Great Smoky Mountains Post 1

Arrived in Pigeon Forge, Tenn on May 4.

 

In the early 1800’s an iron forge with tub mill was built in the area.  The river’s banks were filled with beech trees and the beechnuts were a mainstay food for the Passenger Pigeons which made the river a natural stopping point.  Thus Pigon Forge!  The town continued as a sleepy farming community until the Great Smoky Mountains National Park was dedicated in 1940. In 1946, a landmark sale of the first parcel of property was sold. It was at this time that along the river the main road was cut through town and included two general stores and two churches. The town slowly began to grow, incorporating in 1961. The tourism boom hit the city in 1982 and since then, growth has been rapid and Pigeon Forge has become one of the most popular vacation destinations in the Southeast United States.  Pigeon Forge is within a day's drive of two-thirds of the nation's population east of the Mississippi River. 

Dolly Parton was born and raised in this local area.  She has invested into the community and helped build the town.  Dollywood amusement park is located in Pigeon Forge; it is a internationally recognized park and has won numerous awards.



All settled in, Creekside RV Park. 



The Great Smoky Mountains are a mountain range rising along the Tennessee-North Carolina border in the southeastern United States.  The name "Smoky" comes from the natural fog that often hangs over the range and presents as large smoke plumes from a distance. This fog, which is most common in the morning and after rainfall, is the result of warm humid air from the Gulf of Mexico cooling rapidly in the higher elevations of Southern Appalachia.  World renowned for its diversity of plant and animal life, the beauty of its ancient mountains, and the quality of its remnants of Southern Appalachian mountain culture, this is America’s most visited national park.  The park elevations are approximately 875 feet to 6,643 feet, I know compared with the Rockies this is low.  Smokies are part of an International Biosphere Reserve, which also includes other US parks such as: Grand Canyon, Yosemite, & Yellowstone.   There is NO park amittance fee.  Donations and soverign sales support the park.



We stopped for a relaxing lunch along The Little Pigeon River in the park.



Hike to Hen Hallow Falls, Cosby TN



Don't fall in!  Footbridge across stream.  Views up and down stream are breathtaking.

Hen Wallow Falls 95'



Hen Wallow Falls



A Mother Nature OOPS.  A large tree is uprooted causing a large hole in the trail.

Tree root system above ground. 

Upon returning from the park and driving through Pigeon Forge we saw a parade was forming.  One of our neighbors at the RV campground informed us that the town was celebrating a Dollywood amusement park award and Dolly would be in the parade.  We packed our chairs and headed downtown to enjoy. 



Dolly Parton in person!  She was on the first float, tells you her influence!




Float of another Threatre in Pigon Forge.  By the way, they did a parade for the west side of town on Friday night and east side on Saturday morning.  Had to make sure they covered all the resorts.



Nashville, Tenn.

Left Jonesboro on Sunday, May 1 for Nashville, TN.  We crossed the Missippippi (I-40) in Memphis.  You may remember I-40 (Little Rock to Memphis) being closed later in the week.   

Crossing Missippippi River at Memphis.  River is about 2X+ its normal width.



Memphis in the background.  Glad we crossed the "mighty" Missippippi on May 1!

There was some other excitement on the drive to Nashville besides the high water!  While cruising east on I-40 an 18 wheeler blew a trailer tire and the cap settled in our lane.  Left lane was full so didn't have any choses but to run over it, could have avoided it in the Z!  Fortunately the incident caused minor damage, it caught the RV rear mudflap and tore it slightly.  It also hit the tow hitch but just broke a tie wrap.  Tie wrap replaced and mudflap has been repaired till PA.  This one was close!

The rain stayed with us in Nashville.  But it allowed us to complete our agenda +.  Nashville was celebrating their 1 year flood experience of 2010.  We are not Country Music fans but our goal is to see America and this town has history plus present day influence.  Of course a trip to Nashville would not be complete without attending a show at The Grand Ole Opry.

Day 1- we did a downtown Trolley Hop tour which gave us an overview of the city past and present.
Tennessee's State Capitol looks much as it did when completed in 1859 .  One of the oldest working antebellum capitols in the nation, several areas have been restored to their 19th century appearance.


State Capital



Down the hill from the Capitol is the Bicentennial Capitol Mall State Park. It has a 200 ft. granite map, a walkway featuring the 95 counties in relief form, 31 fountains representing the major rivers of Tenn. and a very interesting History wall.


Bicentennial Capitol Mall State Park,  The state is outlined showing the different regions.  They did an excellent job on this park! 

A full-scale replica of the (Greece) Parthenon was constructed for the Tennessee Centennial Exposition of 1897.  It has been restored several times to keep its orginality.  It's a beautiful building.

Music Mile,  Just one of many music studios along the mile.



Of course, you need food, Bar-B-Que is a must!  We had lunch at this established downtown site. 




Cheryl getting into the tunes!




Cheryl must capture the flowers.  This is outside cityhall.



Many Andrew Jackson statues around town.

New city architecture.  Locals named it the "Batman Building"

Looking down on the Cumberland River which runs through the city.

Day 2 - President Andrew Jackson's Hermitage home.  The guides wore period costumes welcoming us to the grand 1837 mansion.  

Andrew Jackson began building this estate in his early years in Tennesse.  He was a lawyer before going into politics.  Now here is some news!  Andrew and his wife Rachel lived together while she was still married to another man.  A legal divorce was completed and then they were legally married.  Thought this only happened in today's world!  And this happened before he was elected president.

The current house was modified by Rachel and Andrew's adopted son, Andrew Jackson, Jr. and his wife, Sara.  Fire destroyed part of the orginial home plus they added more rooms.  Sara was originally from Philadelphia and bought most of the furniture in PA. The 1,120-acre farm has heirloom gardens made in the memory of his beloved wife. There are slave quarters and other historic buildings on the grounds.  The tombs of Rachel and President A. Jackson, his son and his wife and other relatives are buried on the grounds.

House entrance.  You could not take pictures inside.

House view from the rear.

Our visit was timely to the one year celebration of the 2010 Nashville flood. They pulled together a  Grand Ole Opry show to celebrate and we were able to attend.  The show included: Luke Bryan, Cherryholmes, Jimmy Dickens, Carolina Chocolate Drops, Dierks Bentley, Trace Adkins, Charlie Daniels Band, Brad Paisley with special guests the group, Alabama.  As you can see there were some well known perfomers.  It was a live radio broadcast.



Cherryholmes, This family is full of entertainers! 




Charlie Daniels Band




Brad Paisley



Brad Paisley with  Alabama

This was a great show and will leave memories of our Nashville visit.



Jonesboro, Ark.

Many of you are probably thinking, why Jonesboro, Arkansas?  This is where we moved when Larry graduated from Indiana Institute of Technology, first job as a Mechanical Engineer.  He worked for Walker Mfg, a division of Tenneco Corp.  Walker was moving their jack manufacturing operation from Racine, Wisconsin to Jonesboro when he started.  Each week the Jonesboro technical personnel would fly to Racine via the corporate plane.  Pretty neat as your first job, but like any business travel it gets old after a few weeks on the road.

We settled into the community quickly making friends with new work acquaintances plus neighbors.  We became very good friends with Dennis Abell who began work with Larry the same week.  We returned to Jonesboro for Dennis' wedding after our departure and we have remained in contact with them, mostly Christmas card/notes.  So we thought it was time to revisit Jonesboro and reminiscence.    

A note: Bill Bergy, NFL linebacker, lived above us in the apartment complex.  Jonesboro is home to Arkansas State University which Bill attended and he was back for the summer.

Cheryl captured a First Grade teaching position for the fall and we were both in "HOG" heaven with our careers.

But after a few years we realized we wanted to be closer to family and moved to Rochester, NY.



First HOME.  We built this house for less than half of what we paid for our last Chevy Tahoe.  It had a partial basement which came in handy during the Tornado May, 1973.  The Tornados (3 total) spared our house but they did extensive damage to the town.

School where Cheryl taught (East Elementary).  The school is still in use but curriculum has changed to International Studies. 



We camped at a Craighead County Park and had a nice relaxing site by the lake.  Sunset out the front window.  The camp sites were excellent and economically priced.



Our camp neighbors!

One of many playgrounds at the Park.  This park has really been improved since 1973. 



Patti and Dennis



The girls had a pedicures and were showing off the investment.



Thanks Patti and Dennis for the great visit.

 

Branson

We arrived on April 22 and set-up camp at Shenanigan's RV Park.  The owner of the park is a former SR-71 pilot and  now, unfortunately, fighting cancer.  We enjoyed the evening relaxing by the picnic table and watching the weather channel!  Tornados and thunderstorms surround the area.  The rain (thunderstorms) began about 10 PM that evening.

Beautiful park on the west side sitting on "high" grounds, picture taken the day we left.

Branson is surrounded by water, mainly man made dams to "control flooding".  Table Rock Lake is on the west side and its dam deposits into Lake Taneycomo which is on the south and east sides of Branson.  Lake Taneycomo supports the Branson Landing area of town.

Saturday we visited Shepard of the Hills Fish Hatchery at the base of Table Rock Lake in the rain, the rain did not bother the fish.  The hatchery raises Rainbow Trout which is stocked in the Missoui streams. 



Table Rock Dam April 23.  State route MO 165/265 runs across the top of the dam.  As you can see it's damp!  We drove across the top but visibilty was limited.



Rainbow trout 8 - 10"

Easter morning we attended early Easter services and retreated to the RV to enjoy another day of Thunderstorms.  It poured all day with thunder and lightning.  It was cool and damp.  We made a pot of Vegatable Soup.

Picture window view of the rain through the trees.



The birds were trying to find a dry spot.



The following was posted 4/25/11: BRANSON, Mo. -- The roadway over Table Rock Dam that carries Missouri 265 and Missouri 165 was closed late Monday afternoon, the Missouri Department of Transportation said.  As heavy rain continued, an earth slide occurred near the roadway about 100 yards north of the dam.  The road is closed as a precaution in case a wider area becomes unstable and undermines the road. The dam is not in danger in any way.

You will see in future pictures what happens to Branson with the rain.

Monday we attended an afternoon show, Hughes Brothers (http://www.hughes-brothers.com/).  This show has been in Branson for 17 years.  Five brothers, their wives and children make up the show.  They are Morman and have missioned around the world.  Their parents adopted children from Russia.  Obsiously you had to be musically inclined to be part of the family.

Tuesday the weather broke and we were able to get out.  We ventured to the strip and played miniature golf, it was a game I could win against Cheryl.  Seems like all the other games we played Cheryl won hands down, damn!

You were transported by this train to the 1st hole.

Tuesday evening we attended the Presley Country Jubilee (http://www.presleys.com/).  The Presley (not related to The King) family built the first theater in Branson.  Father passed away last year and now the children run the show and you might say the town.  A daughter-in-law is Branson's mayor.  I said to Cheryl before the show started this family helps run this town.   Their show is made up of variours entertainers from across the country.  One of the brothers is the comendian along with his son. 

Wednesday afternoon we attended a show called "Buckets and Boards" (http://www.bucketsnboards.com/).  Two younger entertainers using plastic buckets as drums and tap dancing on the boards.  This show was OK but did not match the other two, of course these guys were just in the beginning of their careers while the other two shows had many years of experience and a large support staff. 

Thursday, a blue sky day, we went to "Old" Branson.  Old Branson proper was not affected by high water because it is on higher elevation but Branson Landing is lake level.  The land walkway was under water.

Entrance to the lake walk

View from parking lot to the stores along the lake walkway.  These stores are on on island but not separated by this amount of water.

View of local park as we leave Branson

Heading for higher grounds out of Branson.  Ozark Mountains.



Our next destination is Jonesboro in the northeastArkansas.  We traveled across southern MO but when we entered AR they had road closures due to the high water.   We had to travel several extra miles but did it successfully.

Beautiful Plains (East CO, Kansas)

Well we tried to leave Colorado Springs Wednesday, April 20 but "The Unit" had other ideas!  It would NOT start so called our Good Sam Emergency Road Service.  Gentleman showed up and tried to convince us the RV batteries needed to be replaced.  The computer was not recognizing the transmission.  The tech did suggest disconnecting the batteries and see if that would "Reboot" the computer.  It worked and we were on the road about 2 hours late!  Of course trying to duplicate this electrical situation for a trained tech is difficult because it does not happen all the time. That is why I carry wrenches!
We headed east on CO 94, US 40 to I-70.  We had the road to ourselves!  Cattle ranches and oil wells was the scenery, no mountains.  We made it to Russell, Kansas, home of Bob Dole, on the first leg.

Active well outside our campground in Russell

Lonely Farm in the middle of Nowhere!

That great "Western" Beef, eating the brown grass





Windmills!  The high winds turn these babies!

Thursday we drove (extremely high winds on I-135, ~ 25 mph with gusts to 50.  This played h___ with the fuel economy down about 1 mpg) to Wichita and did some touring.  Interesting facts about Wichita, it has served 11,000 years as a trading center for nomadic people.  The Wichita Indians were the first permanent settlers in 1863,  and it became a city in 1870.  Its nickname was "cowtown" due to the cattle drives from Texas.  Wichita produces more than 40% of the world's general aviation aircraft, home to Beech, Cessna and of course Hexcel's favorite customer Spirit, a former Boeing operation.
We went to the Cowtown Museum.  Building restorations and reproductions (40 total) of the 1865 - 1880 era.   Attendance was small so we had individual guided tours of the buildings and special events.

Friday morning we pulled in the slides and headed to Branson, MO.  More rural scenery, US 400, across southeast Kansas into Missouri.  Unfortunately we were heading into the storm front that has been stalled in the area.