My day started with a view of a partial full moon. When I looked out the window of my hotel room, I saw it and when I went to the car, I made sure that I took a photo of it.
We are going through the Great Smoky Mountains today. We will start in Pigeon Forge, TN where we did our first supercharge. Pigeon Forge is a tourist mecca. Businesses are doing anything that they can to lure tourists. Here are a few examples.
As we were leaving Pigeon Forge towards Great Smoky Mountain National Park, we passed another huge cross high on a hilltop. The cross was created by James Potter. Potter, who owns his own lucrative construction business, has created nearly thirty of these massive monuments along the highways. They range from 100 feet to the largest: The 198-foot World’s Largest Cross in Effingham, IL. The cost ranges from $500,000 to over a Million. The price is usually covered by local churches. There is something to be said about spending this level of money on constructing religious imagery.
We traveled along Tennessee 321 and saw all kinds of stores and businesses. As in Pigeon Forge, they used all kinds of gadgetry to draw in customers.
I couldn’t resist a photo of this sign as Ronnie’s brother-in-law, Stephen, is a Paw Paw.
There were plenty of other neat things to experience.
In Townsend, TN, we found ourselves in the mountains and the views were beautiful.
In Townsend, TN, we went through a tunnel through the mountain. These never get old.
The views along the road and along the roadside streams were a treat.
We drove the Cades Cove Loop. There were plenty of slowdowns due to the number of cars. We could not imagine what this would be like during the summer.
We traveled on Laurel Creek Road and had some beautiful roadside streams.
It was on Little River Gorge Road that we had a rude eye-opening experience. A car in front of the car in front of us disappeared off the road and fell about fifteen or twenty feet into a creek. We could see air bags deployed but could not see anyone moving. It was a surreal experience. We stopped to see if we could do anything, but the drop was so steep that I could never have gotten down. Thankfully, three younger people got to the car and opened the driver’s door. The car was lying on the passenger’s side. We asked people to get in their cars and clear the road so that police and first responders could arrive unimpeded. Later in the day, we spoke to a park employee, and he told us that two people were removed from the car but a third had to be extricated. I asked if this happens often, and he replied that it happens more than anyone wished it did.
We then traveled to Newfound Gap Road where there were some exceptional scenic overlooks.
We took a selfie at one of them. It was taken at Carlos Campbell (North) Overlook.
We went though another tunnel through the mountain.
We took the road to Clingman’s Dome which is at an elevation of nearly 7000’. The temperature dropped from 44 degrees to 28 degrees as we climbed up the road. The view from up top was super.
Ronnie got a horrible headache from the altitude, so we didn’t stay long. What we noticed was the water frozen on the rocks along the road and the ice on the trees at that altitude.
We came down from Clingman’s Dome Road and were back on Newfound Gap Road on our way to Asheville, NC.
Eagle-eyed Ronnie told me to stop on the Newfound Gap Road at the Ocanaluftee Visitor Center. There was a meadow with fifty or more elk. It was a photographer’s dream. We were lucky to find a parking space and I took more than a few photos.
We settled for the night in Asheville, NC. Our plan is to travel to Grandfather Mountain tomorrow and then to Charlotte, NC to visit Ronnie’s brother, Ken and his beautiful wife, Paulette. After that, we will make our way home. What a Grand Adventure!!!!!
© 2023, Herb Segars. All rights reserved.
I probably have 10,000 miles, mostly on the bike in the area, have never seen an elk except for once on the Cades Cove loop.