The leg from Memphis to Pigeon Forge was a long one, so we decided to break it up with an overnight stop in Crossville, Tennessee at the Deer Run RV Park. This turned out to be a poor choice, as the park was not big-rig friendly at all. Nestled in the deep woods near a picturesque lake, the park is perfect for nature lovers with smaller rigs, but it was difficult for us to negotiate the narrow and bumpy gravel road to our site and the precipitous entry to the gravel parking spot, which was anything but level. As we creeped along the sinuous trail through the trees, I almost thought I heard the theme song from Deliverance, but I guess I didn't. Once parked, There was obviously no point in raising the satellite dish due to the surrounding trees, but we had non-HD cable at our site that was okay. Due to the somewhat loose gravel at our site, I decided not to lower the jacks to try to level Phannie, so we had cope with the little annoyances brought about by a tilted rig. For one night, I thought, we could put up with anything, and we did. The next morning, we checked each other out and found that we still stood and walked fairly upright and straight, so there was no apparent harm done by sleeping at a slight angle. This was one instance when we were led astray by RV Park Reviews, a website I often use to find an overnight stop. In this case, none of the problems we encountered were evident from the few entries I read but, then again, I don't think I gave adequate due diligence to the search. My bad.
Reflecting on our experience at Deer Run, this brought to mind the diversity of experiences available in the RV lifestyle and the reason for its broad appeal to people with differing interests. We have discovered, for example, that we are not exactly enthusiastic about a "roughing it" style of camping, and we're not alone, given the number of luxurious rolling villas we see around us in most places we park. While we enjoy beautiful scenery and the wonders of nature, we simply prefer to observe them while comfortably seated in Phannie's air conditioned lounge or underneath the awning when the temperature is 72 degrees and no insects are present. Oddly enough, those were the exact conditions when Sandy snapped this photo of me here at Pigeon Forge, enjoying a cold drink and listening to the babbling brook behind me. What a perfect day! And yes, this is about as much "roughing it" as you'll find me doing.
If we had more of a desire to commune with nature, we certainly would not have made the hefty investment in Phannie and outfitted her with all the comforts of home that we have tried to duplicate so faithfully. We have a number of friends who simply shake their heads in wonderment about our being such prima donnas, but it makes sense to us, and that's really all that matters. We acknowledge that we were built for comfort and that we should celebrate that calling in every way possible. So, don't bother giving us static because we have two ice makers in Phannie…we're not going to change!
Our arrival in Pigeon Forge was a bit of an eye-opener, as we really didn't know what to expect. We weren't quite prepared for so many tourist attractions and restaurants, and we certainly weren't prepared for the traffic! However, the setting here in the Smokies is quite pretty, and we can already see there will be plenty of things here to occupy our time.
We settled into a great parking site at Pine Mountain RV Park, located just a couple of blocks from the main drag. Now this place is everything Deer Run wasn't: Paved streets and a level concrete pad, perched at the edge of a clear running stream! Perfect for us prima donnas!
Yes, blogging has slowed down a bit, because we find ourselves pretty busy attending events at the National Quartet Convention, sightseeing and, of course, trying new restaurants. More on all that a bit later.
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