Off to the Smokies: We Have Arrived

Saturday, 14 April

After a good night’s rest, we woke up at Fort Chiswell RV Park to a golden glow on the horizon.  Of course, I couldn’t resist going out to click the shutter.

I was really tempted to have breakfast at the picnic table, but the temp was only 45F (7C).  As we sat inside, enjoying the landscape through the windshield, Mui described the setting perfectly ... "It feels like we’re parked at a farm.”  With no other RVers in our line of sight, and only a wide expanse of grass and cows visible, it indeed felt like we were in some pastoral setting.

Too bad the cows don’t cooperate for a photo-op to complete the pastoral scene.

We took our time getting on the road for the last segment of our drive to the Smokies.  It was 9:45a when the wheels started turning.  That’s pretty late for us, but we didn’t have to hurry since we had about 200 miles (320 km) to go and check-in at Tremont wasn’t until 1:00p.

The morning drive went smoothly, and we crossed into Tennessee around 11:30a.  Time to stretch our legs a bit.  The Welcome Center just over the VA-TN Stateline was the perfect place to stop and mark the Phaeton’s first foray into the state.

I join “Citizens,” a sculpture by Joe Falsetti, in welcoming blog readers to Tennessee.

Scenes from the Welcome Center.

After another 45-minute drive, our tummies sounded the signal that it was time to take a lunch break.  A convenient rest area provided the perfect setting.  Parking in the big rig area, I set the table at one of the picnic shelters situated on a grassy knoll; Mui provided the hot meal for us to eat al fresco.

There goes Mui again with his victory sign!

Scenes from the rest area where we took our lunch break.

START RANT!  And that ended the pleasant portion of our drive.  As we were leaving Sevierville and entering Pigeon Forge, we got stuck in a horrendous traffic back-up on US 441 Scenic Parkway, which runs through the city.  One of those “no light at the end of the tunnel” situations where you’re on the only road leading to the turn off you want to get to.  One of those three-hours-to-cover-three-miles drives.  No exaggeration.  We hit the jam right around 2:00p and it was just shy of 5:00p when we reached the Rte 321/73 turnoff from the Parkway.

This image doesn’t come anywhere near doing justice to the traffic snarl we endured.

Had this portion of the Scenic Parkway really been scenic, I wouldn’t have minded so much.  But that wasn’t the case.  We passed strip mall after strip mall, all jammed with vehicles; we passed tourist attraction after tourist attraction — some might use the word ‘trap’ to describe them (and I would be amongst those people).  The collage below is a compilation of drive-by-shooting photos of just a few of the ‘attractions’ we passed on the Parkway — aka “The Strip.”

The Smoky mountain Opry, the upside down Wonderworks, the Hatfields & McCoys dinner theatre, and the Titanic Museum — some of the ‘attractions’ on the not-so-scenic Parkway.

I searched high and low for traffic reports for the area, and checked live traffic on Google Maps.  After all, such a huge mess could only mean an accident, road work, or a special event.  There had to be an alert or two, right?  I found nothing.

(See map to the left; that three-mile (4.8 km) red segment was where we got stuck for three hours.)

When I searched for special events in Pigeon Forge, however, I hit pay dirt.  Apparently we were smack dab in the middle of the 2012 Spring Grand Rod Run.  The website I linked to describes it as follows [the emphasis is mine]:

… Cars, cars and more cars! From shiny, chromed-up, vintage models to the unique fixer-upper, there will be cars to look at, cars to drool over and cars to buy. Being one of the largest car shows in the southeast it should not be missed …Starting at traffic light No. 3 in Pigeon Forge and running almost all the way down the Parkway, cars are parked in every available parking space facing the road. Literally thousands of cars. My suggestion is park and walk both sides … 

Too bad more people weren’t heeding the suggestion to walk to see the antique cars!  Yeah, I know it was 88F (31F) at the time, but with the windows open, it couldn’t have been all that comfortable driving anyway.  The few walkers we did see were making better progress on foot and seeing the cars close up.  Here’s the REALLY sad part to this saga — it wasn’t until we were just about at the turnoff from the Parkway that we actually started seeing any antique cars.  And that’s when the pace slowed even further!

This is what it was all about!

I have nothing against antique cars.  But the setting for this event has got to be one of the stupidest decisions of all time.  (No offense to the Pigeon Forgeites … is that even a right?)  I mean, who in their right mind would set up an event like this along a main thoroughfare through a city and tie up six lanes of traffic?!?!  I must be stupid or something, because I just don’t get it.  All I can say is that I am glad we weren’t headed to the Smokies entrance near Gatlinburg or we would have had to endure this mess for a lot longer.

RANT OVER.  Now for the pleasant ending to our day, which made up for the traffic hassles.

Once we turned onto Rte 321/73, we were in the clear. The remaining 18 miles (29 km) were a cinch to drive, even though the road was narrow and quite curvy.  We took it slow and easy and pulled into the Tremont Outdoor Resort right around 5:30p.  Check-in was quick, and soon I was guiding Mui to site B-34 — which turned out to be the gem we suspected it was when we studied the camp map and made reservations in January.  I’ll do a separate post about the campground.  For now, just a few scenes from our site.

B-34 is the last site in the loop; on the driver’s side are the water-electric sites of the C Loop.

smoke from campfires wafts over Little River, which our covered deck overlooks.

With the light breeze keeping flying critters at bay, and the temp at a comfortable 82F (28C), there was no question that we’d be having dinner at the picnic table on the deck.  We might move the table elsewhere and put our comfy chairs here, but we’ll see.

The End!