March 27-28, 2019 - Douglas Headwater Campground, Sevierville, TN

March 27-28, 2019 - Sevierville, TN  

We had another fairly long travel day ahead of us so we were for coffee, breakfast, then to  pack up for a 279 mile ride to Sevierville, TN.  We left the campground shortly after 9am.  Even though a long day, we could not complain about our drive as we passed through both the Appalachian and Great Smoky Mountains on the way.  Talk about beautiful places.   Our Interstate Highway system is such a marvel to me, and how easy it often makes our travels. While our preference is normally not to travel the Interstates, when we are in the mountains pulling an RV it is the only way to go.   

Gorgeous Scenery

We saw a number of these little waterfalls on the mountainsides.

Entering Tennessee!

More beautiful mountains

French Broad River

Douglas Tailwater Campground, located below the Douglas Dam

We arrived at our campground at 2:30.  What a beautiful location!

Our site

View of Douglas Lake from our site

Beautiful picnic area near the water's edge.

On our walk I took this picture of our site.

We were both hungry.  I had my left over vegetables Dede sent with me, along with a hamburger patty, with cheese.

As we drove through Sevierville (pronounced severe-ville), I saw a few things I wanted to visit and take pictures of.  I also needed to mail a payment and new ACH form to my health insurance provider.  Evidently we missed a letter several weeks ago that advised me of a change that requires me to sumbit a new ACH form to continue payment of my health insurance each month.  When we received our mail yesterday at Dede's, I received a letter telling me I was behind in my health insurance payment.  That was scary!!!  I can't go without health insurance.  I called and they assured me it would be fine - they were noting it in my file so I definitely wanted to get it in the mail today.  With that chore finished, we took a little ride around Sevierville.

As we left the campground and drove toward Sevierville, I took these pictures (Smoky Mountains in the background).

After finally, after finding the post office, we made our way to the Historic downtown area where I took several pictures of the Sevier County Courthouse.  

Sevier County Courthouse

Statue of Dolly Parton

Dolly was born in Pittman Center, located in Sevier County.

Panoramic View of the lake area.

This is the beach - sure looks like fun to swim in the sand, huh?  They dropped the level of the lake over the winter (which apparently they do every year) and it hasn't yet come up.  I would suspect they may get some water from upstream from some of the flooding that has occurred.  The poles show the depth of the water for swimmers.  The highest number on the furthest pole out, was either 10 or 12'.

One last picture for the evening.

March 28, 2019 - Lunch Out, and Just Looking Around

We had no agenda for today and wasn't in a hurry to get going.  We enjoyed a beautiful sunrise this morning out our window which just happened to face the water on this trip.  

Thanks to my sweet husband Dean who took these pictures for me.

We've enjoyed walking in this park and even though we did not get our full 2 miles in yesterday or today during our morning and evening walks, we still did get a fair amount of walking that gave us well over our 10,000 steps we try to get in each day.

After breakfast and taking time to do a little straightening in Bentley, we headed into town.  We headed north a little ways and not seeing anything we really wanted to stop at, we finally decided we were hungry.  We stopped at a Denny's.  It was new and had an entirely different look inside that any others we've seen - very contemporary.  Instead of a regular bar at the counter - it had a stand alone bar with stools, several high tables, and then a dining area like in most Denny's.

Dean loves his breakfast and even though he had his this morning, he had it again for lunch - the whole shebang, eggs, sausage, hash browns, toast and pancakes!  He couldn't quite finish his pancakes, but he made a good effort!

I had a cheeseburger, but did not eat the bun.  It was very good with avocado, bacon and cheddar cheese with lettuce, tomato and pickle.  They offered me fruit rather than the fries and that was a nice touch.

After dinner we stopped at a Clayton Home lot on our way back to the campground.  Now that we own a lot that we plan to build on in the future, we are giving lots of thought to what type of house we want and the layout.  They had a great 3 bedroom, 2 bath that was nice but after looking at it, I'm not sure a manufactured home is what we want, but I liked the layout.  

With nothing else to do in i, we headed back to the campground.  I enjoyed a little nap, and then we took another walk around the park.  It is such a nice area.  This evening  we were wishing for Alvin and his Genie fire pit, as it turned cool quickly as the sun set and it was too cold to sit outside.  Back in Bentley we went.

I've been trying to go through all the pictures I took while we were in Hardeeville.  I took hundreds of them, with something to do everyday, so I hope to get that blog completed soon.

Tomorrow we will head to Nashville, Tennessee for two days.

March 25-26, 2019 - Greensboro, NC - Visiting a Dear Friend and Mt. Airy, NC

March 25-26, 2019 - Greensboro, NC - Visiting a Dear Friend and Mt. Airy, NC


I am still going through and cropping the pictures and write-up for our time in Hardeeville, SC, and will post them soon.  In the meantime I want to try and catch up the past several days.   We are currently in Nashville, TN.

We left our friends Keith & Drena, Alvin & LInda and Cindy this morning shortly after 9:00am, as we moved from Camp Lake Jester in Hardeeville, SC to Greensboro KOA, NC to spend a couple of days with my very dear friend Dede Roberts.

Dede and I met in Lawrence, KS in November 1984 to attend the City Clerk Certification Institute through Kansas University.  We both were attending our first year of the three year program and we quickly became very good friends.  Even though Dede left the position of City Clerk after serving in two communities for a total of about 10 years, she remained involved in city government for several years, and served as Mayor of Spring Hill, KS a few years later.  We have remained friends throughout the changes that have occurred in our lives.  It's like time just picks up where it left off the last time we saw or talked to each other.  

Before we left, Alvin and/or Keith were telling us about the little town called "South of the Border, SC".  On our way we enjoyed the billboards they had up every few miles for MANY, MANY miles.

Here are a few pics once we reached South of the Border:

How many of you remember the Palmer Motel/Rentals in Oswego?  When I saw this I had to take a picture.  I know my step-brother Mike and his aunts will appreciate it - as that was his grandparents and their parents.  It was one of the first places Dean lived when he moved there.

How about that sombrero?

Pink Flamingos

Pedro - welcoming us to "South of the Border, SC"

Not sure what this gorilla's name is - but reminds me of PSU's Gus.

After we were set up, we headed to Dede's apartment in downtown Greensboro.  Wow, it was good to see her and we had a delightful evening.  Unfortunately, the predicted rain did not hold off, even though it was pretty light, so we still managed to walk around a bit in the downtown area on the way to a nearby restaurant, Europa Cafe.  The food was quite good and we had a nice visit.  Afterwards we walked back to Dede's and visited for another couple of hours before we headed back to Bentley.



Tuesday, March 26, 2019

We were up early this morning because Dean and I decided to go out for breakfast.  We selected Jake's Diner.  I chose a farm ham and cheese omelet.  Dean had his normal 2 egg, sausage, hash browns and biscuit.  He thought his meal was pretty good.  I was disappointed and part of it was my own fault.  I almost asked what type of cheese they used in their omelets - I prefer cheddar and really dislike american cheese.  Guess what I had - yep, american.  The farm ham was pretty salty but I was hungry so I ate it anyway.  Dean did not need a hangry lady to deal with later!

From Jake's we drove northwest a bit to Mt. Airy, NC.  On the way we could see Pilot Mountain in front of us for quite a distance.  

Pilot Mountain

Entering Mt. Airy

How many of you remember hearing about Mt. Pilot on the Andy Griffith Show?  Do you think that might have been Pilot Mountain?  Andy grew up in Mt. Airy, NC.  I was surprised to learn how many things in Mt. Airy were directly related to Mayberry.  Dean and I still love to watch the Andy Griffith Show so we thoroughly enjoyed our time here.  I could have easily spent the entire day going to the shops and just driving around the town.  Dean enjoyed it, but his feeling is, "I don't have to read everything in a museum to enjoy it", unlike me who doesn't want to miss a word.  If we had visited just one store that would have been enough for him - so I didn't even put him through it.  Isn't he a lucky guy?  Honestly, he is so good about these trips we make and I'm so very thankful for it.  He's the best!

The following are a few things I wanted to share from our time at The Andy Griffith Museum

Do any of these pictures look familiar?

Andy's boyhood home.

Posing with Opie and Pa (Andy).

Beautiful trees behind the Museum

Dean, I didn't know you had a thing for Thelma Lou?  

Loved this statute in front of the Museum.

Me in front of the museum.

One thing I seen in the museum was a video of Brad Paisley singing his song Waiting on a Woman.  While I've heard the song many times, I did not know Andy had a cameo part in the video and I loved it.  If you are an Andy fan, and haven't ever seen it, take the time to watch to the very end.  

When we returned to Greensboro, we stopped by Dede's business Mi-Box.  She started the business about 4-5 years ago.  I'm so proud of her.  It's not easy starting a new business and working it from the ground up, but I know she's a person who can do it and she'll do great.  

We had a tour of the warehouse where they keep their boxes and met Jeff, her office assistant.  We really enjoyed visiting with him as well.  As usual, she has surrounded herself with some great people.  

We returned to her apartment and then left to take a walk downtown while it was still light and best of all:  no rain.  It was a beautiful late afternoon and I snapped quite a few pictures to share.

What a gorgeous building in downtown Greensboro, NC.

An old Woolworth Building has been renovated into The International Civil Rights Center & Museum.  I would have liked to have visited, but they were near closing for the day.  On my list for the next visit.

Old Kress Building - I cannot remember what is located here now, but another beautiful building.

A restaurant I know my daughter would love.  

There were a few of these jean sculptures in the downtown area that were created by High School students.

Sculpture to Remember 911

Pictures of a couple of notes that had fallen to the base of the sculpture.

Crooked Tail Cat Cafe - I had never heard of a cat cafe before, but discovered Nashville also has one (where we are now).

Creator of Vicks Vapor Rub - right here in Greensboro!

Dede had a wonderful dinner prepared for us of pork loin (was cooking in the crock pot all day) and roasted vegetables (broccoli, cauliflower, sweet potatoes, brussel sprouts, mushrooms, fennel, onions).  The meal was delicious!  

Dean did a little repair work for her on a table she had purchased, and of course, the outcome was great.  I have to brag on my husband just a little, right?  He is pretty resourceful and I do appreciate how he seems to be able to fix anything, whether for me, family or friends!

We had a great visit, and even remember to take a picture together and one of Dean and I: 

Dede and I

Dean and I with our Sheriff badges

and finally at about 9:00 we headed back to Bentley.  Dede, thanks so much for the meals and taking time out of your busy schedule for us.  We both really enjoyed our time with you and visiting the area.