Friday, March 29, 2013 (Day 53)–Home, Sweet, Home

It was raining this morning so I delayed leaving the RV Park until 10:00am to wait for the rain to pass.  This was another day I was glad to have my Sloggers rain shoes along.  I wear them when I hitch and unhitch.  Today I was standing in puddles of water an inch or more deep while it rained and my feet stayed dry.  They are also great in the mud and easily washed off.

I drove in gentle rain for about an hour.  At Mountain Grove, MO I pulled off to visit a friend for an hour.  I stopped in Springfield, MO for something to eat and then pushed on to arrive home about 8:00pm. I stopped by my parents house for a few minutes to see them and Kevin who was visiting for the weekend.  I drove 425 miles today.

One thing I did not mention earlier…..I definitely would have visited Washington, DC, Nashville, TN and Memphis, TN if I had not already visited those places twice before.

So……I drove a total of 6653 miles on the trip.  I looked back at the trip I took last fall and I drove 6640 miles then….that is wild to be so close without any planning.

I spent 52 nights in 27 different campgrounds/RV parks in 9 states.

Arkansas – 1 night

Louisiana – 4 nights

Alabama – 3 nights

Florida – 24 nights

Georgia – 3 nights

South Carolina – 9 nights

North Carolina – 6 nights

Tennessee – 1 night

Kentucky – 1 night

I definitely got a lot more experience in backing up the trailer (which I needed) on this trip and I am much faster on hitching and unhitching.

I enjoyed the journey and I am very happy to have had the opportunity to make the trip.  I am now going to be concentrating on finding a job and getting back to the real world.

EggCamper Chick Gayle

#97 – Thursday, March 28, 2013 (Day 52)–Pigeon Forge, TN to Paducah, KY

Sevierville and Pigeon Forge basically just run together and Gatlinburg is five miles further.  I drove thru all three this morning.  Gatlinburg is very picturesque and very compact.  It is very walkable.  Parking is an issue in Gatlinburg and expensive.  Traffic was congested today.  I can only imagine what it is like in peak times.

Pigeon Forge and Sevierville are more like Branson.  You either take the trolley or drive.

 

 

I left Pigeon Forge about 12:30pm today.  I drove 365 miles to Paducah, KY.  I ran into traffic congestion in Nashville today and again just 20 miles from Paducah.  Arrived at Duck Creek RV Park, Paducah, KY about 7:30pm.  It is central time zone here so it is actually 6:30pm.

I am 412 miles from home.   I hope to sleep in my real house tomorrow night. 

Wednesday, March 27, 2013 (Day 51)–Selma, NC to Pigeon Forge, TN

I left Selma, NC about 9:00am.  I drove 380 miles to arrive at Pigeon Forge, TN at 5:00pm.  I am staying at Riveredge RV Park.  I am staying hitched so I decided to take the town trolley to find someplace to eat.  They have a very organized trolley system here.  There was a trolley stop in the RV park just a few steps from my trailer.

There are a lot of families in town enjoying spring break.  There are also 2000 teenagers in Gatlinburg attending the Tennessee FFA convention. 

The trolley driver recommended a restaurant called “Old Mill Restaurant”.  He said it was one of the best in town.  Well they were definitely popular.  They were running them in and out.  It was a little different.  Every dinner option was a full meal.  This is definitely one of the reasons that we all weigh too much and also waste too much.  I chose my meal and then they brought a cup of corn chowder, a side salad and four corn fritters.  Then the waiter brought my meal and two dinner rolls.  The portions were very generous.  Then the waiter brought a card with five choices for dessert.  I chose the chocolate cake to go.  Way too much food.  Almost every person left the restaurant with to go boxes.  Probably less than 50% of the food taken home will actually be eaten.  So food wasted and a lot of foam containers wasted.  This meal plan also pushes the total ticket prices up. 

The picture above is some “art” at a rest stop along the way.

While I was waiting for the trolley back to the RV park I admired the lovely snow covered mountains.  Unfortunately I had left my good camera in the trailer so the following picture does not do it justice.

Tuesday, March 26, 2013 (Day 50)–Hanging Out

Spent the day shopping and doing laundry.  The most interesting store I found was called “Carolina Pottery”.  It was a smaller version of Garden Ridge.

I am heading west in the morning. 

The campground here has a lovely small lake with ducks.  They are very, very well fed ducks.  You should see them waddle.  The campground store sells bags of feed for 25 cents.

Monday, March 25, 2013 (Day 49)–Pulling off to wait out the weather

The wind blew me out of the campground about 9:00am this morning.  I knew that I had three tall bridges with crosswinds to cross to get out of The Outer Banks.  I chose not to dump my water tank and I took on some water in my holding tank to give me a little extra weight. 

Originally I had intended to go home on I-64 but the weather up there changed my mind.  Now I think I am going home on I-40 but the forecast for most of North Carolina and Tennessee along I-40 are calling for rain and/or snow showers tomorrow.  So I decided to pull off and wait for the weather to clear.

I drove about 240 miles to Selma, NC where I am staying a couple of nights at a campground right off I-95.  Three miles down the highway is a very nice outlet mall and about twenty different places to eat.  Tomorrow I will do some laundry and visit the outlet mall to fill my day.

I am watching “Dancing With The Stars” as I write this.  My antenna is pulling in a lot of channels here.  I was not able to watch it last week.