finally made it to pigeon forge!

[garneska]

Here is the deal. We are headed to Pigeon Forge on Sat Oct 26 from Atlanta. We have to go through Knoxville. The issue is University of Tennessee has a home football game against the South Carolina Gamecocks at 4 pm. I am expecting us to leave atlanta around 10:30 or 11 am. This will put us in Knoxville around 3 pm just before the game. Do you think traffic will be insane on I- 40. What would you do? Leave earlier? Leave later? its about 4 hours with the car driving so i am expecting it to be about 5 hours with the RV. I also have to get a mighty run in before we leave, but i am willing to get up super early to get it done. My issue is leaving at 9 might not make it much better. I have no idea how traffic will be.

What do you suggest? BTW, we plan to hike 100 miles, all day hikes of course because Miss Mallory will be with us.

 

[tiggerdad]

Personally, I bypass Knoxville. Get off at Lenoir City, hwy 321. This leads through my old hometown of Maryville. Stay on this highway and it will lead you to Townsend (Hwy 321 turns into Lamar Alexander Parkway).

In Townsend take the left on Wear's Valley Road and follow it. It does have some tight turns, but I pulled it off pulling TT so you should be good. It used to have a bad hairpin curve, but they widened that out and made it a lot easier. Wears Valley road comes out in Pigeon Forge right at the Christmas Place then it's just a matter of which way to turn going to your campground.

This is the best way there. Lived there for a while. Hwy 321 is now 4 lane all the way to Townsend so moves really easy and will EASILY save you an hour and avoid the traffic. PM me if you like.

 

[garneska]

Awesome tiggerdad will let Bert know. The directions from the campground place actually has us drop south on 441 and then turn left onto 321 so this will come it from the other way. I am sure its the hairpin turn they are trying to have you avoid.

 

[tiggerdad]

As long as you don't drive like an idiot the road is perfectly manageable. Like I said, I pulled it off pulling 35' TT. Just gotta take your time and it will completely avoid all the crazy traffic and 4,000 stop lights

 

[tiggerdad]

This is the drive from Townsend to Pigeon Forge. The first 5 minutes is the tight part, after that it is fine. Again, if you drive normal it's no issue. The hairpin curve is at 4:47 in video.

I do need to clarify, if coming in from Atlanta, you are going north through Chattanooga? This is the route I was thinking. If not, then the Lenoir City route is not for you.

 

[HappyDznyCamper]

Personally, I bypass Knoxville. Get off at Lenoir City, hwy 321. This leads through my old hometown of Maryville. Stay on this highway and it will lead you to Townsend (Hwy 321 turns into Lamar Alexander Parkway).

In Townsend take the left on Wear's Valley Road and follow it. It does have some tight turns, but I pulled it off pulling TT so you should be good. It used to have a bad hairpin curve, but they widened that out and made it a lot easier. Wears Valley road comes out in Pigeon Forge right at the Christmas Place then it's just a matter of which way to turn going to your campground.

This is the best way there. Lived there for a while. Hwy 321 is now 4 lane all the way to Townsend so moves really easy and will EASILY save you an hour and avoid the traffic. PM me if you like.

There are still a few small sections of 321 that are only 2 lanes but that really shouldn't be a problem. About 12 years ago we were driving to Townsend from the DC area, us with 28ft TT and a 4door ram 1500, my parents with a 38ft 5th wheel and a ford 3500 dually, Wears Valley Road was doable for both but a little "hairier" for my parents.

 

[garneska]

We had a tough day. Only two good things happened. One, I got my run before we left. Two, traffic was flowing in Knoxville so took the easier driving route, but holy Toledo the traffic in Pigeon Forge is horrible. Felt worse than atlanta, but I walk to work so I don’t know about traffic anymore.

So we got to storage later than planned about 30 minutes. I thought that would help with Knoxville traffic. But we were at storage for a while. Nothing bad just a lot of people ahead of us. On the road about 11:30 a good hour after I thought.

Then it happened as soon as we hit the highway, the lube controller on our tow vehicle was buzzing. It has been doing this almost since we have been towing. Our trip home from GSP was horrible. We had the shop look at it. They said they fixed it and we test drove it and nope. This was in August. Brought the tow back to them and they rewired the car. We drove it again in sep. it chirped once on test drive, so we thought it would be ok. Nope it was not. We had to pull off we rebooked everything and almost threw in the towel and went home. It seemed to help. It would still chirp and buzz but would stop. We have no idea. Have had three different people look at it and a new controller and it still buzzes.

Then it was a tough drive with the wind but the interstate had no issues northbound. Holy moly though traffic on 441 was awful took 30 minutes to go 5 miles.

We pulled in and due to confusion on their website, they are stupid, we are only booked till nov 8 and not the 9. I was concerned and thought I should call but did not. Learned my lesson. Not sure what kind of problems we had setting up but we did not finish. Mostly because I was starving and the grocery store was way more important.

Got back it was 7 everyone including Mallory had not eaten yet. We still needed to take her out and change her bandage. Finally done put some stuff away and the front AC is leaking again. And storms came through and it is possible we won’t even get to GSMNP tomorrow to hike. I also need to read the 60 emails from work I have gotten since Friday at 5.

Hope things start to turn around.

 

[2goofycampers]

The weekdays will be better, hang in there.

 

[tiggerdad]

Agreed, weekdays are less crowded. Send pics, I'd like to see if the leaves are turning.

Settle in. It'll be great.

If you hike, look up Alum Cave Bluff. After Chimney Tops, it's one of my favorites.

 

[garneska]

First I want to post a pic of the site. It is pretty nice. Small campground but spots not on top of each other. No amenities though, no laundry, no showers, no bath house.



Weather was cloudy and rainy when we pulled in. Like I said was a tough day. I slept terrible last night which is not normal for me. I have had a few nights of going to bed late and getting up early. Last night I think it was stress and I forgot to put the fan on. I need the white noise, fine when the ac runs but as the night went on the less it ran. Needless to say I was up at 5:45. GSMNP all roads were closed because of downed trees. We did manage to hike 12 miles with 2200 ft of gain so at least the day was not lost. Tomorrow we are planning another 12, going to hike AT newfound gap to Charlie’s bunion. Has great views and tomorrow should be clear.



Sideways ugh. And these I took landscape but are upside down.



Sorry I don’t have it in me to figure it out. Did get setup outside. Bert will start cooking, having cedar plank salmon and green beans. I am going to shower then start some work. I need people to start testing tomorrow while I am off.

More to come.

 

[garneska]

You are all caught up through Sunday. We hiked 12 miles with 2000 ft of gain, the park was mostly shut down so we did what we could. It was a good warm up. Like I said Saturday night i barely slept so i was tired on Sunday night.

The plan was to get up at 6 am on Monday to hike the AT. The weather was to be clear and sunny to me it was cool but really pleasant for hiking. Well 6 am the coffee automatically started and the alarm went off, but no one was getting up. I hit the snooze until 7:30. i started waking around 7ish but did not get up till 7:30.

Basically got a little bit later start but we were ready for hiking. We drove to Newfound Gap. We were hiking the AT north 6 miles, which would take us past charlie's bunion. First it was beautiful. The drive in under all the yellow trees. The views from the trail. The trail was much more technical than Sunday, as Bert and I said, we were back on the AT. We loved it though. Most of the hike was on a knife's edge ridge. Let's hope the pictures work out.

Us on top of charlies bunion.


looking out from the bunion.


Newfound Gap


Bunion again



We ended up hiking 13 miles with over 3000 ft of gain. Thankfully had some leftovers for dinner which was perfect as we did not get back till 6:30. This hike took us a bit longer after the previous day. We went to bed early.

I slept pretty good last night. I set the alarm for 7 am and was ready to get up. The plan was to work today since we thought our legs we need a break. Yes we were super sore when we woke up but am feeling better. I might actually go for a run later. the weather is beautiful now. I am sitting outside with mallory. We almost swapped tomorrow with today, plan to hike tomorrow because it will rain all day Wednesday and Thursday but the legs are shot. We have our gear so the plan is to hike tomorrow in the rain. Just not going to do something that has a lot of views as we expect to be socked in.

We have a goal of 100 miles of hiking. Tomorrow will be key if we can do the 12 miles in the rain. We should make it.

 

[garneska]

My office and my office assistant.

 

[AntimonyER]

Way more color than two weeks ago, its amazing how much it changes and how fast. Is one of your hikes going to be Mt. Leconte?

 

[garneska]

Way more color than two weeks ago, its amazing how much it changes and how fast. Is one of your hikes going to be Mt. Leconte?

yes we are planning Mt Leconte, i think that is sunday. The weekend is going to get cold, but be clear. The colors are amazing right now. Just driving through is beautiful.

We are planning Mt Camerrer and Rocky Top hike as well.

 

[garneska]

Let’s wrap up Tuesday. Bert was still having a tough day. We planned on cooking a bunch of things because the weather was going to change plus all the hiking. Bert cooked burgers and chicken on the grill for the weekend and then asparagus for dinner on Tuesday. We also had a campfire and roasted hot dogs for dinner and s’mores for dessert.



Wednesday we did good. Up at 6:30 and out the door by 7:30 with light rain. As expected it rained all day but the temps stayed warm. We were geared up and planned to do 12 miles. We got in 13 miles with 2900 ft of gain. Colors were beautiful.





We hiked laurel falls trail. It was not as technical but the rain helped the challenge. As did my minor issue in the rig before the hike. I smacked my head on the overhead cabinet. It knocked me on the ground unfortunately on top of Mallory but I did not hurt her. Not sure about myself will see tomorrow.



Bert has a pic I will try and get up. He took it in vivid mode and looks much more how saw it

 

[garneska]

Bert’s pic in vivid

 

[tiggerdad]

I've done Charlie's bunion several times. I don't think I ever encountered another person on that trail.

Bert’s pic in vivid

View attachment 448909

That same tree in front had leaves on it last year when I was at same spot!

 

[tigger92662]

Us on top of charlies bunion.

Am I correct in assuming that since you are both in the picture that you have taught Mallory how to use the phone

Humor me please, I use a car trailer and so I'm not familiar, what is the lube controller that you speak of do exactly

Great pics by the way, keep them coming and enjoy your trip

 

[garneska]

Am I correct in assuming that since you are both in the picture that you have taught Mallory how to use the phone

Neat trick. She has been enjoying laying in the RV. Though i am pretty sure she enjoys laying outside of it in the sun. Working today and no sun, rain and cold so everyone is inside.

Humor me please, I use a car trailer and so I'm not familiar, what is the lube controller that you speak of do exactly

We have a motor home and we flat tow our 2007 Rav4 behind. The Rav4 does not have a transfer case like a truck or a Jeep, in order to not burn out the transmission towing the Rav we had to put a lube pump on the Rav. It runs the transmission fluid while the car is towing. When the car is hooked up and the RV engine is on the controller piece in the RV buzzes to tell you to turn on the controller. Once it is on and the pump is running the buzzing should stop. We have a bad connections somewhere and the buzzing happens when driving even though the pump is running. it is annoying as you can imagine and driving us insane. We have had 3 different people look at it and it is still not fixed. We could buy a new vehicle to flat tow but i really don't want to do that. For various reasons, but the big one being the cost.

I will do my best on more pics. the good thing is the rain goes away but the cold comes in tonight. Like up north cold.

 

[tigger92662]

it is annoying as you can imagine and driving us insane. We have had 3 different people look at it and it is still not fixed.

Now its driving me crazy thinking about it.
I know wiring can always be an issue, but just for the heck of it when you have time, run another larger gauge ground wire.
Like myself and many others, let's hope 1 of us wins the lottery.

Like up north cold.

We northerners are always willing to share the cold