Getting to Gatlinburg

May 19, 2023

Getting to Gatlinburg

On 5/18 we left Pier Lon to head to Gatlinburg. We packed everything up in probably 10 minutes. Hooking up and making sure we were all ready to go took a little longer. 30-45 minutes. The drive was easy and a lot less nerve racking then when we went to Michigan. Joe feels a lot more comfortable driving the travel trailer.

We wanted to overnight in Lexington and I remembered a lot of Walmart's don't allow RVers to overnight anymore. I called two and a Sam's Club. They all said RVers can no longer stay in their lot. Luckily there was a Cabela's right there and they allow overnighters. There were a couple vans, another travel trailer and a huge motorhome sharing the lot with us.

Figaro didn't like the truck for 30 so minutes and then he was fine and slept the whole time. Cherry was a nervous wreck. As always. She never left my lap. I thought she was going to have a heart attack. So of course, I was having a heart attack. She got a little more relaxed when we were a hour out from Lexington.

When we got to Cabela's Figaro went back in the carrier and let us take him inside with no problems. Cherry let me carry her inside. Once they're back in the trailer they're fine and back to themselves. Travel days break my heart. I think over the weeks they'll get more comfortable with the truck.

On 5/19 we headed out around 9am. The ride to Tennessee was obviously very hilly. Just wasting gas the whole way lol. Once we were 30 minutes out from our place in the Smoky Mountains it was anxiety central. So many hills, tight turns, narrow roads, blindspots. I don't know how these bigger rigs do it, but huge props to ya. At least Joe got some practice and we made it!

This time Cherry was less worried and ended up comforting Figaro. He hid in the carrier most of the way. Cherry still had to sit on my lap the whole way though. Again, once they were in the trailer they were fine. I made sure to give them all their favorite treats and tuna for being so good.

We settled in and setup pretty fast. 30 minutes, maybe. Backing in on a hill into a funky spot was another story. This took a handful of attempts. The one neighbor was washing his motorhome but I think he was faking it so he could watch us lol 🤔

We figured out a menu for the week and headed to Walmart for groceries. Joe wanted to go to Black Rifle Coffee that was right down the street from Walmart. Cute little place. I've never had their coffee but heard a lot about them. So we bought some beans and will give it a shot.

After I made dinner we walked around to check out the campground. It's super nice here. Most people are definitely yearly renters. A lot of them have beautiful setups. There's two mountain streams that run through the campground. The sound is so soothing. Mountain views all around. We also found a grass covered bridge. The campground has two swimming pools, mini golf, playgrounds, dog parks, basketball court, horseshoe pits, shuffle board court, lake, library, game room, activity center, laundry, camp store and a cafe that has breakfast and lunch. They even have trash pickup every day at 10am and 3pm.

Our site is cute and has fences made of plants. We have a concrete pad, a fire ring with a charcoal grill grate, picnic table and full hookups. We rented from Hipcamp but the campground itself is Outdoor Resorts at Gatlinburg.

When we got back we setup our outdoor rug, chairs and solar wind chime. Tomorrow we will do a waterfall hike and checkout some of the local shops down the road.