye out for them too - wouldn't that be awesome!

Kim gets a txt from Tim Keppler who ran the Safari Rally in Baraboo, Wisconsin in 2015.  That was the rally we went to in a rental car as the coach was in having repairs.  Stan didn’t even see our coach then, but he obviously knew we had a Cheetah and he must have recognised the NZ decal on the back as he followed us into town, so he txted to see if it was u - small world huh!  They are staying about 15 miles away in Sevierville, so we will see if we can catch up tomorrow.

We crossed a time zone sometime this morning so it is later than we think by one hour!

After setting up and getting something to eat we go out to the roadside where the trolley stop is, literally right outside camp.  A yellow (Arts and Crafts Route) trolley comes along within 10 minutes so we take that one as it will take us around parts we would not otherwise see.  It takes about an hour to get around the circuit and end up back in town.  We disembark outside the Aquarium/Visitors Centre and wander along the main street seeing the sights.  

Pretty town. flower baskets everywhere

The Needle

Stream runs right through the middle of town

Old Smoky Holler, live music

One of the villages, featuring Gatlinburg Goal

I love this place, it is humming and there is so much to see and do. A necessary stop off at Ben and Jerry’s for an icecream (probably won’t do it again tomorrow as it was nearly $14 for two waffle cones, but I guess they were double scoops).

There seems to be rather a lot of moonshine tasting but we don't partake, smells gross! There are a few wineries too offering tastings, might try and find one that isn't fruit wine to try tomorrow.

We were recommended Calhoun's - Best Ribs in America, for dinner which good advice we took - they also served a pretty nice Margarita!  

Best Ribs in America!

There was street entertainment tonight, a few groups fiddle playing and busking, plus a dude on a penny farthing!  I took hundreds of photos today, flattened the battery in my phone and the camera!

We walk back along the main street to Trolley Central and wait about 30 minutes for a blue trolley to take us back to camp. The trolleys are $0.50 each per trip or you can get a multi trip card for $2 each.  Don't need to though, tomorrow they have free trolleys, our lucky day.  We had a lovely day and felt like we were in Paradise.  Oh, and it was a nice temperature, about 25C, not too hot to walk around town and there are no bitey insects : )  Best thing is we get to do it all again tomorrow, plus the Farmers Market and the Sky Lift : ) Going to bed now, it's late. Sweet dreams!