Pigeon Forge, Tennessee

We are in the Pigeon Forge, Gatlingburg, Sevierville area for a week to see some shows and to enjoy the weather and the mountains.  We are at Walden Creek Campground, a small campground just off the main highway in Pigeon Forge.  Since arriving we had the oil in the truck changed, did the laundry and saw two shows.  We went to the Lumberjack Feud the 2nd night and to Country Tonight on the 3rd night.  The Lumberjacks were split into two teams for the battle.  They did axe throws, log rolling, tree climbs and a variety of wood chopping events.  It came with a pork and chicken dinner with Italian green beans, mashed potatoes, mac n' cheese and and an apple fritter for dessert. Yum!

                                                                                                  Lumberjack Feud    

Chopping fast!

Sawing competition

Another event

Log rolling

Deb cheered the loudest in our section and won a "Lumberjack Cookie"

   The Country Tonight show was fantastic!  Great performers singing current and classic country songs, with some comedy and lots of dancing.  It was very good.                                                                         

Melanie Hyder

Treyphena Layman

12 year old Willow Osborne was great!

Colin Chandler, 12 years old, was great also.

King Kong was up to his old tricks again at the Wax Museum

                                                                              
The last two shows that we saw were The Hatfield and McCoy Feud and the Mystery Theater.   No photos allowed at the Mystery Theater.  Both were very good and the food was the average show food, chicken, pork or pulled pork.  It was acceptable.  The feud between the Hatfield and McCoy's was good, with lots of banjo and guitar music, as well as some good acting and clogging.  All in all, Pigeon Forge was entertaining.  We also went two three wineries and purchased two bottles of local wine.
                                                                            

The feud continued

Good Country Music

The Theater

In the end, Pa Hatfield proposes to Ma McCoy and after 51 years, the feud ends

                                                                             

                                                                     

Asheville, North Carolina

We are in Asheville, North Carolina for 5 days at the Lake Powhatan campground in Pisgah National Forest.  We came to Asheville to specifically see the largest home in America, the Biltmore.  The Biltmore was built for George Washington Vanderbilt, the son of Cornelius Vanderbilt, the railroad tycoon.  He started with $1,000 and turned that into 100 million by starting the New York and Penn Central Railroads.  The house took 6 years to build, 1889-1895.  It has 250 rooms, 101 bedrooms, 103 bathrooms, and at least one of any room you can think of, including a billiard room, bowling alley, indoor pool, servants quarters, library, a men's cigar room, etc.   The size is 175,00 square feet, with of lavish furnishings and art from around the world.  This is one of the places that you must see.  The rules say that there is no indoor photography allowed, so all I get to show you is the exterior and gardens.
                                                                      

Our campsite, deep inside Pisgah National Forest

Biltmore, America's largest home

Debbie at the entrance

Out on one of the verandas

One of the many gardens

Debbie in one of the two rose gardens

The sculpture garden

The Arboretum

Debbie shows some very beautiful small flowers

One of hundreds of varieties of orchids

A waterfall coming from Bass Pond

Day two at the Biltmore was spent seeing the other places on the property and having another fancy lunch.  We visited the Heritage Center that told about the Vanderbilt's lives and the family tree.  We toured the winery and did a wine tasting.  We enjoyed several wines, but they were a bit pricey for our budget.  We visited some gift shops and the riding stable, although we did not go for a horse ride on one of the trails.  We had an other good day.                                                                              

The entrance to the winery

Some of the holding tanks in the Biltmore Winery, each holds 4,983 gals.

Looking at some barrels through a window at the wineries visitors center

                                                                             

Deb petting horses at the riding stable

More beautiful horses to ride

We already spent 3 days in Asheville, so we decided to take an hour ride up to Hot Springs, N.C.  We spent the early part of the day in one of the hot mineral tubs and then ate and shopped the rest of the afternoon.  The weather was great 68 degrees and 102 in the hot mineral tub. Our tub was overlooking French Broad Creek.  Another great day in paradise! Tomorrow, Sunday, we are taking the day off to relax around the campsite.
                                                                            

Deb is relaxing in the hot mineral tub

One of our views from the tub

Another view from the tub

                                                                                        

Augusta, Georgia

We are in Augusta, Georgia's second largest city, for 5 days, visiting this city and Aiken, South Carolina just across the border.  We set up at Heritage RV Park and on our second day, took a tourist trolley around the city for 2+ hours.  We also visited the Augusta Museum, which was running a large exhibit about their native son, singer James Brown, the "Godfather of Soul".  Trivia:  James Brown is our most prolific songwriter, having written 5,500 songs.   We drove by Woodrow Wilson's boyhood home, but it was not open that day for tours. We took a john boat tour on the Augusta Canal and had a nice cruise up and down the canal, learning all about how it helped grow Augusta and make it an important part of the industrial growth during the 1900's.  Augusta sits 35 feet below sea level on the Savannah River.
We also visited Aiken, South Carolina.  Aiken is another of those small cities with a vibrant downtown business district.  All of the shops and restaurants in town are active, with no closed storefronts.  There are no Targets, Wal-Marts, McDonald's or other chain stores anywhere near the city center.  It was a joy to walk the streets, eat outside at a cafe-brew pub, and visit the many locally owned shops.  This is our kind of town.  No photos of Aiken though, as I forgot the camera.
                                                                                   

The Augusta Visitors Center Trolley

                 

The Augusta Museum's exhibits

Memorial to all that died in 8 floods before the Corp of Engineers project

Deb preparing to board the boat for the canal tour

One of the tour boats

Deb, our cruise docent and the captain

Our boat's mascot, Moses

Passing the former Confederate Gun and Ammunition works

Heading upstream

Kayaking on the canal

                                                                     
                                                                                   

Hunting Island State Park, Beaufort, S.C.

We are at Hunting Island State Park, just outside Beaufort, South Carolina.  We love this park, built in the tall pines, with the beach nearby.  We walked about a mile down the beach to the Hunting Island Lighthouse.  We saw hundreds of trees, crusted with barnacles, lots of scallop shells, water birds and walked in the surf.  We also went into Beaufort, a very old southern town, inhabited in the past and still today by those with money.  While in Beaufort, we took a horse drawn carriage ride around the city and learned a lot about the city and it's history.  Hilton Head is nearby and its the only city we have ever been to that you have to pay $5.00 to get admittance.  Lots of shops , restaurants and a fake lighthouse.
                                                                             

Our campsite in the woods at Hunting Island State Park

Some of the many trees down on the beach

Parts of old trees stuck in the sand

A windswept palm

Hunting Island lighthouse, circa 1857

Deb at the Lighthouse's well house

Downtown Beaufort

One of the many large Beaufort homes

Another southern style Beaufort home

Deb at the Beaufort seaport

Deb in Hilton Head

                                                                              



                                                                               
                                                                                

Perry, Georgia Samboree

As Good Sam members, we are eligible to attend Samborees, but until this past week, have never been to one.  So, since we just got back on the road, and there was one just north of Florida, we decided to go.  It was held at the Georgia State Fairgrounds in Perry. This Samboree was a gathering for Georgia Good Sam members and anyone from other states that wanted to attend.  We met campers from at least 10 states.  We attended seminars, vendor demonstrations and booths, played many games, saw some good entertainment, had a nice Amish dinner, and made a lot of new friends in those 4 days. The entertainment included a gospel quartet named Common Garments, an Elvis impersonator, and Mike Kelly, a one man musical wonder.  I'm sure that we'll attend more Samborees in the future.
                                                                          

Debbie is all healed and walking very well

Around 290 rigs and families in attendance

 

The theme was Christmas in September

 

Debbie and her team in Bean Bag Baseball

You have to get the bean bag through the holes

Debbie went 1 for 3 (a double) in the semi-final loss

                                                                                 

Elvis is in the house!

                        

Testing the RV

After 7 months sitting in the pasture, next to the barn, we had to take the RV out for a test run.  We leave on our next adventure in September, so a check of all systems was necessary.  We decided to go out for 6 days in North Florida, 4 days in Mayo and 2 days in Chattahoochee.  Well, on the way to Mayo we had a flat tire.  It was totally shredded.  No damage to the RV.  Good Sam Road Service came and changed the tire.  Later we replaced all 4 tires on the RV.  At our first campground, we had a hard time putting out the awning, as the spring in the end of it (opposite the drive motor) was going bad.  So we called Camping World in Midway, near Tallahassee and set up an appointment for repairs.  While there we asked them to check the rear stabilizer jacks as they were noisy going down.  While camping the first night, our surge protector, that we bought the week before, worked for two hours then blew up.  But that is under warranty, so we got a new one.  So, our RV is in Tallahassee, we're back  on the ranch in Webster, 245 miles away.  We hope to go to pick it up next week.  When it rains, it pours.  We did this dry run for that reason, to check everything and get the problems fixed, as this year we will be in the Northwest and in Vancouver, British Columbia.
                                                                                                  

Not a happy camper