Day 37 of our 2025 RVing Adventure with Historical & Musical Interludes

It's Saturday June 7th, day 37 of our 2025 summer adventure. Debbie and I and a small "gang" of friends were able to get our walk in this morning before Mother Nature decided to water the grass again.

These mallard ducks have been around the campground all week. The name mallard originally referred to any wild drake, and it is sometimes still used this way. The female mallard is predominantly mottled, with each individual feather showing sharp contrast from buff to very dark brown, a coloration shared by most female dabbling ducks. I think most of these are juveniles.

We have seen a pair of mallards at our site. Not sure if these juveniles are from these parents or not... but they look like they are out "looking for trouble."

The campground back border is Waldens Creek. Waldens Creek is a stream located in Sevier County, Tennessee, United States. It is most popular for fishing Smallmouth bass, Bluegill, and Redbreast sunfish. It was clearer early in the week, as you can see in this picture. This morning, the creek was flowing fast and had turned brown from the heavy rains we had last night.

The rain kept most people inside their rigs after coffee and donuts. But, many of us came out for a spirited game of Bean Bag Baseball. Bean Bag Baseball games at Good Sam Rallies was Paul Jeannin's favorite event. He would always encourage people people to join his team. So, we built a team of Yankee staff and caravanners.

Debbie Carroll was the "hole in one" queen at the putt-putt golf course, and she was the "home run" queen today too. 

Gary tried to distract them with his stories, but it did not help! 

We put up a good fight, but we lost 12 to 13. 

The Yankee Staff worked hard at this rally, sharing the Amazing Memories that people can make on a Yankee adventure! Now, they can relax!

We enjoyed a BBQ Pork and Chicken dinner that was cooked by the Tennessee Good Sam staff members! 

Following this awesome dinner, there was a pie eating contest!

There were two guys and one woman! She put up a good fight, but the first one to finish was the "favorite!"

It was all in good fun and we all enjoyed some apple pie, with a fork! Or you could have banana pudding, or both!

The evening proceeded with the awarding of the game winners. The TN Good Sam State Staff was short on staff, due to illnesses and rig issues. A new couple stepped up and took over the games and they did an awesome job! 

The night ended with entertainment. What a great voice he had!

The rain chased some of us out of the pavilion early.

It was a great rally and we thank all of the TN Good Sam Staff that worked so hard to put it on! 

Stay tuned for more Two Lane Adventures!

Day 36 of our 2025 RVing Adventure with Historical & Musical Interludes

It's Friday June 6th, day 36 of our 2025 summer adventure. After my walk this morning the TN Good Sam rally hosted a pancake and sausage breakfast. It was so good, that I ate it all before I could get a picture. Here is a bit of a secret, Tim Carroll was the cook for the pancakes! It was my second pancake breakfast made by Tim and it was just as good as the first. The only difference is Carol shared her fresh blueberries with us in those pancakes! This picture is the TN State Good Sam director, Jonathan Boyd and the Kleen Tank Vendor from Western NC, Tom & Carol Kaczmarek. He is another "product" of the Jack Pate school of Kleen Tank!

Sheryl, Debbie Carroll, Debbie Dashnaw and I took a quick trip to Belk's. Belk department stores were founded in 1888 by William Henry Belk in Monroe, North Carolina, and evolved from a small bargain store to a major regional retailer. The store initially called "The New York Racket" and later became Belk Brothers after William Henry's brother John joined as a partner.

We all ended up buying a thing or two... Sheryl got a couple dresses, Debbie C got a dress and shorts, Debbie D got a shirt and I ended up with purple Sketchers and a skort. The thing that made me the most happy about my clearance purchases, no it was not that the Sketchers were purple... it was the skort. Yes, it is purple too, but more importantly, it is a Large!

I saw these tall red boots and thought of Cheryl and Barb. They were in my size and on the clearance table.... but I figured I would twist an ankle or break my neck with that skinny heal!

Yankee RV Tours sponsored the Ice Cream Social this afternoon. It is always a big hit at a Good Sam rally. But especially today on this hot, hot day! The only thing that would have made it perfect was a little root beer. Just like the traditional root beer floats that we start every Yankee rally, caravan or event with. 

Root beer floats made an appearance into American culture at the soda fountain counters of the early 1900s long before air-conditioning. With the main flavorings of sassafras and sarsaparilla grown in North America, root beer is a uniquely American drink.

This afternoon we enjoyed watching the Bean Bag Toss game. Debbie Dashnaw participated. No phone at the event, so no pictures! After the games were over, we sat and chatted with Dianna Triplett. We had such a great time visiting, two hours was gone by before we ever knew it! Many of the rally goers went to Dolly Parton's Dixie Stampede Dinner Theater. We have been before. So, Gary & Sheryl and Tim and Debbie went out to dinner. While Jim & Debbie and Charlie and I enjoyed a quiet evening sitting outside as the temperature started to drop in advance of the rain. 

As I right this tonight, the rain is softly falling on the RV roof. It has been many days since we have had rain on this trip! Stay tuned for more Two Lane Adventures!

Day 35 of our 2025 RVing Adventure with Historical & Musical Interludes

It's Thursday June 5th, day 35 of our 2025 summer adventure. Debbie and I walked in the City Park. Then we headed to the pavilion for coffee and donuts. This morning there was a seminar from the Pigeon Forge Fire Department followed by a seminar from Yankee RV Tours on "Making Amazing Memories."

We took a drive to Douglas Dam. We wanted to check out a TVA campground (Douglas Dam - Tailwater Campground) that we are staying in this September. The campground is at the base of the dam. You can see Douglas Dam - Headwaters Campground in the peninsula in the picture. We are not staying close to Pigeon Forge, as it is Fall Rod Weekend. The cars are awesome! But the traffic is a nightmare!

Nestled in the foothills of the Great Smoky Mountains, Douglas Lake in East Tennessee offers a premier fishing experience surrounded by stunning scenery. Known for its excellent populations of largemouth bass and crappie. The reservoir attracts anglers year-round. Douglas Lake is a reservoir created by an impoundment of the French Broad River in Eastern Tennessee. This lake is located only a few miles from the Pigeon Forge/Gatlinburg area, and also the Great Smoky Mountains National Park. The Douglas Dam was built by the Tennessee Valley Authority at a record pace from February 2, 1942, through February 19, 1943, to provide hydroelectric power and to control flooding downstream in the Tennessee River Valley. Douglas Dam is located just over 32 miles upstream from the French Broad River's confluence with the Holston River in Knoxville, to form the Tennessee River. Douglas Lake is a fertile, Tennessee Valley Authority reservoir with 555 miles of shoreline, a total surface area of 30,600 acres and a depth of 140 feet. 

This afternoon was games and crafts at the pavilion. Tonight was Samgo and the 50/50 drawing. I won the first game of Samgo, but no more and not the 50/50! It was a good day at the Tennessee Good Sam's Rally!

Stay tuned for more Two Lane Adventures!

Day 34 of our 2025 RVing Adventure with Historical & Musical Interludes

It's Wednesday June 4th, day 34 of our 2025 summer adventure. Debbie & I got a walk in at the city park. The sunrise was pretty along the "blue ridge" of the Smoky Mountains!

It's the opening day of the TN Good Sam's Rally. So, we headed up to enjoy coffee with friends.

Later, we took Jim & Debbie on a drive on the Foothills Parkway. It's a scenic 33-mile drive that follows the foothills of the Great Smoky Mountains. 

It's part of the National Parkway system and offers stunning views of both the Great Smoky Mountains and the Tennessee Valley. 

While the parkway was initially planned to be 71 miles long, only sections have been completed. That makes it the oldest unfinished highway project in Tennessee. 

The official mandate for the creation of this parkway, allowing for donations of land from the State of Tennessee to the Department of the Interior, came from Congress in 1944, calling for “construction of a scenic parkway to provide an appropriate view of the Great Smoky Mountains National Park from the Tennessee side of the park, and for other purposes.”

Construction on this “Foothills Parkway” got underway early in the following decades. The project, which envisioned a 72.1-mile drive weaving through the foothills on the northern side of the Smokies, was split into eight main sections, designated alphabetically from 8A through 8H. By 1968, some 22.5 miles of the Parkway consisting of sections 8A, 8G, and 8H—including the southwestern and northeastern ends of the route, and the access routes into Great Smoky Mountains National Park known as the Spur and the Gatlinburg Bypass—had been finished.

Funding issues, plus an increasing awareness of (and federal legislation requiring) environmental protection, slowed progress on the Foothills Parkway. So did the topographic and geologic demands of the route, which did, after all, run through some pretty rugged flanking terrain of the main range of the Great Smoky Mountains. Major progress was made in 2018 with the completion of 16 miles of the Foothills Parkway. The sections were 8E and 8F. But for us visitors, it is the section between Walland and Wears Valley.

We stopped at the Look Rock Lower Overlook. It is a natural observation ledge that overlooks The Great Smoky Mountains National Park. Look Rock is located on Foothills Parkway and is the highest point along the 18 mile road. There is also a picnic area and a campground at Look Rock. We had reservations there for September, but after the "hard pull" we had up the parkway, Charlie wanted to find somewhere else to camp! 

There is an observation tower that is open to the public. To get to the tower you must take the 1/2 mile hike. The visibility from the tower is a 360 degree panoramic view of the Smokies. You can see up to 40 miles on clear days. On hazy days the visibility is much less, but the view is still one of the best around. Jim & Charlie were not into a walk and I think I walked Debbie too much this morning!

We enjoyed lunch at the Smoky Mountain Brewery. Jim & Debbie enjoy a beer once a day. Usually around 2pm, it was only 1:30pm, but Jim said "close enough!"

The opening ceremonies were this evening at the campground. The small but might Tennessee State Staff have done a great job getting this all set up! They played a portion of the Memorial Day events in Washington DC before they started all the formal stuff. It was very nice. Interesting point... as each service anthem was announced, the Veterans in attendance stood. For the Army, there were only three Veterans that stood and all three were ladies! That does not happen very often!

Stay tuned for more Two Lane Adventures!

Day 33 of our 2025 RVing Adventure with Historical & Musical Interludes

It's Tuesday June 3rd, day 33 of our 2025 summer adventure. It's the early bird day for the Tennessee Good Sam's rally.

I got my walk in around the City Park. This morning there were a ton of young baseball players arriving for a Cal Ripken Tournament as I walked the trail.

Charlie and I had a few things to take care of in the rig, while we were waiting for Jim and Debbie to arrive today!

Gary, Sheryl, Tim, and Debbie finished setting up the Yankee RV Tours booth this morning and preparing the paperwork. It looks great under the pavilion. It's visible from the traffic on Wears Valley Road.

When Jim and Debbie arrived, just before 1pm. They needed a part for their RV. Since they do not tow a vehicle, Charlie and I drove them around looking for the part. Every where we went it was a special order and it would not arrive until after we left Pigeon Forge. So, tomorrow they will call Thor and see if they can order it and send it to our friends in Indiana. That is our next destination when we leave here on Sunday.

Tim, Gary, Sheryl, and Debbie manned the Yankee booth this afternoon while rally goers were checking in.

The theme for the rally is American Pride, so Yankee's Red and Blue are perfect for the rally.

How did Good Sam's get started you ask? The Good Sam Club got its start back in 1966 when a small Southern  California magazine, Trail-R-News, published a letter from a subscriber that recommended distributing decals to trustworthy RVers willing to offer assistance to fellow RVers. The publisher liked the idea and came up with the name the Good Sam Club, based on the parable of the Good Samaritan who helped a traveler in need. Bumper stickers were printed, the Good Sam guy got his now familiar halo and wide grin. 

The soft opening of the rally began tonight with a Sweet and Greet event. They had a great ice breaker called "Mingle Bingo." Each bingo card had different actions about people. You had to interact with other rally goers to see if any of them could fill in the blank you needed. We were trying to fill in the blanks to for the BIG T on the bingo card. It was a neat way to get to know other rally goers!

After the sweet and greet, we enjoyed a few games of Samgo (their version of Bingo.) It was a small group, because it was the early bird day. Debbie Dashnaw and I played Samgo. I won the first game and the coverall! It cost me $10 to play and I won $25, so it was a net positive night!

Stay tuned for more Two Lane Adventures.

Day 32 of our 2025 RVing Adventure with Historical & Musical Interludes

It's Monday June 2nd, day 32 of our 2025 summer adventure. Before our long drive today, there was time for a walk, laundry and cleaning. 

This morning we said "see ya later" to Gaby & Milt as they headed east toward her Dad's house in NC with a stop at the Biltmore in Asheville. 

Tim & Debbie, Gary & Sheryl, and Charlie & I had a big move today. We left Brian & Lisa in Creekside and we drove the less than a mile to King's Holly Haven. This park was established in 1997.

The Owenby family have built King's Holly Haven RV park on the last 11 acres of property purchased by their grandfather Lewis M. King in 1928. Mr King's family was forced from their home in the Greenbriar area of Sevier Co. The Greenbriar community was taken into the Great Smoky MTN NP & its citizens had to find property & homes for their family elsewhere. 

The King family moved to this current location where Lewis M King & Frances Whaley King raised their family of 15. The 6 brothers early years were spent at Elkmont Ranger Station in The Great Smoky MTNS NP. Their father was the Elkmont Ranger & took care of the Elkmont District which included a large campground. Growing up in the Smokies & living beside the campground has been a good background to conceive, plan & build King's Holly Haven RV Park.

We are here for a Tennessee Good Sam's rally. Tim & Debbie and Gary & Sheryl are working the Yankee RV Tours booth here. Charlie and I are just attending the rally.

We had visitors that went between our site and Tim & Debbie's site.

After we arrived and got set up, Charlie and I had a relaxing afternoon on our site. Our home for the next 6 nights! 

Debbie and Jim arrive tomorrow, let more fun continue on our Two Lane Adventure!

Day 31 of our 2025 RVing Adventure with Historical & Musical Interludes

It's Sunday June 1st, day 31 of our 2025 summer adventure. Tim & Debbie offered to cook us a pancake breakfast this morning. We all contributed something and it all was delicious! Especially the blueberry pancakes!

We all booked the Redneck Comedy Bus Tour in Pigeon Forge for our adventure today. We left the campground and headed to where we were meeting the bus. We were told that this ain’t your average bus tour! This camouflage school bus, proudly adorned with bull horns, now a comedy club on wheels, is almost entertainment enough. 

We learned the difference between a hillbilly and a redneck? As well as the difference between Mountain Dew, White Lightning and Moonshine? 

Maybe it’s the mullets, could be the moonshine or maybe these folks just have a genuine knack for making people laugh!

We did hoot n’ holler. But we never did bust-a-gut. 

After, we enjoyed a 30-minute rest stop at the Ole Smoky Moonshine Holler and our complimentary VIP moonshine tasting to whet our whistle at the distillery, we were happier than a tornado in a trailer park.

We did stop at the overlook and dependin’ on your eyesight, some real purdy scenery, historical landmarks, and maybe some famous or infamous folks hiding in them there hills.

We came back to the campground and relaxed for a bit before dinner. We got reservations for 10 at Harpoon Harry's at 5:30 pm on a Sunday night! Score! It is Gaby & Milt's last night with the group. Tomorrow they head back into NC to see the Biltmore and then onto Gaby's Dad's place.

The restaurant was quiet, but our conversation was lively and the food was good. Fletcher was our waiter and he did a great job, once he got the fans turned off!

Let me tell you a bit of history about Harpoon Harry's. It opened in April 2015, just over 10 years ago. It's located in the former Mandarin House which closed in 2011. Transforming the old Chinese restaurant into a world class seafood restaurant was no easy undertaking and an expensive venture. By the time they remodeled the restaurant and build on the addition, they had more than $3 million invested. The wood used on the interior is cut from the owner, Ron Evans’, property on Walden’s Creek Road in Pigeon Forge.  I did not get any pictures, but a professional carver, Randy Boni, has crafted out more than 60 wood carvings that adorn the interior of the restaurant. The custom made tables are thick planks joined them together to create a table top that sits atop wooden logs in keeping with the local mountain theme.

The restaurant seats 650 diners. The restaurant will has more than 26,000 square feet of indoor and outdoor dining space. The location for this restaurant has had a history of failure for other restaurateurs. 

Since 2007, four restaurants have failed at the same location. Evans, a Vietnam War veteran, has 35 years of success in the restaurant business and is confident of success. Since the have been here for 10-years, I think they broke that curse!

We ended the night as we have done many nights before, sitting around enjoying each others company. 

We all paid $1 on recreation.gov to try and win a car pass into the Annual Firefly Viewing Lottery in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park. None of us were successful, so one made an appearance at the campsite tonight! Fireflies, often referred to as lightning bugs, are fascinating beetles with many having the unique ability to light up their abdomens. The enchanting flash of a firefly serves a vital purpose: attracting a mate. Each species of firefly possesses a unique flash pattern that plays a crucial role in their mating display. These distinct light patterns help male and female fireflies of the same species identify one another. Most species emit a greenish-yellow light, but some species showcase more of a blue or white hue. Typically, males flash while in flight, while females—often perched on the forest floor—respond from below.

Gary, Sheryl, Tim, Debbie, Charlie and I have a big move tomorrow too! We move 1.2 miles to another campground. It's a left, right and left. We are hoping that no one gets lost! Stay tuned for more Two Lane Adventures!