More behind.....

Well, time for a quick recap of what we've been up to. We've been in TN for three weeks and have spent one week in the RV. The other two weeks were "vacation" weeks in the Smokey Mountains. We wrote about the first week spent at Fontana Village in NC. Now to cover the last week at Sunrise Ridge Resort in Pigeon Forge.

Our room was wonderful...well, except for an uncomfortable mattress. We had a nice balcony with an amazing view. We loved sitting out there with our morning coffee and evening drink of choice.

Morning....

Evening....

We spent several days at Dollywood, enjoying the rides during the day and the Christmas shows day and night. The lights were amazing, the parade adorable and the food delicious! We plan to get a season pass for next year as well.

Here are some of the decorations...

Just some of the shows...

Just some of the parade and lights...

We were VERY fortunate to meet up with fellow RVers, riders and bloggers...Linda & Linda (Lindaxtwo). We've followed each others blogs for several years now but never had a chance to meet. They were in the area for a couple of days and we made arrangements to meet at Mel's Diner for lunch. We sat and talked like old friends...until it was too late to go out for a ride.

So we made plans to do that another day...and we did. They invited us over to lunch (delicious) and we got to meet Boomer, their pup, and take a tour of their brand new Damon Outlaw Toy Hauler motorhome. Slick!!! They used to have a fifth wheel and much prefer the motorhome.

We took them on a ride through part of the Great Smokey Mountain National Park, stopping for scenic views along the way (including one we never get to stop at because it's always too busy).

From there we headed up to Townsend and over to Wears Valley where we made an ice cream stop (big surprise) at Rocky Top Country Store. We browsed the store while we enjoyed our ice cream. There was a lot of variety in the items but one caught my eye on the way inside and when we came back out, I just had to pick him up. He still doesn't have a name, that will come with time. He'll sit outside our rig as we travel and eventually will find a home at our log cabin.

Thursday had rain in the forecast. We had originally planned to do the full Gatlinburg Arts & Craft loop but opted to The Old Mill House shopping area. Beautiful!! We browsed a dozen stores and picked up a few decorative items for the our future cabin.

But the MOST fun was passing three women sitting on a bench, posing for a male friend...and no one had a camera. I had left mine at home as well but my new HTC Incredible 2 takes very good photos. I snapped a shot and emailed it to one of the ladies to share. They gave us such a giggle!

Friday dawned with cold temps...in the 30's, but sunny. We loaded up and headed home at 11am, making the most of the sunshine. Our heated gear worked wonderfully (as it did on the ride to Pigeon Forge). We stopped for lunch at the Fireside Restaurant in Huntsville, TN. Great food, good service and a nice atmosphere, all less than an hour from Jamestown. We'll be back.

Here are the links for all the photos at SmugMug:

• 2011 Visiting Pigeon Forge & Surrounding Area
• 2011 Visiting Dollywood Christmas Days 

Saturday we went out to breakfast and then headed to Cookeville to pick up Sadie. She was happy to see us...although silent. Seems she managed to get bronchitis and came home with antibiotics. Fortunately the $124 vet bill was covered by the kennel's insurance (for non pre-existing ailments). From there we headed to Sam's Club, took in a movie (J. Edgar...very good) and then a final Wal-Mart grocery stop.

That brings us to today...me doing laundry and Stu putting new brakes on the trailer. We knew the brakes were bad on the tire that blew out and he had already replaced the ones on the wheel with the bad bearing a short time ago. Now it was time to replace the rest. One was so bad that the pad was in two pieces. Guess we can't complain...we've put 70-80k on the trailer since 2007.

He found another tire that needs replacing, the cord was showing on the outer edge. We think we have a spring that needs replacing. on the kitchen slide side (our heavy side). That will get done in Florida...hopefully while we are on our cruise. In the meantime, two tires need to be bought. Then the propane line needs to get fixed as well as the electrical. We are still waiting to hear from KZ on the parts needed for that. Guess a phone call is in order.

I promised you a pic of OUR blown tire....here it is!

So this week will be chores, chores and more chores....interspersed with lunch with a good friend and maybe another movie. If the chores get done, we might do some clearing on the property in preparation for putting in a shed next summer. I know Sadie will enjoy that...she misses her friend, Keta. She's only gotten 20-30 minutes of play with her since we arrived here.

Not sure our exact departure day, just that we want to be in Florida by Dec 1st...we'll play it by ear.

Till next time - keep on rollin',
Donna and Stu