April 12, 2006

April 12, 2006

Knoxville to Great Smoky Mountains National Park & Gatlinburg, Tennessee

YEAR 2 DAY 299

 

Today was very warm, partially cloudy in the morning, but the sky cleared by afternoon.

This morning I went to the office to pay our bill, then we prepared for departure from Raccoon Valley RV Park. When we checked the lights after hitching up, the back up lights on both the truck and trailer weren't working. I checked fuses, found nothing wrong, then phoned Budget Transmission. They said it must be a fuse problem. Thanks for nothing ! I checked fuses again, and discovered that the back up lights work only when shifting from "park", through "reverse", to "neutral", then back to "reverse". Shifting from "park" straight to "reverse" won't activate the back up lights. Must be a minor gear shift linkage problem of some sort. I also discovered a similar problem in "drive". The dash indicator won't indicate "drive", if I shift from "park" directly down to "drive". I have to shift from "park" down through "drive" to third gear, then back up to "drive". And first gear won't indicate at all. First gear works, but the dash indicator indicates second gear when the gear shift lever is on either second or first gear. Darn ! But not a serious enough problem to inspire me to drive across Knoxville towing Harvey, to spend who knows how long waiting for Budget Transmission to make an adjustment. Screw it ... for now. I have to phone Budget in about a week with a report on how the transmission is doing. I'll report the problem to them at that time. I'll be too far away to return to Knoxville. Maybe they'll pay the bill to have somebody else make the adjustment. Naaaaahhhhh ... what was I thinking ?

We headed south on Interstate 75, then east and south around Knoxville on I-640, the Knoxville bypass, then east on I-40. We turned south on Hw. 441. We stopped in Sevierville to fill up with diesel and to shop at Wal-Mart. While Joanne went inside to shop for groceries, I removed the trailer "house" battery, went into Wal-Mart, bought a new, deep cycle RV "house" battery, and installed it in Harvey. Just as I was finishing, Joanne returned to the trailer with her purchases. While she made lunch, I went back into Wal-Mart to have the battery in her watch replaced. We had lunch, then continued on through Pigeon Forge to Great Smoky Mountains National Park.

We found a campsite, got parked and unhitched, set up, self registered, and left for Gatlinburg, a few miles outside the national park. Gatlinburg is a "tourist town" adjacent to the park. It reminds me somewhat of Whistler Village. We were looking for the scenic drive back up into "them thar hills" of the national park. We found our way through town, and onto the entrance to the Roaring Fork Motor Nature Trail. It was a difficult, twisting, very narrow 11 mile drive up, around, and down the Smoky Mountains. We stopped to take photos of Trillium in bloom. It reminded us of the Trilliums that bloomed in the spring in the forest surrounding our previous house just outside Ottawa in Cumberland. We stopped to walk around some old, abandoned homesteads from the 1930's. Hillbillies and moonshiners ! We stopped frequently to walk around, explore, and take photos. By the time we were finished the loop drive, I was finally beginning to lose the stress of the transmission breakdown, and the repair bill ! It was soothing to be back in the wilderness. It was easy to imagine the hillbillies and moonshiners that lived around here. Still do, actually !

We drove back through Gatlinburg, sightseeing, then back up into the national park, and the campground. We fed the animals, put Teddy outside in his nylon kennel, and attached Bo and his tie out to the picnic table. Joanne started preparing supper, and I took my laptop outside to the picnic table. I did today's accounting. Teddy, Bo, and I watched people and dogs walking by, strolling through the campground. Supper was ready, and we all went inside, just as it turned dark outside.

We had supper. I did today's journal entry. We're in an unserviced campsite, with no electricity, so we went to bed early.

DSK