Day 38 of our 2025 RVing Adventure with Historical & Musical Interludes

It's Sunday June 8th, day 38 of our 2025 summer adventure. At home I walk alone on Sundays and I did here in Pigeon Forge today, for my last walk here in 2025. 

Something spurred me to go to the Sunday morning devotions, the final event of the TN Good Sam rally. Jonathan read and spoke about Romans 12. A portion of this passage struck me. "We have different gifts, according to the grace given to each of us. If your gift is prophesying, then prophesy in accordance with your faith; if it is serving, then serve; if it is teaching, then teach; if it is to encourage, then give encouragement; if it is giving, then give generously; if it is to lead, do it diligently; if it is to show mercy, do it cheerfully." Oh how true, we all have different gifts. I felt like he was talking directly to me. When you know what your gift is, you need to use it! Don't be afraid of it. Don't hide behind it. Don't belittle it. It's the gift God gave you, embrace it, use it!

Gary & Sheryl pulled out first, they were heading south. Then closer to 10am, we headed out with Tim & Debbie just ahead of us and Jim & Debbie behind us. Tim & Debbie were heading east and we are heading west, but we left at the same time! We have been traveling with Gary & Sheryl for a month. I am going to miss the banter on the radio and them! We only had a 7/10 of a mile caravan with Tim & Debbie, but we enjoyed 10 days with them and we will miss them too!

We took US 441 to US 411 to US 321. 441 took us past downtown Sevierville. The hometown of Dolly Parton and the gateway to the Great Smoky Mountains.

I love the old barns with advertising on them! The first "big" town we came to on 411 was Maryville. Fort Craig, which was located on Pistol Creek, was the first settlement in the area which is now the City of Maryville. The City of Maryville was established on July 11, 1795, by an act of the General Assembly of the Territory South of the Ohio River. In 1819, the Southern and Western Theological Seminary was opened. The name was changed to Maryville College in 1842.

We exited off US 321 and onto US 70 in Lenoir City. I wish it was closer, we would have visited. Close to Lenoir City is a famous National Landmark, the Lost Sea. Craighead Caverns is an extensive cave system. It is best known for containing the United States' largest and the world's second largest non-subglacial underground lake, The Lost Sea.

Route 70 follows a large portion of the Promised Land Trail in Tennessee. The beauty of Tennessee unfolds as you cross undulating hills and ascend to the Cumberland Plateau. It was a challenge for Tennessee’s first settlers to make their way from Northeast Tennessee, over the Cumberland Plateau and into Nashville. Along the first road into Tennessee, the Avery Trace, many believed they were headed to a “Promised Land.” The trail is filled with quaint, locally owned businesses in charming communities in Middle Tennessee.

We passed through Kingston TN. There were several murals. 

But the most notable one is an uncredited mural plugging the area's peach-growing industry in Kingston, Tennessee, a small city southwest of Knoxville.

We crossed over the Clinch River with Interstate 40 running parallel to us. We drove through Crossville Tennessee. We have a couple of Yankee RV caravanners that live in Crossville. We just left a set or two of them at the Good Sam Rally in Pigeon Forge.

Sparta Tennessee was our next town. We had a fuel and rest stop at the Wal-Mart there. Again, as we drove through the town, I spotted another mural! Sparta offers rambling farms that hearken back to a simpler time. Musical heritage that has made the area renown as one of the nation's top resonators of the bluegrass roots movement. We may have to be here in October! Liberty Square: A Lester Flatt Celebration is the City of Sparta, Tennessee’s annual community event! Held the second Saturday in October, this free event brings in national and international touring bluegrass artists for a full day of music on the main stage placed in front of the historic Oldham Theater. 

We crossed Carney Fork River a few miles before we hit the campground. This river is known for its beauty and peacefulness, with canoes and kayaks gliding down quiet water. It's a great river for rainbow, brown and brook trout. 

We are spending the night at Floating Mill Campground a COE park on Center Hill Lake. We have stayed before, but it is Jim & Debbie's first time. We have site 15, which you back into it and you face the water! Oh, what a beautiful site! 

Stay tuned for more #TwoLaneAdventures