Gateway to the Great Smoky Mountains National Park.  Lots of tourist shops and services.  Something of a wood-carving headquarters (look for the life-size black bear carvings).  The town serves the needs of travelers to the park and the residents of the many vacation homes in the hills.

DAY 10 (7/4/08)
8pm / 75 / Stormy!

Today we toured, by car and a little by foot, a preserved settlement of Cades Cove inside the Smoky Mountains. There were once over 300 permanent residents in the Cove (it gets its name because it is clear of trees and was suitable for farming and cattle raising, but it's not near a water cove). The preserved site was the site of the mill that turned grains into flour and also housed a blacksmith. The town was really cool and the majority of the buildings date back tot he 1840's and 1850's. During the Civil War, the Cove was largely abandoned as families moved away from the battle grounds, and closer to their family and as many of the men joined the Confederacy.

Besides this, today I was reminded of one of my mom's standby phrases - "Have you tried taking Tylenol yet?"

"I have a headache." - "Have you tried Tylenol?"

"Ouch. These bug bites are really annoying and itchy." - "Have you tried Tylenol?"

"I think I'm getting a cold." - "You should take some Tylenol."

"I think I have indigestion from that spicy food." - "Have you tried Tylenol?"

"The Dr. told me I have cancer." - "Better take some Tylenol."

Well, some are exaggerations, but apparently, everything can be cured with Tylenol. My headache from the curvy roads was not cured by Tylenol. A nap, however, helped significantly.

Oh, and Happ 4th! Inside the park, for obvious reasons, there were no fireworks. We celebrated with a soft serve ice cream.

DAY 9 (7/3/08)
10pm / 75∞ / Cool

Today, I am convinced I have lost my mind. It began with some basic forgetfulness while on my morning exercise jaunt. This trip, (I started but didn’t maintain regularly while at home) I have tried to stick to 45-minutes of cardio activity each morning. Sitting in the driver’s seat, while at times elevating my blood pressure from asinine drivers, does not provide much exercise. So, today, at 6:30am I take off on my morning exercise walk-jog.

I go through our whole loop listening to a PodCast of “This American Life” and taking in the sights and sounds of Cades Cove, Smoky Mountain National Park.

Then I make a turn towards, what I “remembered” on the map as a way back towards camp … whoops, not a correct turn.

Then I think I hear the banjo’s playing and thoughts of Ned Beatty flash through my head, and I am nervous. Please, no Deliverance, not here – not now. Ok, so the banjo’s were imaginary, but really, that is what went through my head.

Where am I? Why do I not remember if I turned left or right at the fork in the road back there? This is a loop, right? Just keep going right, it will loop back … it will loop back …

It does not loop back. Suddenly I’m on a desolate, abandoned road that has overgrown, unused campsites from an era long since passed. Then, on the horizon, I see a cabin. Civilization!

The cabin is abandoned, and is a part of the historic sites that mark the original settlers here in Cades Cove. Crap.

Follow the road, follow the road.

Ahhhh! Pay dirt! RV’s. Luxurious, mansions on wheels RV’s. Where am I? RV heaven?

“Staff Campground”? Interesting. But where is MY campground (It is now 7:30am – one hour later)??

Follow the path.

Ranger station! But not the station we checked in with.

Camp store … yes, NOT the camp store near us.

Continue with this thinking for another 30 minutes. Then, I see familiar sites. Bike rentals. Bathrooms. Amphitheatre. Loop B campground – hallelujah.

My parents, needless to say, are surprised at my tardy return. I tell of the magical road that took me far, far away. Unconcerned at this point, the push me towards the car for today’s adventure.

I begin to realize how much more of my mind is on vacation. I can’t remember simple, easy words when telling a story. I get lost in a small campground. Whatever, it’s vacation.

Then we leave for our day at the Tuckaleechee Caverns, 500 ft. beneath Townsend, TN.

On our drive through the Cades Cove Scenic Loop, we take an unimproved, gravel road (one way) into Towsend. It’s awesome. During the drive I’m telling a story and stop mid-sentence. I can neither remember the rest of the story, nor remember the next word I intended to use. This happens several times today.

I am losing my mind.

The caverns, discovered in 1953 by 3 brothers who lived above them, are very interesting. We all take the 90 minute tour of the caverns, seeing plenty of stalactites and stalagmites, underground pools of 98% pure drinking water, a waterfall and about 287 stairs (see pictures). It was difficult to get pictures to show up, but fortunately I had a great photo teacher and adjusted my shutter speed and captured more light, thus a useable picture (not the best pictures, but useable)! Of course, I can remember how to work my digital camera, but I can’t remember the word for that you put water into to freeze (ice cube tray).

We cruised through Townsend, dropped off some mail, and came back to the campground. I promptly took a 2 hour nap (another sign my mind is leaving me – I got horribly tired today, beyond exhausted, and I hardly did anything!).

Tomorrow, is more sight-seeing and hiking around the Smoky Mountains. I saw in the news today that wildfires forced more evacuations in Northern California. I’m hoping we don’t have another summer of wildfires that destroys so much of our own natural beauty.

Anyway, with luck, my mind will return tomorrow…

DAY 8 (7/2/08)
7:30pm / 78∞ / crickets, fireflies and the smell of campfire

Today we drove from Cedars of Lebanon State Park to The Great Smoky Mountains National Park, just outside of Townsend, Tennessee. The Smokey Mountains get their name because the bowl-shaped valley between the mountains holds in natural smog and some type of ozone product I don’t fully understand to give them their “smoky” appearance year-round.

The Park, unlike other National Parks, is free to enter and is the 2nd most visited National Park behind Yosemite (to my surprise, Yellowstone is #3 – I thought it would be #2).

The drive into the park reminded me of the scene in the first Batman movie where Batman (Michael Keaton) is driving Vicki Vale (Kim Bassinger) back to the Bat Cave in the Batmobile on that dark, tree-lined road where the trees were so dense and grown together that it made a tree tunnel. Except for the part where it was dark, the road into Cades Cove at the Smoky Mountain National Park was just like that.

The narrow, steep, winding road (another 2 years gone off my life after maneuvering the RV into the park), is unlike any forest we’re used to in California. It is more dense with trees than anything I’ve ever seen and there are no pine/evergreen trees. They’re all leafy trees, which means in the fall I assume the changing of the leaves and the colors are spectacular.

Then, I slam on the brakes. Hard. Why?

Well, it makes perfect sense to stop in the middle of the flow of traffic to let your very young children run from the car to try to capture a picture of a bear cub and its mother. Right? I mean, that is a sensible choice. Needless to say, their impromptu stop was not welcomed by the majority of travelers.

Once we set up camp, we went exploring the campgrounds in our part of the park – very nice and it is completely full. Tomorrow we are going to the Tuckaleechee Caverns.