Leaving God's Country

Our souls (and tummies) have been fed this past week with mountain air, good food and wonderful friends. The Wanderer has been resting at Tremont Outdoor Resort, located next to the Great Smoky Mountains National Park. What started on Monday as a quiet, peaceful almost vacant campground with fast WiFi

turned into a full campground with children on bikes, in the pool and tubing on the river over the holiday weekend.  

We loved seeing children playing hard, having a good time outdoors. With a couple hundred campers connected to the internet, we were pretty much forced to take a tech break. Monday afternoon, the campground was once again quiet and the WiFi was great.

Before the last of the summer tourists arrived, we took advantage of Cade’s Cove Loop being closed to motor vehicles on Wednesday morning. Our friend Roger joined us for a strenuous 28 mile bike ride from our campground.

 At times climbing 10-12% grade, we ascended almost 1000 feet without walking a bit. 

Of course we enjoyed the great downhill!

We were up early on Friday morning for our favorite ride in the Smoky’s along the beautiful Little River.

It is a gradual 9 mile climb and a gentle descend with very little peddling. Leaving at 7:30 a.m. we met very little traffic.

Hiking on Sunday to Laurel Falls we were joined by hundreds of folks.

On Monday the crowd had thinned and we enjoyed a little hike on Lynn Camp Prong Trail.

We have been fortunate to have hiked in the Western Mountains as well as the Eastern Mountains, both have their allure. What draws us to the east are the sounds, especially the waterfalls.

Having participated in the Tennessee Tandem Rally for many years, we have a lot of friends in East Tennessee; most were able to join us for Tipsy Tuesday.

Also joining us were former co-workers and ABN’s cousin, Suzie and husband, Don.

ABN with Cousin Susie

Our tummies were fed with fine dining at The Foothills Milling Company in Maryville and at the beautiful mountain home of our very good friends, Jean and Roger.

The Wanderer is on the road today, if all goes well we will be at Highland Brewery in Asheville, N.C. for Tipsy Tuesday.

Oh, in case you haven't heard, the Aggies won their season opener against 16th ranked UCLA. Gig'em!!!