Chattanooga/Smoky Mountain Trip Day 4

 

Day 4  TUESDAY

Tuesday morning I woke up to thunderstorms so I just rolled out of my sleeping bag, wiggled into my clothes, brushed my teeth and left the campgrounds.  I was very excited to be heading to the Smoky Mountains.  I stopped at McDonalds, ordered breakfast and got onto the expressway, which was bumper to bumper at 7:30 in the morning due to road construction.   It was an easy drive to the Smokys even tho it was a torrential downpour the...  entire..... way....   

As I drove through Sevierville Tennessee, I decided to make a stop at The Apple Barn Village and check it out.  I pulled on my raincoat and rain pants and headed out into the rain.  Oh that was my kind of place!  They have The Apple Barn Cider Mill and General Store, The Apple Barn Winery, The Apple Valley Creamery, The Applewood Farmhouse Restaurant, The Applewood Farmhouse Grill, and The Christmas and Candle Shop.  I spent some time checking out all the stores before ducking into the Applewood Farmhouse Grill for an early lunch.    

I had chicken tenders with a side of mashed potatoes and fried Okra.  With your meal you also get a bowl of soup, fried apple fritters with apple butter which were out of this world delicious and a glass of Applewood Julep, which was just ok.   It was way more food that I could eat at one time so I took the rest with me to eat later for dinner. 

Since it was still raining, I decided to drive to the Smoky Mountains Sugarlands Visitor Center and pick up some maps and guidebooks.  I also got myself a tee shirt and a patch for my jacket while I was there.   

I took a slow drive thru Gatlinburg so I could get a feel for the place and then headed over the Greenbriar Campground, my home base for the next few days.   Check in was quick and easy and I headed over to my campsite, not sure what I should do.   It was still pouring out and according to the weather map it wasn’t going to let up until around 9:00 pm.   At this point I had to make a decision.  I had too much stuff loaded in the back of my car to sleep comfortably, so I had to put the tent up either to store gear in or to sleep in.  I climbed back into my rainsuit and quickly set up the tent, threw some gear inside and then went back to the car.  It’s amazing to me how quickly a car gets cluttered when you’re camping.  I’m a pretty organized person and I was still misplacing stuff, so I spent some time cleaning up and organizing.  I spread my wet clothes over the front seats to dry and settled down in the back on my blankets to do some reading.   At 3:30 there was a break in the rain so I went to check on my tent and I was happy to see it was dry inside.  The campsite was a nice size and close to the road, but I liked it because I was an end spot so I only had one neighbor directly behind me, with a road on 2 sides and my parking space on the other.

I went and took a shower and ate my lunch leftovers in the tent for an early dinner.   I had set up my cot in the tent so I could lay out there and read.  I decided to just sleep in my car that night since it was supposed to start raining again, and continue raining most of the next day.  Cripes.  Enough with the rain already!   I was in a turmoil trying to decide what to do on Wednesday.  I was planning to go to Clingmans Dome which I could still do in the rain but I really wanted to enjoy the views from the top.    I decided to wait and see what the weather was doing in the morning and then decide.  It was another quiet evening of reading and then I turned in early.

Tomorrow – Laurel Falls, Gatlinburg and The Sky Bridge!!