Up and Over

The 1st of May, we climbed up and over the Appalachian Mountains on I-40 from Asheville, North Carolina and found ourselves in Tennessee.  The interstate had just reopened a few days prior; it had been shut down since October 25th of last year because a major rock slide had so damaged the roadway.  We were lucky that our schedule melded so well with that of the highway department, or we'd have had quite a detour.
   

Denny had been in this area about 16 years ago.  He said that this rest stop really depicted the way he'd remembered Pigeon Forge and Gatlinburg... folksy and rural with a slow, easy pace about it (more on that later).  We turned south about 20 miles shy of Knoxville to reach our destination:  Sevierville, the hometown of Dolly Parton.  After setting up camp, we drove into town and found Dolly on the grounds of the County Courthouse.

Oh, now, did you think we really saw Dolly in person?  Well, we didn't that day, but we may this coming Friday; she'll be in town for her annual homecoming parade.  She'll also be celebrating the 25th anniversary of the opening of Dollywood, her theme park in neighboring Pigeon Forge.  Hometown girl makes good, I guess!  We commemorated our visit to her fair city by watching "The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas" the first night we were here.  It's a good movie to see, if you haven't already; and a good one to see again, if you have!

We took a drive down into Pigeon Forge and Gatlinburg; you know, to soak in that laid back, folksy atmosphere of small town life in the Great Smoky Mountains that Dennis had remembered.  We saw the Old Mill that he'd seen out in the country off by its lonesome...

...the only trouble is, it isn't off by its lonesome anymore.  This was the view across the street:
 

Pigeon Forge has gone commercial!! 

In the place shown below, you will find lazer tag, old-time picture takin', camel rides and weddings being performed - why, it has everything you need in one handy location!

Do you notice the Great Smokies behind all the glitz below?

Poor Denny's face just fell when he saw this place!  I was surprised by the number of pancake restaurants  and 'dinner-theater' establishments.  And I swear there were at least 5 putt-putt golf parks within a 6-mile stretch.  Well, that's 'progress,' I reckon!

This is called 'Wonderworks' - it has over 120 interactive adventures...and the funniest dinner show in town (or so they say)!  I thought the exterior was the coolest thing about it.  = /

And then the rains came to Tennessee.  Nashville (about 200 miles from Sevierville) received 13 inches of rain over the weekend and the Cumberland River flooded the city.  The Little Pigeon River flows through our campground backyard.  We didn't receive much rain, but we could see a change in our river on Monday and Tuesday.  Here is a shot of our view before the rain:

These are shots of a little inlet just below the bench...

one at the flooding peak and the other just after it receded:

We were looking forward to seeing the Nashville area before heading north into western Kentucky next week.  However, after learning that the Grand Ole Opry and the Country Music Hall of Fame have been flooded and are closed for what may be months, we've regretfully changed our plans. 

(Sorry, Nancy & Phil, there'll be no pictures of Murfreesboro from us this time around!) 

Our prayers go out to all the folks in western Mississippi, Tennessee and Kentucky that lost loved ones in the flooding and tornados over the weekend. 

Well, May is here and the thermometer is beginning to creep upward.  May you revel in this year's spring-to-summer transition.  Time does march on; join in the parade!  

Love and peace,

Lori & Denny