DOUGLAS DAM HEADWATER CAMPGROUND, SEVIERVILLE, TN-CAMP 22

We were lucky that the town we were directed to after our throwing a wheel not only had a trailer building business, but it was open on a Saturday.  While they didn’t have an exactly matching to our other trailer wheel rim they had one that was so close you had to look twice to realize it was a different rim.  Even better they had a trailer tire the right size AND a brass valve stem.  It took them no time at all to take off the temporary fix lug bolts and put new properly fitting ones on all the way around.

We were soon on our way and arrived at the Douglas Dam Campground near Sevierville, TN in the late afternoon of that same day. However, it was late enough that since we did not have a reservation we were put in a campsite that was just slightly too small unless we left the truck hooked up.

Which we did because they said they would have several available the proper size the next day. 

This is a pleasant campground ran by some very nice folks who work very hard to keep it clean, even keeping the leaves blown off the pads every day in the fall. 

Since the camp hosts had decorated the campground for the impending autumn holidays we decided that Malecifient Dragon should make her campground debut, along with Snoopy and the gang, and Jack Skellington, once we were in our campsite #31 for the duration of our stay.

The neighbors all enjoyed the huge dragon stopping by to see where we had purchased it and just to chat in general.

The “camp cat” was just more or less bored by it.  He did come over periodically to check out the inflatables, but never offered to be “naughty” around them.

That first full evening and a few others we walked around the campground to take a few photos of this laid back campground.

Of course being that close to Dollywood, we had to spend some time there as well as visit the Bush Bean Visitor Center. 

We did spend time just driving around Gatlinburg and through the Great Smokey Mountains National Forest too. 

There are numerous shows, restaurants, and shops we could have been tempted by, but our time there was limited and there were certain things we really wanted to do.

One, for me, was visit the Scrapbook Superstore in Gatlinburg, not once but twice.  

That place is HUGE.  It is a good thing I had just reassessed my crafting budget before going in there or I could have done some various serious damage to that sinking fund for certain. 

 They had just about everything you can imagine for paper crafting.  Next door to it is also their clearance center, although by the time I went in there I was tired enough I just sort of just did a quick look thru and then decide to come back another time when I had more time.  After all Gary was aging greatly out in the truck in the heat as I drooled all over the die cuts, stickers, stamps and papers of this huge shop. 

We would definitely recommend this campground to others.  If we were to have a complaint at all it is a minor one.  Their public restrooms are so well lit the outside light on them can temporarily blind you at certain angles if you are coming in after dark.  That is such a tiny thing we feel this campground deserves a very good rating.

DOLLYWOOD

Is there anyone in the USA who doesn’t know who Dolly Parton is?  I seriously doubt it, but maybe there are a few people left that haven’t heard of the petite blonde country singer and humanitarian.  Even as a fan I had some questions about her life, and family.

Dollywood, is just that, all about Dolly. From a museum that holds memorabilia of her life including wigs, dresses, movie clips, awards, records and much, much more to a show saluting her songs put on by her friends and family it is all there. Rather than show you hundreds of photos of the park Gary put this video together of some of the goings on all over Dollywood 

There is a live stage production that has nothing to do with Dolly there as well that was very good and moving.

Then there is her Bald Eagle Sanctuary.  If I hadn’t already been a Dolly Parton fan the sanctuary would have made me one.  Roughly 90 bald eagles who have been harmed in one way or another to the point they may never be able to safely live free again have found a home in this large beautiful natural enclosure.  We were mesmerized just watching and listening to these beautiful creatures for the longest time.  All appeared to be in the best possible health despite the injuries that had originally brought them here.  The main group is together, but a few are separated out because they are crippled too severely to be in the general population.

Again it makes more sense to show the video then to let you imagine their sound and movements. 

Weeks later we heard of the fires surrounding Dollywood and our first thought was the eagles.  Not just because of the flames, but because of the dense smoke that filled the area and the harm it could do to the birds.  There were news stories everywhere about evacuating the people, but the media said nothing about all of our nation’s symbols that were in the enclosure.

A quick web search turned up the www.eaglecams.org at Dollywood that was shut off, but had a wonderful notice on it that all of the eagles had been evacuated safely.  I immediately became an even bigger fan of Dolly.

After the fires Dolly not only came through on getting the eagles safely rehoused, she came through for “her people” of Sevierville and helped them get rehoused as well. She is a true humanitarian.

These are not the only humanitarian things Dolly has done, including free books for children, helping with education and much more.  Many of her kind works are shown throughout the park.

Of course there is the usual assortment of fast food stands, thrill rides, street shows and live entertainment.  All in all it was a nice theme park with a few drawbacks, like the fact you have to pay $16 per day parking, unless you want to park a few miles away for free and take a fifty cent per person each way trolley over to the park.

The free parking is rather limited, in fact between some sort of show going on in a tent at one free parking location and an event going on at the other at the convention center we had zero chance of finding a parking spot for our one ton dually.  Therefore we ended up paying for parking both days.

While we only purchased one day passes, using our senior citizen discount, we arrived after 3pm on that first day and begrudgingly paid the parking fee, hoping that the second day free would apply to that as well.  No such luck, only the re-entry to the park itself was free the next day.  This made this shoestring traveler a wee bit unhappy, but as soon as we actually got in the park my mood lightened.

The park was all decked out for fall, and anyone who knows me knows fall is my favorite season.  The hills were just starting to turn color and the air was crisp.  In fact crisp enough that my “brag rag” for Dollywood was a sweatshirt instead of a t-shirt.  (Are you starting to see a theme here about my wardrobe?)

Notice the last photo is a little different?  That's because he was a living statue that was a lot of fun.

While Gary and I are not fans of thrill rides Dollywood does have them. 

It also has rides for the less adventuresome as well.  A peaceful train ride through the country gave us a cool respite mid-afternoon on our second day, although because it is a coal fueled train (think old time melodrama train) you will get soot in your eyes if not careful.  In fact we happened to be walking near the train tracks at one point when the train came through and we both sprouted instant dark spots on our face and hair.  It gave both of us a laugh.

One other thing that caused our shoestring travelers to twitch a bit was the price of food at the park.  It was high, higher than food at Silver Dollar City in Branson, higher than the same type of quick service meals at Walt Disney World and you are not allowed to bring food or drink in, something that is allowed at the other parks.  So if you don’t want to pay high prices for fast food that lacked variety from stand to stand pack an ice chest in your car, leave the park and eat in the parking lot. Or eat a big meal before you go and after you leave.

Of course they do have some annual pass discounts, but unlike the other two parks I mentioned we didn’t feel we would be in the area enough to justify the cost of an annual pass.

Depending on how big a Dolly fan you are you could spend an afternoon to a week or longer just seeing and doing everything in this former Silver Dollar City theme park.

MAY 6, 2017, ON THIS DAY ONE YEAR AGO….

We hit the road for the adventure of a lifetime. 

So much has happened, so many plans have changed and we have learned so much it is all hard to put down in words, but here goes.

People have asked me if traveling full time is what I expected it to be, the answer is yes and no.  How is that for an answer?  We have done and learned so much it is hard to sum it all up. 

One thing is for certain with traveling full time, if you don’t like a travel plan wait five minutes it will change.

From the very first day, when instead of getting away early in the day as planned we didn’t do it until mid-afternoon life has been basically go with the flow. That is okay though, because we are retired and have no set place we have to be at any certain time.  We make as few reservations as possible so if Murphy of Murphy’s Law pops up from his place in the back seat to misbehave we aren’t out a deposit or stressing about getting to a campground on time.

A prime example is our plan to spend quality time at Williamsburg, VA.  We headed that direction last fall, only to be met by Hurricane Matthew and turned away.

This spring we decided we would head directly up there from Florida and we actually are at Newport News, VA right now, and have been for around two weeks.  We leave first thing tomorrow and have yet to make it into Williamsburg due to weather and all the other site seeing we have been doing. So Williamsburg and Washington, DC are on our travel plans for this coming fall.  We will see if we get there then.

Murphy hits in the form of flats, a lost wheel, a lost truck rear end, a stolen truck, trailer repairs, broken eye glasses, sheer exhaustion and so much more have changed our travel plans on numerous occasions. 

Some of those visits from Murphy were enough to make us consider for a nano second tucking our tails and going back to the farm to hide for the rest of our lives.  Like I said for a nano second.  We aren’t quitters and for the most part enjoy all that we do as we travel.

So far we have proven ourselves to be time travelers of sorts.  Thanks to museums, amusement parks, and archeology sites we have visited from 900 AD at the Mitchell,SD Prehistoric Indian site

to far in the future at Walt Disney World.

 In between we have gone to school with Laura Ingalls Wilder,

fought in all the wars our nation has participated in,

 visited with Andrew Jackson in his home,

listened to Dolly Parton at Dollywood.

We even tried to get the secret recipe from Duke at Bush Beans.

One of our biggest entertainments is enjoying the diverse landscapes as we travel the country.  From the green hills ofArkansas

 to the Palo Duro Canyon of TX,

 the stone bluffs of the Badlands,

 to the beaches of Galveston, TX.

  Let’s not forget the Great Smokey Mountains.

 The landscape is constantly changing. 

We have yet to do the Little Sahara and the Great Salt Flats in Oklahoma in our retirement travels, nor the great southwest.  So there is much more to see.

Another great thing we have done is visit with friends, both old and new.  There are no words to describe how much delight this has brought us.

Of course there have been some down times. The biggest of which was the sudden loss of my brother in law.

 Luckily we were close enough to Oklahoma at the time we were able to scoot home for the funeral.  While when my cousin passed we weren’t able to do so.

Nor were we there to say good-bye to an ancient beloved cat as he took his last ride to the vet. 

These times were hard, but life happens when you least expect it and so does death.

We have learned so much in our travels.  Not only about camping life but about unusual things and words.

Before this last year of traveling we never knew there was a point in history a ten hour watch.  Nor had I pondered the meaning of toothsome (tasty).  Yet touring two different museums these two items and many more were made known to us.  Travel is educating.

Speaking of toothsome, we have created so many tasty meals traveling and using dried foods it is amazing.  I know Gary was a little reluctant when I suggested we fill our cupboards with dried foods instead of can goods to save on weight and space, not to mention money.

Now he is very adept at creating such meals himself and wonders why we hadn’t been using dried eggs for baking all our married life, or at least all the camping we have done throughout our 44 years as husband and wife.

One year on the road and we have barely made a dent in our dried food storage, where we would have had to purchase massive amounts of canned and frozen foods in that same time period.

Another thing we have learned is less is more.  We have learned to cook for just two now without leftovers to worry about squeezing into our tiny refrigerator. 

You can get through cooking a meal without having every single appliance, pot, pan and utensil that Bed Bath and Beyond sells and do so quite easily.

Teamwork is essential when you are together 24/7, whether it is cooking a meal or replacing the landing gear on the fifth wheel.

 Working together we can accomplish just about anything.  We can even survive driving through Houston, Texas!

I have been asked more than once what would be the one piece of advice I would give anyone starting out on this adventure.  My response “have a large emergency fund and then double what you think is big enough and you might get close to what you need”. We had a huge one thank goodness.  We are now in the process of rebuilding it to an even larger amount, just in case.

While you may not have the same breakdowns we have had, you will have them.  Every camper we have spoken with on that subject says they were in no way prepared for all the “little” things that popped up their first year, and even subsequent years on the road.  Having an easily accessible emergency fund is essential while traveling.  Don’t leave home without it

With all our ups and downs this last year we discussed this morning whether or not there would be a year two of travel.  We both agreed whole heartedly that as long as we can physically and safely do it we will keep moving on down the highway learning, seeing and enjoying all this great country has to offer.

To quote Gary this morning “We’ve barely scratched the surface of all the things there are to see and do in this United States of America.”