Day 75, Drive to Great Smoky Mountains

Day 75. Woke up late – 8:30 am. Packed up my stuff, including dishes from yesterday’s lunch. Took down the camper. It was 1 pm before I got on the road. Realized that I forgot my retirement memory book at Grant’s house, so made a stop there. The kids were amazed to see the camper down – it looks so small when it’s down. I brought back Nasir’s sock, Naima’s scarf, and their rocks. Can’t forget the rocks!!!

Gassed up the car and hit I-40 west which will take me all the way to Tennessee where I get off on Hwy 321 to Pigeon Forge. Had to stop twice on the way to nap, but only ate junk food all day – brownie, doritos, etc. Stopped for gas in Marion, North Carolina where I also picked up ice for the cooler and propane gas for the furnace. This is my first peak at the Smoky Mountains.
Reached Gatlinburg before sunset, but not Pigeon Forge. I thought I had missed the town, but I didn’t. Pigeon Forge was not what I expected. I thought it would be a beautiful, bucolic small mountain town; instead it is a long skinny suburban strip mall with flashing and neon lights and great big digital billboards. Actually found the campground relatively easily, but had to fire up the GPS to get there. When I got to the campground around 9 pm, it was dark. I backed into my campsite at Creekside RV Resort and did a better job than usual. But I kept hitting the picnic table slab with the passenger side trailer wheel. Decided to unhook the camper and push it around the slab and back toward the electric box. I thought I had the 3rd wheel attached, but it wasn’t. Made it around the slab, but then when I tried to straighten it out – the 3rd wheel fell off. Spent the night sleeping in the car.

Total trip mileage to date – just a hair under 8,700 miles. The car also turned over to 34,000 miles on this leg of the trip.