The Great Smokey Mountains

Omg. 

(photo heavy)

If you've never been you need to put it on your list.

Its beautiful.

 Yeah the roads are like this.

 ELK! Finally I got pictures and not of their backsides.

They were feeding in a field by the side 

of the road and naturally stopped traffic.

 This is the start of Clingman's Dome.

 Which is a half mile in and out.

Up a paved road that's deceitfully innocent in the beginning

luring you in as an easy walk

that escalates into a 9% grade where you are

practically perpendicular to the road.

Of course there are tidbits of beauty to make you not notice 

that you're sounding like an obscene phone call

with every step you take.

 This is your reward at the top.

You get to walk up another ramp to get to the tower.

Word was a 90 year old man made the trek.

I'm thinking it may have been a rumor so that no one

could now quit in.

 I started up the ramp and got to right here

before I wigged my bad-self out

because we all know I HATE HEIGHTS.

However, I am impressed I got that far.

It was a lot easier going down that up.

However, it was worth the trip.

Cowboy Coffee Camping

In gladly keeping with the noise ordinance in boondockin, we decided on not firing up the generator in making our afternoon coffee. Fortunately, I remembered to pack the old time perculator so that just in case we were going to give boondockin' a go or worse yet, the kerig bites the dust, we have backup.

Pardon the blurry photo, but fill the coffee pot with water up to the line.

Add your grinds. We only had drip coffee and not thinking that far ahead, but perk coffee is what you need. 

Assemble your propane burner by adding the base and screwing on the burner. And then fire that baby up.

 Set your coffee pot on the burner and wait for the perculating to commence. 

(OR use the propane stove inside-which we did in the morning).

Oops. Needed to turn it down and then let it perk for 7 minutes - no more/no less. (same for the stove).

Pour and enjoy.

Boondockin' in the Great Smokies

SmokyMountains

Boondockin' - is RV camping in national or state forests with/without limited amenities.

That meant with our RV we still had shelter that provided fresh water and a bathroom. (Generators could only be run from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m.)

We just had to conserve for just one night.

Such a hardship. (kidding)

We close to a river - as in we could hear the river - just not see it from the camper.

Without any ambient noises; no generators, radios nor loud voices,

you could not only enjoy the rush of the water

but also hear the wind brush the tree leaves.

It was very relaxing after a long day.

Fortunately, it was beautiful weather, perfect actually, there was a cool breeze

that actually made with through our open windows

perfect for sleeping.