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Thursday 18 June. The Great Smokey Mountains
They were not kidding with last night's severe weather warning. Extreme weather was coming south from Kentucky and circling over the Great Smokeys. This morning's TV showed golf ball sized hail, with trees and power lines brought down all around the locality. Luckily it was just very heavy rain here with some scary thunder and lightning. It was pretty cool, sitting in the hot tub with a glass of wine with rain beating down on my head.
I started Thursday with a bowl of Breakfast Harvest with fresh strawberries and banana, which made a pleasant change from a Dunkin' Donuts cheese and bacon wrap. The strawberry carton says Wash Before Eating - that's OK, I showered already! And with great foresight I'd swiped a few Maxwell House filter coffee bags from the Holiday Inn, so good coffee too,
I decided on a Big Explore today, to leave tomorrow open for a more relaxed day. South west across the mountains (via Pigeon Forge, which is the big tourist town) on a relatively major road (only relatively!) to North Carolina and Cherokee country, skirt around the south east then back west along the spine of the mountains on rather more "countrified" roads that barely show on the map, to the highest point (Clingman's Dome at 6643 feet) then back. I noticed on the map that the northern half of the Smokeys is called the Appalachians. I thought they were somewhere else! By the way, if I am inconsistent with my spelling of Smokeys, the locals aren't sure either, as I have seen at least three variations even on official signs.
The forest was steaming when I set out - temperatures were rising and the damp was burning off. The cloud was still very low, which is becoming a pattern for my sightseeing days (remember the Hancock Tower in Chicago?) . Pigeon Forge might sound romantic, but in terms of commercially over-development it comes second only to Blackpool. Gatlinburg, the "Gateway to the Smokeys" wasn't much better, but at least there would be plenty to do in either on a rainy day, and 100% of mine here have been rainy so far! And there were bars!!
Driving across the mountains was slow, but I expected that. It's mostly tourist traffic, with large Americans steering even larger cars round twists and turns, when they are more used to just pointing it down a 4 lane highway on cruise. Mostly people observe speed limits here, much more than at home. Driving has been a good experience so far, and today I was tuned to a Knoxville Country music station - country is quite good, except the sloppy ballads.
First stop was Cherokee. There's some history here which I can't fully recall, but it goes something like the Government gave the Indians the area to compensate for mass slaughtering many of them, and also gave them sole rights to gambling in certain regions, this being one of them. Hence the picture of Harrah's Casino, "owned by the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians". There was also a Bingo Hall, "run by Indians". I allowed myself to be relieved of $15 in about as many minutes by visiting an authentic Indian village, featuring real Indian people carrying out original Indian crafts. I suppose others might have found it interesting.
During the blast on Interstate 40 to get to the mountain road the skies darkened. I wouldn't have taken my own car on the next part of my route, but just when I was about a mile up a single track non-made up road with steep drops on my side and no turning places, the heavens opened.The Charger wouldn't be Colin McRae's choice (ha!) but I did my best to use up some of the fat tyres on it, which was great fun, especially in the teeming rain and wet leaves (and other debris!) scattered over the road. Only once did I seriously think I was going to end up down the ravine.
I managed to get through to Jan and Debby on the phone today - it's Debby's birthday and they'd apparently had a fine old time at Royal Ascot for her treat, each picking a winner. They missed seeing the Queen close up because they were watching a replay on TV, but they saw a celeb or two. It was great to speak to them both, and as a bonus helped me establish what the time was…I knew I was on EST but not the precise hour (not that it really matters to me!!)
After instant mash and sweet corn leftovers from yesterday, with pork chops, I drove 15 miles into Maryville to find a bar. There are only three, and it is a large town. Unfortunately after the barman discovered where I was from, he felt I needed to meet UK Mike. UK Mike was from Ireland, was 68, lives and works here (as a DNA specilaist with the local FBI). With a thick Irish accent b******ized with heavy Tennessee and a fairly obvious drink problem, I had difficulty understanding him. But that was OK, we got on like a house on fire, him telling me how he was in the Grenadiers and Paras, he was 68, he was a Sinn Fein supporter, he had been in the Grenadiers and Paras, he was 68 , and so on in an endless loop, while I just talked politely about the weather, as we Brits do! He was with some local buddies and they occasionally broke into song together (which sounded mostly pro IRA) and high-fived a lot. The other guys were in a heavy discussion about how Obama was ruining the good ole US of A by his amnesty on illegals (Mexicans). I couldn't make out whether it was an economic or racist debate, there were certainly undertones of the latter.It wasn't long before I made my excuses and left!
Just as a point of order, I've found that the blog site does not send you update notifications if one has been sent in the past 24 hours. So, due to intermittent access, and so you don't miss a thing (!) check not only the latest blog, but also the day before, as I'd hate you to miss anything!!!And don't forget to check the photo albums.
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