2007-1 The Dragon, Tennessee & North Carolina
Hello All,
The Traveling Browns are on the road again. We departed Florida on March 1st and spent two days traveling to East Tennessee where we parked our fifth-wheel for the summer. The campground is on Tellico Lake about 10 minutes from where our boat is moored. The next few days were spent doing chores, along with a quick visit to the boat--we were pleased to see it still floating.
Since the campground is water and electric only, we had to purchase a "blue boy." For those of you that are not RVers, a blue boy is a sewer tank on wheels. You dump your sewage from the RV into the blue boy and then take it to a dump station to empty it. They work pretty slick and ours has a handle on it that hooks over the hitch on the truck so we can tow it to the dump station.
Our first attempt at using the blue boy went without a hitch. We dumped into it and hooked it on the truck and started towing it to the dump station. Did I mention that East Tennessee is hilly? The blue boy towed uphill without a problem. However, when we started downhill it jumped off the hitch! You got the picture! A runaway sewage tank with 32 gallons of "stuff" onboard is a scary sight!! It finally went over a bank and came to a stop. Not a drop was spilled! That was quite a testament to how well blue boys are built. We have since modified how we hook it to the truck.
It is still a little cool--no make that COLD here in Tennessee. The temperatures have dropped into the mid-20s for the past three nights with daytime highs in the 50s and 60s. Spring has not quite arrived here yet. None of the trees are budding; however, the wild daffodils are in bloom everywhere and the rhododendrons are starting to bud.
We took a drive today to Pigeon Forge and then into the Great Smoky Mountain National Park. From there we visited Cherokee in North Carolina. All these areas are gearing up for the upcoming tourist season. For our trip home we decided to take an alternate route. When we do road trips we try to drive a loop rather than backtrack. Today we ended up on Highway 129 for a good portion of our return trip.
Highway 129 is something else! Most of the time, we were driving between 15 and 25 miles per hour. The grades were 9-12% with curves and switchbacks all the way. We finally stopped at a place called Deal's Gap Motorcycle Resort where we learned that this highway is called "The Dragon" and is a well known motorcycle route. It only takes one trip to "The Dragon" to understand its name. This 11-mile stretch of road contains 318 curves!
At the resort there was a "Tree of Shame" where they hang pieces of motorcycles that don't navigate The Dragon successfully--hence the Picture of the Week.
The Traveling Browns are on the road again. We departed Florida on March 1st and spent two days traveling to East Tennessee where we parked our fifth-wheel for the summer. The campground is on Tellico Lake about 10 minutes from where our boat is moored. The next few days were spent doing chores, along with a quick visit to the boat--we were pleased to see it still floating.
Since the campground is water and electric only, we had to purchase a "blue boy." For those of you that are not RVers, a blue boy is a sewer tank on wheels. You dump your sewage from the RV into the blue boy and then take it to a dump station to empty it. They work pretty slick and ours has a handle on it that hooks over the hitch on the truck so we can tow it to the dump station.
Our first attempt at using the blue boy went without a hitch. We dumped into it and hooked it on the truck and started towing it to the dump station. Did I mention that East Tennessee is hilly? The blue boy towed uphill without a problem. However, when we started downhill it jumped off the hitch! You got the picture! A runaway sewage tank with 32 gallons of "stuff" onboard is a scary sight!! It finally went over a bank and came to a stop. Not a drop was spilled! That was quite a testament to how well blue boys are built. We have since modified how we hook it to the truck.
It is still a little cool--no make that COLD here in Tennessee. The temperatures have dropped into the mid-20s for the past three nights with daytime highs in the 50s and 60s. Spring has not quite arrived here yet. None of the trees are budding; however, the wild daffodils are in bloom everywhere and the rhododendrons are starting to bud.
We took a drive today to Pigeon Forge and then into the Great Smoky Mountain National Park. From there we visited Cherokee in North Carolina. All these areas are gearing up for the upcoming tourist season. For our trip home we decided to take an alternate route. When we do road trips we try to drive a loop rather than backtrack. Today we ended up on Highway 129 for a good portion of our return trip.
Highway 129 is something else! Most of the time, we were driving between 15 and 25 miles per hour. The grades were 9-12% with curves and switchbacks all the way. We finally stopped at a place called Deal's Gap Motorcycle Resort where we learned that this highway is called "The Dragon" and is a well known motorcycle route. It only takes one trip to "The Dragon" to understand its name. This 11-mile stretch of road contains 318 curves!
At the resort there was a "Tree of Shame" where they hang pieces of motorcycles that don't navigate The Dragon successfully--hence the Picture of the Week.
Until next time,
Dave & Barb
The Traveling Browns
Dave & Barb
The Traveling Browns