In the NW corner of the Smoky Mountains National Park there is a beautiful valley known as Cades Cove that was settled early on in the history of the USA. A lot of the original homesites have been preserved by the National Park Service. We took a beautiful 2 hour tour by car; visited, for example the original homestead of Elijah Oliver. Great pictures by Colin, sepia (the photo above) makes it look authentic, don’t you think? Pictured below in the slideshow is also a wedding party. We didn’t know them but we thought it was fun to include a Tennessee style wedding!

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An Ancient User of Bagpipe Bellows

Every few days, we have the task of finding a new ‘parking spot’. So far we’ve stayed in a variety of different types of campsites. Sometimes they are exquisite. Sometimes, we feel like sardines. We are fortunate that we can survive without electricity / water / sewer hookups for several days so this gives us access to more remote and peaceful sites. It’s only when we are near cities that we have to settle for the KOA lifestyle where neighbors are a foot or two away. Otherwise, we’ve had some beautiful settings and end up paying a good deal less for the more beautiful locations. One evening Colin created a great fire for us, we had dinner on a camp grill, veggie hot dogs and beans, followed by S’Mores. Colin was determined to have a fire and I couldn’t have a fire without marshmallows. The cost for not planning ahead? $21.58 for the most expensive S’Mores ever. But we enjoyed it greatly!

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We were steered by a local to visit the Cedar Apple Barn in Cosby,TN. All fruit and vegetables are  grown on the hillside overlooking the Smoky Mountain foothills.

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Most of you know how zealous I am about animals of all kinds. But my love of dogs goes so deep, I cannot pass one up and not say hello. Whether it’s on a street, a park, a trail, or in the neighborhood, I just have to stop. I often have doggie treats with me and always ask permission of the human if it’s okay to give the treat. I’ve never had one rejected. Now that we’re traveling, I’m meeting a lot more dogs. It’s a great way to meet people too. The dogs are part of my heart but getting to know their humans is more than a wonderful bonus.

Maybe it’s the fur. Colin often says that he would get more attention from me if he had fur! “Just equal treatment would be good.” Anyway, I started taking pictures of all dogs that I said hello to on this trip to the Smokies, but finally gave up. I decided that a ton of dog pictures was not how I wanted to remember our travels to the mountains. But stopping to say hello, continues.

We’ve taken to traveling off the beaten path more and more and are always having our GPS give us alternate (slower but more interesting) routes. Here are a few places we stumbled on when traveling South.

09-16 Lexington, VA
The picture of the Constitution sign is for Ebby Malmgren. We have had many discussions about art, politics and our worlds.

09-18 Jonesborough, TN
Into another interesting town and we found all the streets were blocked off. This happens every Friday night in this town during the Summer for an outdoor concert. The folks gather at around 6pm and listen to local talent. Most of the population was older than us.

09-19 Greeneville, TN
We hadn’t planned it. We were driving past a little town and decided to walk around a bit when we spotted a British Vintage Sports Car Show. Colin would have died for one of these Jaguar E-Types when he was at college in the 60s.

09-25 Smoky Mountain National Park, Townsend, TN
We were looking for local music and found this fair in Townsend offering up a bluegrass band and clogging dancers. Some of the music was pretty horrible, but some excellent! It reminded us of the joke of the very bad violin player who said one of the reasons he started a band was because then he didn’t have to audition. Everyone in the band was so much better than the violin player that it had to be true. Lots of cloggers too of all ages. What a hoot!

10-14 Bluegrass Music Center of the Blue Ridge Parkway, and Floyd
We were looking for local bluegrass music when we came read about the Bluegrass Center. We had 2 days of music, got our fill of local color and went to Floyd for a little diversion. Funny town and lots of music! (But you have to be there on the right day of the week, or nothing is going on!)

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Our first big hike of the trip was to the Natural Bridge in Virginia. A meandering path lead to a 300 ft. bridge made of rock. There used to be a train across it, but it is now just kept as a natural treasure. We were amazed at the scale of the rock formation so we left some people at the bottom of the path so you can get a feel for the height of the bridge. At a rest stop on the trail, Cheryl noticed an Israeli family of 3 switching off taking pictures so she offered to take their group shot. Afterwards, when the family was leaving, Cheryl said to the lady, “L’Shana Tova.” The lady was flabbergasted and said, “Wow, that’s amazing that you know that phrase.” Cheryl said, “I guess it helps that I’m Jewish.” “Oh, you’re Jewish, really? Well L’Shanah Tova, Tikatevu.”

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We’re off on our excursions, ready for adventure! A new chapter in our lives. We hope you enjoy the words and pictures from our travels. Our first trip is to the Smoky Mountain National Park starting September 2015 in our 24 foot long Roadtrek CS Adventurous class ‘B’ motorhome.