Join us as we embark on another exciting summer trip to the Great Smoky Mountains National Park, Pigeon Forge, Gatlinburg, Nashville, and Mammoth Cave National Park.
Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, our Disney trip got canceled, so JKLMN decided to plan something else. We’re headed east, to the Great Smoky Mountains!
What’s The Plan?
The plan is to tow our 2014 Rockwood 8312ss “Rocky” over 1300 miles round trip through the Smoky Mountains of Tennessee, North Carolina and Kentucky with our tow vehicle “Bullwinkle”. “Bullwinkle” is a 2016 GMC 2500HD SLT with a 6.6L Duramax Diesel engine coupled to a 6 speed Allison Transmission (my everyday driver by the…
Smoky Mountain Adventure: Nashville!!
Wednesday, July 1, 2020 Here we go!! It’s time for our next great adventure. Our original plans to go to Walt Disney World with our extended family got canceled (stupid Coronavirus!) but we were not going to let that completely ruin our summer. Instead, we adjusted and thought, “why not head out on another road…
NASHVILLE
THURSDAY, JULY 2, 2020 Day 2 in Nashville did not disappoint! We only had a day and a half to see as much of Nashville as we possibly could. I know there is so much more of the area to explore, but we chose to focus on downtown. We started the day at the What…
Gateway to the Great Smoky Mountains
Friday, July 3, 2020 This morning we packed up, left Nashville, and drove across Tennessee. We arrived this afternoon in the Great Smoky Mountains. We have seen very little so far but what we have seen is beautiful. We are staying on the south side of Pigeon Forge at Alpine Hideaway Campground. It’s a quaint…
Ragged old flag
July 4, 2020 Today I’m thankful. I’m thankful for the freedoms that we have in this country to do the things that make us happy. No, we’re not perfect. We have our flaws. We argue, bicker, pick, and sometimes even fight. But above all, we care about each other. I don’t care how much we…
Happy Independence Day from Great Smoky Mountain National Park!
Saturday, July 4, 2020 Today we had a full day of biking, hiking, truck riding, & rafting. We started our day at the Sugarlands Visitor Center at the Gatlinburg entrance to Great Smoky Mountain National Park. There is where you can find the trailhead to the Gatlinburg Trail, one of the only trails you can…
Hiking the Smokies
Sunday, July 5, 2020 Today was hiking day. We did 3 different hikes today for a total of 8.31 miles. We also drove the Newfound Gap Road that took us all the way across the GSMNP from the Tennessee entrance to the North Carolina entrance. We started our day early by arriving at Clingmans Dome…
DOLLYWOOD
Monday, July 6, 2020 We spent today in Dollywood! We debated long and hard on if we wanted to go to Dollywood. We had multiple reasons to not go: 1) Covid-19 (stupid Coronavirus), 2) Expensive, 3) Covid-19 (who wants to wear a mask ALL DAY in the heat), 4) Crowded, 5) We are not big…
Smoky Mountain Rain
Tuesday, July 7, 2020 Today was another day for hiking. We had already done a day of several short hikes so today we wanted to do one longer hike. Now, for serious hikers today’s hike would not be considered a long hike but when you are hiking with 3 kids five-miles, mostly uphill, is loooong.…
Cades Cove
Wednesday, July 8, 2020 What a day!! We biked 12.5 miles, saw 6 bears and spent the evening relaxing. Today we traveled to Cades Cove in Great Smoky Mountains National Park. Cades Cove has a scenic loop that the park closes down to vehicles all day on Wednesdays. They only allow bikers and hikers for…
Pigeon Forge/Gatlinburg….Our Opinion
Thursday, July 9, 2020 This morning we hooked up to our rig and drove north to Cave City, Kentucky. We spent a total of 5 days in the Pigeon Forge/Gatlinburg area and I feel like we got a good taste of the atmosphere there. We stayed in Pigeon Forge, not because we particularly wanted to,…
Mammoth Cave National Park
Friday, July 10, 2020 We admit it, we are National Park Geeks. Our goal is to eventually see ALL 62 U.S. National Parks plus as many National Monuments and National Historic Sites as we possibly can. That is what led us to add Mammoth Cave National Park to the back end of this trip. We…