Cashing in on Nashville

Location: Montgomery Bell State Park, TN

We enjoyed the cool mountain air last night. It was a chilly 65 degrees with 75% humidity. We were used to it being in the 80's during most nights so this was a delightful surprise.

We decided to take advantage of the cool morning and go for a hike to Clingmans Dome. This is the highest point in the Smoky Mountain National Park at 6643 ft.

 

 

 

The last time we were here the visibility was really poor, in fact, we were almost completely socked in with fog. This time we were lucky and had a pretty clear day. Unfortunately, the pollution from nearby cities and coal-fired power plants still reduces the visibility.

 

 

Here's a picture of the observation tower at the top of Clingsmans Dome.

 

 

Some guy at the top had set up a Morse Code station and was clicking away. Pretty impressive to see how fast he was doing it too! We also crossed the Appalachian Trail. There were a lot of interesting characters up here.

On the Western side of the park we stopped by the Visitor's Center and took in a film. Things I learned: There are more species of trees in the Smoky Mountains than in all of Europe combined and there are more types of salamanders here than anywhere else in the world.

We spent the morning at the park and really enjoyed the sights, sounds and beauty of our nation's most visited National Park.

 

 

 

Leaving the pristine forest and entering Pigeon Forge is a bit of a shock. This side of the park is much more over the top with tourist attractions than the kitschy Cherokee side. You've got your rides, buffets, miniature golf, water slides and of course, Dollywood!

We passed on Dollywood cuz once you've been to Disneyworld there is no going back...haha.

 

 

 

They bring their coffee in by the truckload in these here parts...

p.s. what no milk tanker? I don't drink my coffee black.

 

 

 

 

By mid afternoon we were ready to sample some more 'cue. (We gained an hour so we were really hungry-ha!) So far this trip we've tasted Texas BBQ (brisket rub), Florida BBQ (a little bit of everything), Carolina BBQ (a mustard based sauce with a good rub) and now we're ready for Nashville BBQ. We heard about Martin's BBQ thru Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives and it's won some contests so we thought we'd give it a try. The Redneck Taco comes highly recommended. What do you think Ned?

 

What exactly is a Redneck Taco you ask? BBQ (Ned opted for the brisket) on top of a cornbread hoe-cake topped with slaw and sauce. His two sides were beans and potato salad, along with my Texas toast.

I stuck with pulled pork, broccoli salad and my latest addiction, hush-puppies. Yum! So far we give Martin's BBQ joint the first place award. (We still have Kansas City BBQ tho, so stay tuned).

 

Our original plan was to visit the Johnny Cash Museum in Nashville. Upon arrival there was a bunch of crazy happening. Streets were closed down, bandstands were set up everywhere and there were thousands and thousands of people milling around in the heat. Turns out it was the last day of the CMA Music Festival. Jackpot!! We parked and became one of the thousands milling around. Only difference is I wasn't properly attired in my cut-off shorts, cowgirl boots and cowboy hat.

There were bands everywhere playing from one end of Nashville to the other. We saw Craig Wayne Boyd perform. He was last season's winner of The Voice. He was playing on the Riverwalk stage with lots of boats on the water watching.

 

 

 

While roaming the streets we ran into Corey White, one of the contestants of this year's The Voice. He was kind enough to stop and chat with us and let me take a picture with him. He's a really sweet kid and still very humble.

I also ran into Forrest Gump. Say what?! Life IS like a box of chocolates...you never know what you'll get.

 

 

 

 

We took in a couple more shows and even though there was a lot going on, we needed to escape the heat (it was well into the mid 90's) so we decided to duck into the Johnny Cash Museum afterall. Glad we did.

 

The museum featured everything Johnny you can imagine; childhood report cards, early recordings, costumes, movies that he acted in (some were really, really bad), every record album, and lots of June Carter things too. My favorite was watching a recording of Johnny Cash impersonating Elvis Presley.

 

 

 

 

The museum had a lot of interactive kiosks wherein you could listen (with headphones) from just about any Johnny Cash song recorded. I really enjoyed listening to the early years.

After a long day of too much fun, sun, music, and walking nearly 8 miles, we decided it was time to head for the campground. Montgomery Bell is a sweet campground, mostly built by the CCC. It's still hot, way into the 90's, so I'm mostly excited that there are lots of trees here and we scored a campsite on the creek. First thing we did upon arrival was go cool off.

After a bit I convinced Ned that what we really wanted to do was go ride our bikes and explore this enormous park. It has a golf course, hotels, conference center, etc. Well, we rode about a mile or so, hit a couple of really big hills and called uncle. What was I thinking?! It's still 90 and we're plum tuckered out. Next plan is to stick our chairs IN the creek and call it a day.

 

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Appalachia Hills

Location: Smokemount Campground, Great Smokey National Park

First things first: an update on last night's entertainment. Ned and I continued to float in the lake until way past sunset, almost 9:30. It was amazing to float in the warm water while watching a bald eagle soar overhead. Meanwhile, the bubba's kept working on rescuing the stuck trailer and car. Further reinforcements were called in, including a pick-up truck and two winches. Didn't seem to help much. Ned and I went to bed about 11ish and continued to watch the "Great Trailer Rescue" perched on our observation platform in Winnie. These guys were hilarious. Their final solution was to chop down trees, yes in a State Park, and then finally power 'er out. At one point they were in our campsite, all 4 vehicles' lights on, trying to locate their ropes, belts, winches, plywood, etc. Good times for sure. There was also a Russian Church Revival going on in the next loop. We were serenaded with Russian Church songs this morning. Here's their posted sign. On our way out we drove to the tent Revival area. They approached us, were very friendly, inquired if we were lost and then asked us to be on way. Sadly, we weren't invited to the revival.

We spent the morning enjoying our coffee while floating in the lake.

We continued into the Appalachia Mountains, on some really obscure roads, enjoying the cool mountain air and getting a respite from the 90 degree humidity. We passed through many mountain towns that were having their church revivals. We're still in Baptist territory with a few Pentecostal churches dotting the land. One of the church signs read "Our Sundays are better than Dairy Queens." (Mmm, are they sure? That Blizzard is pretty darn good!) Biggest excitement of the day..smoker fell out of the back of the pick up truck. I hate when that happens.

We eventually crossed back over into Georgia where the movie Deliverance was filmed. This area is stunningly beautiful, incredibly green and lots of rolling hills. Wish it was Friday night I would have loved to take in some Bluegrass Music!

We finally made it to the Great Smoky Mountains National Park. This park doesn't take reservations so we weren't sure we would be able to find a camp spot in the beginning of summer on a Sat. night. As luck would have it when we arrived there were a couple left. Here's me being a very happy camper.

 

 

 

After securing our camp spot we decided to do a little exploring of the park. First up was the Visitor's Center and then the living history village. They do a nice job of explaining the Appalachian way of life before the park took over their land. They've got hogs, the spring house to keep food cool, the blacksmith's shed, the apple house, the corn crib, meat house, main cabin and barn. Here's Ned in front of the corn crib.

We also took in Mingus Mill. We just missed seeing it in action by a few minutes, but were still able to tour the inside. We were impressed to learn that it had been built long ago, in three months, for a total cost of $600. It ground both cornmeal and wheat flour for the local residents.

 

 

 

 

We took a walk along the Oconaluftee River. Even tho it's not as humid as the low country, it's still pretty hot here, low 90's. It felt good to walk under tree shaded cover.

We thought about going swimming, but this mountain water was no Lake Strom Thurmond. A bit too chilly for moi.

We made a quick trip into Cherokee for supplies, but I just couldn't bring myself to do the touristy shopping thing today. There's only so many MinneTonka moccasins, Indian blankets and trinkets I can look at. Cherokee is technically an Indian Reservation and the Gateway into the Eastern side of the park and they sure do play up the Indian theme.

 

 

 

Princess pancakes anyone? Nothing says Indian quite like a buffet breakfast...or Indian tacos. We passed.

We opted for a quiet dinner home tonight. We're camped in the middle of a wide open setting. We figured it will be great entertainment as the evening wears on. After all the big RV's we've seen, it's nice to be in the tent section watching families interact, play ball and horseshoes, ride bikes, etc. Unlike the Russian Rivival Group, maybe we'll be invited to join in one of these games?

 

 

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Life in the Slow Lane

Location: Hamilton Branch State Park, SC

This morning's campsite was so beautiful I didn't want to leave. We hung out as long as possible just soaking in the beauty of the "Low Country."

 

 

 

 

We took a morning bike ride that took us through marsh

along a boardwalk

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

and through groves of Spanish Moss hanging from the trees. We rode next to a Civil War battlefield and you could still see the earthworks. We also saw an abandoned moonshine still with the axe marks from the federal agents. This place has some cool history.

 

 

 

We finally left Georgia, headed a bit north into South Carolina and then, for the first time, began heading west. We really enjoyed taking country roads into the Carolina hills. Many of the towns we passed through were old railroad towns, barely hanging on. Here's a picture of one of the old railroad stations or warehouses. So typical of this area.

 

 

 

We also passed lots and lots of little fruit stands. Mainly Grandma sitting next to her tomatoes or peaches.

By early afternoon we began to look for a good BBQ place, afterall this is South Carolina. The BBQ places here are much different than elsewhere. You won't see big smokers out front, but instead cinderblock buildings with obscure signs. The BBQ here is usually a buffet type. And from past experience I can tell you we usually don't recognize half the food. Here's a pic of some cracklings on the right, with pulled pork on the left.

 

 

The food was acutally pretty great! I settled on cabbage with butter beans, baked beans, a couple of ribs, and hush puppies. The BBQ sauce here is mustard based, which I usually don't like, but theirs was delicious!! I opted for the tea unsweetened. I still haven't mastered the art of "Sweet Tea".

Don't be fooled by this plate. I ate at least 6 hush puppies! These are the best hush puppies I've ever eaten. They were just the right amount of crunch, with a soft inside and not too much onion.

I think we should call our blog "Adventures in Eating" and not so much "Adventures with Winnie".

 

 

The quirkiest part of this restaurant was this sign near the door. Needless to say, we left everything, including our ice teas behind. (There went my plan of stealing hush puppies!)

p.s. How embarrassing would that be to ask my children to bail me out of the Barnwell County Jail for stealing hush puppies?

We continued moseying through South Carolina eventually ending up in the Carolina piney hills. We are situated right ON Lake Strom Thurmond. One side of the lake is Georgia, the other is South Carolina. We stumbled upon this spot 7 years ago and it's even better than we remembered.

Our little camp spot is situated on a cove in the lake

 

 

 

 

Here's how I spent the late afternoon and early evening.

 

Here's Ned joining me.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Our other entertainment this evening has been watching the doufus camped next to us attempt to extract his car and trailer from the mud. (How he managed to wedge it in this one spot is beyond us). He's been at it for several hours. We offered to help, but he said he had it under control, his brother would be arriving to bail him out. When his brother finally arrived, he drove up, and with a big ol' Southern Drawl belted out, "Whut the hell 'ave you done?" then stood there and scratched his head. Priceless! As of this posting they are still trying to figure it out...

 

 

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Jekyll Island - The Millionaire's Club & Low Country Boil

Skidaway Island State Park, GA

We decided to take our time driving up the coast of Florida this morning. Northern Florida is really beautiful with lots of islands off the coast. We went from island to island taking bridges and a ferry, and looking at all the fancy houses lining the Atlantic Ocean.

Here's me hanging out on the front of the ferry as we came into dock. Ned was smart enough to stay in the vehicle...can you say baking hot temperatures!

 

 

A lot of this area is beautiful marshland.

Last night, Ned did a little research and found a really interesting place to visit today called Jekyll Island. It's located in Southern Georgia and has an interesting history of Native American, Spanish and English settlements. What fascinated me the most is the "Jekyll Island Club." It was touted as the "richest, most inaccessible club in the world." Founded in 1886, there were 100 members such as J.P. Morgan, Rockefeller, Vanderbilt, Carnegie, and a bunch of other bigwigs that were captains of industry. Here's a picture of their "Club House". Yes, everything you see in this picture is the club house.

The members, and their families, did a variety of outdoor activities such a hunting, horseback riding, skeet shooting, golf, tennis, biking, croquet, lawn bowling, picnics and carriage rides. The people arrived by boat...er should I say by yacht and sailing ships. JP Morgan's boat, the Corsair II, was too big to dock. Anchored in the channel Morgan was escorted ashore by a flotilla of small craft, after a cannon had sounded off his arrival. No egos here.

Here's a picture of a humble cottage.

These multi-millionaires built their summer "cottages" in Newport, RI and their winter "cottages" here on Jekyll Island. My question is, when did these guy work?!

We had a blast riding our bikes around looking at all the cottages, boat house, club house, chapel, etc. The bike path through the historical district was pristine and tree-lined.

 

 

We only encountered 5 other riders on our 15 mile ride. Either people don't appreciate this little gem of a path or we were the only ones crazy enough to ride in 91 deg. temperature in mid-day. We rode around most of the island, exploring the campground (for a future trip?), the Atlantic Ocean paths (which were not tree lined and hotter than hell in the blazing sun) and the fancy golf club.

After this several hour excursion we loaded up our bikes and continued north heading toward Savannah. The skies opened up and dang did it pour! The weather here is so weird. It can be blue skies and sunny one minute, then just downpour the next, then go back to being sunny. We secured our campsite at Skidaway Island State Park and then headed for Tybee Island. Wahoo!

This is a beautiful campground situated under lots of Spanish Moss and among palmetto trees.

 

We've done a roadtrip for 7 years and our favorite meal of all time has been the Low Country Boil at the Crab Shack on Tybee Island. Their motto is "Where the Elite eat in their barefeet." (Yes, that would be us...Jekyll Island and so elite - ha!) Today we headed back to see if it really was as good as we remembered. We didn't call this trip "The Greatest Hits" for nothing!

This is a really funky place situated right on the marsh. We had to cross about 4 or 5 islands to get here.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Scored the margarita! Sure hope the meal is as good as we remembered...

Oh Man...this is so GOOD!! (Alan and Patty...roadtrip!!!!!) Hot n' juicy has nothing on this place. We got fresh Georgian shrimp right out of the ocean, sausage, corn on the cob and potatoes all boiled together with some secret seasoning.

 

 

 

 

 

Oysters anyone? Okay, not us but dang these suckers are huge! Other people were ordering crawfish, whole crab, king crab legs and of course, BBQ. We stuck with the Low Country Boil.

Hey friends in Nevada City, I'm thinking we should get together this summer and do a big "Low Country Boil!" Who's IN??

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Biggest gator caught on record, over 19 ft. Caught by "Ned", son of inventor of tobasco sauce.

Perfect finish to a great day!

 

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