Smokemont Campground - Smoky Mountain NP

Clingman's Dome

We packed up early, looking for the elusive Internet.  The Elkmont Campground has no dump station, so we stopped at the Sugerland Visitor Center's dump site.  In the driveway were two turkeys struttin' their stuff.  Feathers all out in a pinwheel, Deb was really excited, but the lady turkey was unimpressed.  After a short hike to find a waterfall (all tourists come the Smoky Mountains to see waterfalls and bears...it says so in the guide), and a brief stop to gather mail, get caught up on Duolingo and Dungeon Boss, we headed over the mountains.  At one point the road does a full circle going over the tunnel that was just before it.  Lunch at Newfound Gap, and then to Clingman's Dome.  A seven mile drive and a 1/2 mile fairly steep climb to the observation tower.  On the way we saw more people watching bears. (As Deb points out, way better pictures of bears on the Internet)

Bear watchers!

Finally down the mountain to Smokemont, snuggled into our site...found out it was not our site, left to go to our site, snuggled into our site.. Ate dinner, still no internet, watched an episode of House of Cards, and went to bed...8:30

Elkmont Campground - Smoky Mountain NP

Another sunny day and we are headed south.  First stop Gatlinburg...not our kind of place, amusement parks, Ripley's believe it or not etc, etc.  there is a one lane road through the woods, but "NO RV'S". So we headed for Cade's Cove.  Now that is an 11 mile, one lane road, 10’ wide.  When you see a bear (we saw two), you pull off the road, a little, not wide enough for anything but a little compact to get by.  Then after 60 or 70 cars get stuck behind you, you move on at 5 mph looking for another bear.  It's interesting...and we found a nice place for lunch.

Perfect form!

On the way back to Elkmont, we found some internet.  So I got a fishing license...then we found a nice spot along a big stream.  Deb got her book out, and I got my waders.  I haven't worn them in thirty years...and they still leak!  Caught a little brookie (Deb, wants to know why I bother fishing if I am going to release them...wish I had an answer).

Finally got the Campground...no internet, so Deb, with nothing to do, started gathering firewood. (I thought I knew where this was going...but no, she didn't want a fire, she wanted some exercise) so we went for a little walk in the woods...by the time we got back...well, there is a pile of wood....it would be shame to let it go to waste.  So we had a fire...then we watched an episode of House of Cards and went to bed... 9:30... Tomorrow we go in search of Internet.

Cosby Campground - Smoky Mountain NP

With the prospects of a wet and dreary day, we looked for indoor activities.  We had always wanted to visit Heartwood, the artisan center in Abingdon.  It turned out to be right on the way.  The architecture is suppose to remind you of farm buildings.  I guess it does.  Afterwards we headed for the Smoky Mountains.  As soon as we left the Interstate, the sun came out.

Cades Cove meadow

Cosby campground is on the northern end of the park.  The ranger suggested that we see Cade's Cove.  We now have it in our plans.  As the afternoon went on Deb and Drex needed a walk.  So I walked them on the Nature Trail.  Lots of little babbling brooks.  I knew Drex couldn't stay out, but I was surprised when Deb went in for a dip... (Probably not on purpose).

There is very little internet in the park.  Since both Deb and I are millennial wannabes, we suffer without the net..  After an episode of House of Cards we were both ready for bed (maybe 8:30 or possibly 9:00)

Hungry Mother State Park - Marion, VA

Even though the weather is suppose to be bleak and rainy, we headed out for a short week to the Smoky Mountains.  The drive to Hungry Mother is all interstate...not too exciting, but this is a State Park I wanted to try out because it is near the dreaded Grayson-Highlands State Park (according to Deb...worse than a night in a Walmart parking lot...which is her camping equivalent of a root canal).  We retired our Rand McNally RV software, so Deb was navigating with a new checklist...we have a few bugs to work out... Missing  cheese, crackers, luncheon meat, etc.  fortunately, we are still close to Grocery stores...

Hungry Mother is now one of our favorite state parks.  Our campsite is right on the water, with ducks and little ducklings and aggressive male ducks.  Drex has barely gotten a second's sleep with all the excitement.  Our selected site was a challenge to get into because of the turns and the large trees.  Campers in the other sites were sitting in the deck chairs, all pointed at our site, just waiting for me to crunch a tree.  Wow, never knew camping was a competitive sport..

Shad Landing State Park - Snow Hill, MD

We're on our second day of art pick-up.  Yesterday we picked up art in Alexandria...if you were going to live in a city, this is the place to live...great restaurants, nice little homes, Starbucks on every corner!

After getting through Annapolis, we opted for lunch at Sandy Point State Park.  We are trying out our new GPS navigation, Copilot, since Rand McNally has stopped supporting (well actually, never did) their $100 app.  It was our first minor failure.  It directed us into an elementary school parking lot in Arnold, MD.  With a shall amount of effort, we got it to redirect us to the park.  We got our first "beach" stroll of the year.  Shad Landing is a nice park.  Quiet, with lots of trees in site 28(E). Today we are off to Cape Charles to get more artwork and talk to the "judge"

Cedarville State Forest - Brandywine, MD

We are finally rolling for the first time this year. The spring has been too cold to be really enjoyable up until now.  We are picking up artwork for the Art Speaks on the Bay Show. This year, it's Alexandria, VA and the eastern shore.

Only took us slightly over an hour to be packed and ready.  Maybe we should have spent just two more minutes since we forgot Deb's hair dryer...well, at least, she didn't blame me. We have gotten into the RVing routine almost instantly this year.  It feels very comfortable.  Cedarville is a quaint little park, as close as you can get to Washington.  It took about a half hour to check in...(I think we were training the entire staff), we found our assigned site(E) - #8. It is a "girl site". Girls usually drive into a parking spot and back-out, guys back in for the quick getaway.  Today we are off to Alexandria and then to the eastern shore for the night.

Our Summer Rocky Mountain Trip is Booked

We have most of our reservations made.  It should be an awesome trip.

We are staying a few days in our destination spots such as Glacier National Park, Canadian Rockies, St Louis, and Mackinac Island.  We have a KOA every week or so, even a car rental planned to drive the Going-to-the-Sun Road.