Mammonth Cave Caravan, May 2nd!

The next morning we all gather at the campground entrance for a bus tour to Cades Cove (in the Smoky Mountain National Forest)



We all get settled on the bus and off we go



We've got some great river views on the way in



We saw some wild turkeys



Lots of majestic mountain scenery











A deer



and a Bear!!!



We also learned that Cades Cove was a thriving settlers community with

Churches





Cemetaries


(If you can prove you are a direct desendent of the settlers here, you can still be buried here)

A town center with the public building



A blacksmith shop



a water run mill



(Did you know "millin around" came from the settlers coming into town and waiting on their turn to have their corn/grain milled)

and the grand house in town



Of course most of the settlers lived in log homes like this



We returned to the campground and I got shots of all of us at the campground.

FYI the website for the Little River KOA is: http://koa.com/campg...-great-smokies/

Snarky Sign is out again!!



























Also, Olivia (Liv Luvs Disney) and her beautiful children came by for a bit



Then the group all wandered down the road for dinner at a local place







The name is.....



After dinner, we once again got a fire going, pulled out the happy hour stuff and enjoyed each other's company.

Coming next, heading for Virginia/Tennessee/Kentucky!!

Mammoth Cave Caravan - May 1 - 8, 2011

Well, I've been lax on updating things on this blog, so it's high time I caught up.

Next is the continuation of the Blue Ridge Rally previously posted, as the caravan left from the rally, so here we go!!!!

Sunday, May 1st, 2011, My Birthday!!

It turns out there were 12 of us that were going to be traveling together along the Blue Ridge Parkway to head to our next destination.

Now, I was SOOO excited, cause as long as I've owned my camper, and as much as I've been out with my T@B and gone to T@B gatherings, I've NEVER, EVER seen another T@B on the road. I've seen them at other campgrounds, and at dealers on the highway, but never ever on the road, so to be traveling along with 12 other T@Bs/T@DAs was going to be so cool!!

We all lined up at the exit of the campground and headed on our way about 10am.

Our first stop was the Pisgah Inn.



It was a hotel along the Blue Ridge Parkway that had a cute gift shop, a nice restaurant, and some beautiful views. A lot of us ordered sandwiches to go and we had a picnic in the parking lot.











After our rest and lunch we continued along the Blue Ridge Parkway









Our next stop was the......









It was SOOOO cool traveling the Blue Ridge Parkway. It was a beautiful Sunday, the sites were wonderful and watching everyone's expressions were awesome!! For one section I was about the 4th in line. You could see folks look as the first trailer passed by, then the second one passes by and there are double takes, then obvious stares, waves, thumbs up, and horns beeping as the rest of us pass by.

At every stop there were folks wanting tours and asked LOTS of questions. We had a ball!!!!

We then continued on, and I got brave enough to snap a picture while driving.



One last scenic overlook stop on the Blue Ridge













After that little stop and photo op, we headed on to our next destination,

The Little River Townsend KOA on the edge of the Smoky Mountain National Forest.

There was some major construction going on and even had some one lane roads, so while stopped on the road got a chance for a couple of road shots





We arrived at our destination campground all at once and were quite the cluster getting in as we were all very near to each other and they were all backin sites!!! We all did get settled in and set up, then somebody quickly got the fire ring going and we all gathered Happy Hour provisions and spent the evening drinkin and socializing around the fire!!!

It was the perfect ending to the perfect birthday!!!!

Coming next, turkeys and bears and Mountains oh my!!!