19.08.2012 – 19.08.2012  27 °C

After a nice brekky (we ditched the free option that was offered.. coffee and a small muffin just wasn’t worth the walk in the rain!) we continued our drive south to Tennessee! The first part of our trip was a continuation of the drive along the Crooked Road. This part of the trip was very green and very windy, so there was no blogging for me today. It’s actually quite nice in some ways when the roads are windy because it forces me to put away the laptop and actually take a look at the surrounds!

Our drive today was thru beautiful green deciduous forests and the occasional farm. Very green and very pretty. Once we got to the end of the Crooked Road we turned due South and hit the Tennessee border. First stop was to the visitor centre (the great thing about the States is that each state normally has a welcome centre and that they are always located right on the border). Straight in and I made a bee line for the discount books. I’m not sure if I’ve explained about hotel coupon books.. I don’t think I have and it’s about time I explained… Each state has hotel discount coupon books. They are a godsend here in the US and are fantastic if you are looking for neat cheap accommodation. Most of the accommodation options are based on the interstate hwys (which makes them a little obsolete if you are travelling in out of the way places) but for most driving in the US you will be able to find coupons for hotels in most towns. All hotels here in the US offer discounts but the coupon books offer the best discounts. We’ve saved hundreds by stopping at a state border and finding the coupon books. Not only have they been a great way to save some dollars but they have also been fantastic, in that they tell us where the hotels are located and what sort of facilities the hotel offers. For example, once a week (minimum) we go looking for a hotel that has laundry facilities, hot days we look for one with a pool and a hot tub, the biggest drawcard though is free breakfast at a cheap price! (Heads up.. the coupon books are normally cheaper than the internet.. so go old fashioned, ditch the laptop and just use your book and turn up at the hotel.. if you aren’t travelling in peak season and peak tourist towns you won’t have any problems finding accom)

Anyway we are very close to the Great Smoky NP and it is one of the main tourist attractions in Tennessee so I was able to get not only coupon books but also was able to get plenty of discounts for Pigeon Forge and Gatlinburg (our destination for the evening). After cleaning out the shelves of all useful material we got back in the car and drove straight down the interstate to Knoxville, Tn. Knoxville is one of those cities that I will probably forget on this journey. We drove in, drove down main street and straight out. Not because we thought the town was daggy or anything there just wasn’t much there! The main street is an old street (circa 1810) and so has gorgeous old red brick buildings, complete with old style lamp posts on each corner. Quite nice but it will end up being forgettable!

After our very quick drive thru Knoxville we hit the road to Gatlinburg. Gatlinburg is less than hour east of Knoxville and is the gateway to the Great Smoky Mountains. The gateway to Gatlinburg is this nut-so town called Pigeon Forge. You know when you have arrived at Pigeon Forge, for starters the chain motels and strip malls start to give it away, couple this with a dozen or so little amusement parks and putt-putt courses and you know you’ve made it! Originally, I had planned for us to stay in Pigeon Forge (because of the coupon books) but after seeing how tacky the town was we decided to categorically not stay in PF but continue on thru to Gatlinburg. Actually, the best way to describe PF is that it is ten miles of continuous chaos.. Cheap tacky motels describing to the world via neon sign, how cheap and tacky they really are, Crappy burger joints, little crappy amusement parks, a 6 lane freeway and the piece de resistance, Dollyworld!… (yep the big busted blonde has her own amusement park here in PF).. I think M summed it up best when she said “it’s bloody awful.”

Ok so we bypassed Pigeon Forge and continued on to Gatlinburg. You know when you leave Pigeon Forge because the tacky-ness melts behind a screen of deciduous green forest and you enter the Great Smoky NP.. No joke, it is just so much nicer than ten steps down the road.. Gatlinburg itself is a much nicer (although no less tacky) town perched on the slopes of the Great Smoky Mountains. It is surrounded by the NP and although it is a bit tacky it is a lot smaller, so at least everything is in walking distance of the hotels. We found ourselves an exy but nice hotel for our next couple of days right in the middle of town just one street back, with a view of a creek flowing right passed the hotel!

After checking in we went for a wander around downtown Gatlinburg. We stopped in at the Moonshine centre where M&D tried some of the local concoction… I missed out because I didn’t have my ID on me and they therefore refused to serve me!!! Although slightly mollified because the server didn’t think I was of age, I was pretty damn pissed off that I couldn’t try any of the local brew.. Apparently I didn’t miss too much as straight up moonshine is hard yakka! For the record, does anyone think i look like I’m younger than 21? I would have thought the wrinkles and grey hair would have been a bit of a giveaway……..

After a wander thru the town (batman movie props or laser hill billy shooting anyone?) we decided it was getting on for the evening so we drove out of town looking for a supermarket so that we could cook up a storm for dinner. Straight after dinner we went and found the rafting centre so that we could book in for the following day’s rafting expedition. We were disappointed after we arrived to find out that there was no rafting the next day (Monday).. L Knowing that we couldn’t raft here we booked ourselves into a rafting expedition on the other side of the Smokies in Nth Carolina.. We’ll just have to wait a couple more days til we can go rafting!

Song of the Day– Gnarls Barkley, Crazy