April 13, 2006

April 13, 2006

Great Smoky Mountains National Park, Tennessee

YEAR 2 DAY 300

 

Today was sunny and very warm.

This morning Joanne prepared a picnic lunch and we headed off for a day of exploring the west side of Great Smoky Mountains National Park. We drove west on Little River Road, exploring, stopping occasionally to look at wildflowers, and taking photos. At the junction of Little River Road and Laurel Creek Road, we parked, and went on a hike. We hiked about the first half mile of Chestnut Top Trail, a steep hike noted for spring wildflowers. It was a steep, difficult hike, but we stopped often to look at wildflowers. Joanne noticed that I had a bunch of little battery acid holes burned through both my jeans and my shirt. DARN ! ! ! Changing the battery yesterday in Harvey resulted in me ruining an almost new pair of jeans, and one of my favourite souvenir t-shirts, a tie-dyed shirt from Ochos Rios, Jamaica. When we came back down, we walked along the bank of Little River for a short distance, admiring the clear water and rapids of this cold, mountain stream. We drove west on Laurel Creek Road until we came to Cades Cove picnic area. We stopped and had a leisurely, romantic picnic lunch. At our ages, it's getting hard to recognize "romantic", but we saw three "just married" cars today, so the Great Smoky Mountains must be romantic. HA HA HA !

After lunch, we drove around the very scenic Cades Cove Loop Road, an 11 mile narrow road through a scenic, lush valley. In the 1930's, the valley was populated. We stopped at one of the three old churches in the valley. We walked around the small graveyard, reading headstones. We've explored old graveyards before, and find it quite fascinating. We went inside the old Baptist church, and listened to a very interesting half hour interpretive presentation about the valley, its history, and its inhabitants. We continued our drive around Cades Cove Loop Road. We stopped at the Cades Cove Visitor Centre, then wandered around an old, still functioning grist mill, and old homestead buildings that are adjacent to the Visitor Centre. We continued around the rest of Cades Cove Loop Road, then followed Laurel Creek Road back to Little River Road. On our way back to Elkmont Campground, we stopped for a brief rest alongside the Little River. I took off my shoes and socks, sat down on a rock beside the river, and plunged my feet in. YIKES ! ! ! How can water that cold not actually be frozen into ice ? ! ? Joanne thought maybe that was how the "mountain folk" women prepared for childbirth. Stick your feet into the cold river until you're numbed up to the waist. HA HA HA ! Hillbilly epidural !

We returned to the campground, and our trailer. After feeding them, we put Teddy outside in his nylon kennel, and attached Bo outside on his tie out. We were sitting outside at the picnic table when a little Schnauzer ran by. Wait a minute. That doesn't seem right. A little dog, with no collar, running around a campground ? ! ? I went after the little dog, called it, and picked it up. It was an old, grey, female, Miniature Schnauzer. I walked around the campground, in the direction she had come from, asking campers if they recognized where she belonged ? Nobody did. After awhile, she became heavy, so I returned to our trailer, where Joanne helped me slip Bo's training collar and leash onto her. She was not pleased about strangers putting a choker collar on her. I walked around the campground with her for about half an hour trying to locate her owner. I was unsuccessful. This is a huge campground. I returned to our trailer, and tied the leash to our campsite marker pole. Now she was becoming worried. She fussed, and barked, for about another half an hour, until finally her dimwit redneck owner came by looking for her. Her name was Baby Girl ( brilliant name, Jethro ! ), and she was 14 years old. He came by looking for her just as it got dark. I'm sure glad we didn't have a stray overnight.

While Joanne prepared supper, I prepared a campfire. I used the final bit of our YMCA Of The Ozarks kindling, which took me a year and a half to finally use up. I was going to use up the rest of our Lake Louise firewood tonight also, but I only used half of the small amount that was left. I guess there's just about enough left for one more small campfire. I must have the most well travelled firewood in North America ! HA HA HA ! We sat around the campfire for awhile, talking, enjoying the fire and the mild evening. When the campfire was over, we went for a walk around our campground loop with Bo. Back inside the trailer, Joanne washed dishes while I did today's journal entry.

DSK