Pigeon Forge, TN was an interesting place. We stayed at the Pigeon Forge Landing RV Resort right on the Little Pigeon River. The campground was nice and had 2 pickleball courts.

While we were nearby, we took a day trip to the town of Gatlinburg, TN and took a chairlift up to The Gatlinburg Sky Park, where we walked across the pedestrian cable bridge (it’s the longest one in North America). The middle of it has a glass bottom which makes for an interesting walk. There were some amazing views of the Smokey Mountains and Gatlinburg from the Sky Park. Downtown Gatlinburg was very touristy, with lots of sweet wine and sweet moonshine to be sampled.

In the town of Pigeon Forge (which is like one big amusement park), we went to the Titanic Museum, which we could see and hear from our campsite. They blew the ship’s whistle every day at noon. When you check in, they give you a card with the biography of one of the actual passengers and at the end you find out if your passenger survived. It is an audio self-guided tour and very well done. Neither one of our passengers survived. 😦 We did do some exploring in the area trying to find some good wine. No luck with the wine, Tennessee is all sweet wine.

David got to ride the tail of the dragon road, a famous motorcycle road. There are 318 curves in 11 miles, most of them were 25 mph or below. It was beautiful ride.

The next day, we both took off on the motorcycle and visited the Wheels Through Time Museum in Maggie Valley, NC. There are over 300 antique motorcycles that all run. One of the curators actually walks around and starts various motorcycles throughout the day. The highlight was the 1916 Harley Davidson that we watched him start. It is amazing that they have all these antique motorcycles in running condition.

Then we did some exploring in the gorgeous Smokey Mountains. We walked up to Clingmans Dome, the highest point in the Smokey Mountains at 6,643 feet. The walk was challenging as we gained 330 feet in elevation in 1/2 mile. We picked a perfect weather day, so the views were spectacular!

We also hiked to Spruce Flat Falls which is about a mile hike to get to the falls. The hike was considered moderate, but all the giant steps proved challenging for Kim’s little legs, but she persevered. The falls were amazing and well worth the hike. The rivers running through the Smokey Mountains were so beautiful and just up the road from the campground was an Orvis store where Kim signed us up for a fly-fishing class. They taught us how to cast, tie knots and all about the different kinds of flies. Kim was a natural at casting; David took a little more time to get it down. We both really liked it, so this is going to be something we take up in the future. We really, really enjoyed the Smokey Mountains and plan on returning.

Our next stop was at Cummins Ferry RV Park in Salvisa, KY. Wow, getting to this park was quite the experience! The last 6 miles is down a narrow country road with the last mile being just one lane down a huge hill with lots of sharp turns. The park definitely did not go on our short list, but we had fun while we were there. A half hour after we pulled in another Luxe RV pulled into the spot right next to us. David and our new Luxe neighbor Geoff spent quite a few evenings talking about RVs and sippy bourbon together. We were right in the middle of thoroughbred country and the bourbon trail.

We took a tour of the Keeneland horse racing and training facility. We learned a lot about horse racing and the history of the track. We then found The Kentucky Castle and had a nice brunch and then toured the grounds.

Now it’s time to talk about bourbon… Wild Turkey where we ran into Jimmy Russell who has been their master distiller for 70 years. David got a bottle signed by him and got a chance to chat with him. We also met a great bartender who gave us a list of places we needed to visit in Kentucky. Lawrenceburg Bourbon Company which is the only veteran owned distillery on the bourbon trail. We got to meet the owner who actually served in the military in Australia and then transferred to serve in the US military. Castle and Key Distillery, where we took a guided tour of the distillery. It was originally started in the late 1800’s and then closed during prohibition. It changed hands a couple of times, fell into ruins but has now been almost completing restored. They are still using some of the original equipment and the grounds and buildings are beautiful. We made a quick stop at Woodford Reserve Distillery to check out their grounds and gift shop and have a cocktail/tasting at their bar. Buffalo Trace Distillery was not originally on our list, but we went on a recommendation. Here they release one of their rarer bourbons each day and limit you to one bottle per person every 90 days. During that 90 days you are in bourbon jail and cannot purchase that particular one again. We each got a bottle of Blantons, one with a T initial and one with a B initial. Again, we did not plan to return, but we heard that they were releasing Colonel E. H. Taylor the next day, so of course we went back. We purchased both of these bourbons for significantly less than you can buy them anywhere else. A fun fact that we learned there, was that the black “stuff” all over the buildings at all the distilleries, is a fungus that feeds off the alcohol. Whiskey Thief Distillery was a really neat place, down a long dirt road. They do not distribute and use many different mash recipes, so that every barrel is different. Also, 2 out of their 3 distillers are women. Here they put out put six different barrels of bourbon and let you taste each one straight from the barrel using a whiskey thief to fill your glass. Then if you what a bottle to take home, you can fill it yourself from whichever barrel you want. Of course, David had to get a bottle and enjoyed filling it himself. They also had live music and a food truck. That’s it for the distilleries, David is now stocked up for a while. We also found two great wineries while we were here, Lovers Leap and Wildside. This was a very pleasant surprise as we were starting to think that there were no good wineries in this part of the country. Lovers Leap had beautiful grounds and an amazing staff in the tasting room. Wildside had an excellent outside area where we enjoyed our tasting. This is where we learned about those special releases at Buffalo Trace. It was nice to be able to replenish our wine cellar.

At the campground, we met Tony and Traciann, who are also full time RVers. We spent a couple of evenings chatting with them and playing games. We also enjoyed a night of live music at the campground where a special guest showed up… Sasquatch.

We made a day trip to Frankfort where we saw the state capital (it is currently being renovated), found Daniel Boone’s gravesite in a really neat cemetery, and explored the historic downtown area.

Also, Kim got us tickets to see Tim McGraw in Lexington. He put on an amazing show, which we really enjoyed. This is a great area to visit, but we will definitely be finding a different RV park next time.

Last but not least again, the unusual things we saw at this stop: Kid in a stroller telling his dad to go faster up the hill at Clingman’s Dome; someone in Tennessee asked us if we drove the smart all the way from South Dakota; we saw wild turkey and elk in the Smokey Mountains; Guy in the RV park swinging his sewer hose over his head like a lasso, trying to dry it; The happy cows in Kentucky get the used mash as feed (4% ABV); Squirrels daring each other to sit on the yellow line until the last possible moment; Phuq U Farms in Pigeon Forge; Huge lawns, black barns and double fences in Kentucky