The Story of the Couch

There is nothing more spectacular than the Smoky Mountains in the fall. The colors are breath-taking, so naturally we have a lot of company during October. In order to accommodate more people, we decided to buy another sofa bed. We have one downstairs in the sitting room, but we decided to move it to the game room (since it's shorter and will fit in the narrow space we have) and put the new, larger one in the sitting room. So we bought the sofa, hauled it up the mountain and called some big, strong, young fellows to come help us move it. There was only one problem - in order to move either sofa to their proper location, they have to be turned up on end to get through the doors and go across a hallway. The hallway between the two rooms has a very low ceiling of 83 1/2" and the 85" and 87" sofas are not gonna go through that hallway!  So what are we gonna do?  

Time for Plan B!  First, you call more big, young, strong guys. Second, you go get ropes and tarps because the new plan is to take the old sofa out on the 30' high deck and lower it down to the ground and take it around to the game room from the outside. And then get the new sofa off the trailer, carry it around to the back and hoist it UP to the deck and carry it into the sitting room!  (I'm afraid to watch!)

Here goes the old sofa- out and back in to the game room. 

Success!

And now for the hard part!

And up comes the new couch. 

Success again! Nothing got broken and nobody got hurt!

And if that wasn't complicated enough, Gimpy, the three-legged bear, came to watch. When I cautioned the guys about the bear, they said "not to worry- we eat bears."  And I believe they really could!

Rod Run

I guess I can't really blog about life in the Smokies without at least mentioning Rod Run.  For those of you who may not know, Rod Run is a fancy term for Car Show. Pigeon Forge has at least three of these every year and unless you are a classic car enthusiast, you might want to avoid the area at those times!  Thousands of people come to gawk and traffic is usually at a stand-still.  

The shows are usually on the weekend, but loyal car fans start showing up on Tuesday. By Friday, every parking spot in front of every establishment in Pigeon Forge will have a classic car, truck, bus, or motorcycle parked in it!  

You can visit the vendors over at the Splash Country parking lot and buy car stuff and talk to car experts, but most of the action is right here on the parkway. A lot of the owners seem to enjoy cruising the parkway and apparently the fans enjoy watching them. When the fans arrive, the first thing they do is set their lawn chairs up out by the road and they stay there until Rod Run is over. (The chairs, not the fans!). You can drive by early in the morning and the parkway is lined with empty chairs. 

Last year we came back from a ball game very late on Saturday night and people were still sitting out there watching the cars go by. I just don't get it, but then I've never been a car enthusiast. I just want a reliable vehicle that can get me from Point A to Point B!

Another Great Weekend

Once again our weekend started with tailgating and football in Knoxville. I really don't like those 12:20 starts when it's 80 degrees and just getting hotter!  But the victory makes all things bearable. Final score: UT 52, Western KY 20. I've never seen a game with 7 turnovers by one team!  That had to be disappointing for WKY. 

Since Rod Run was happening in Pigeon Forge, we drove back to Gatlinburg (from Knoxville) by way of Maryville, then Townsend. The traffic getting out of Knoxville was probably worse than the Rod Run traffic!  It took forever to get back. We stopped at Cherokee Grill for dinner and then headed home. 

Sunday we hiked the Bud Ogle Nature Trail. It is located right before the start of The Roaring Fork Auto Trail at Traffic Light 8 in Gatlinburg. Once upon a time William Ogle came to Gatlinburg and cut some logs in hopes of building a home.  He got everything ready then went back to South Carolina to fetch his family. He told his wife it was "like Paradise".  Unfortunately, he died in SC and never got back to TN. His wife and kids and her brother's family decided to make the trip and settle here anyway. So, the Bud Ogle house was built and some say it was the first home in the area. Generations of the Ogle family lived here and worked the land for over a century before the place became a part of the Nature Trail. And Ogle is still a big name in this area. (Many of you may remember Ogle's Water Park.)

This is the house and it is huge compared to some of the old homesteads we've seen in the area. Notice the two front doors. This house has two large rooms that share a common fireplace. Perhaps, it was a "duplex" type dwelling with each family having their own side. Or half might have been built with the other half added later since there are two roof lines. The Ogle widow had 7 children and it's hard to imagine where she put them all even if she had the whole house!  Generally, the girls and babies sleep downstairs with the parents and the boys sleep in the loft. I sure hope that was a big loft. Couldn't see up there. 

I love the glass windows in this house. That must have been a luxury. 

Farther along the trail, near the house, we saw the barn. It had lots of room for cattle, corn cribs and huge lofts.

The Ogles grew corn and apples. We read that a lot of it made it to market in liquid form.  That was just a way of life in the old days. We didn't see any apple trees and for the life of me, I couldn't begin to figure out how or where they grew corn!  As you can see, this land is unbelievably rocky!

We followed the trail down to the creek. The area was so peaceful and green. Mr Ogle was spot on when he described it to his wife. I kept imagining all those kids playing in these woods and waters. 

 

We finally found the mill. I suppose the family used it to grind their corn. It was hard to imagine the work it took to get this thing to work. 

The hollowed out log brings the water to the mill. 

We saw various ferns and wild flowers. I really enjoyed wandering through the woods, but the rocks were tricky. Our sticks certainly came in handy. We followed the trail for a little less than a mile back to the parking lot, then headed home for lunch and NFL football. 

Another trail conquered!

Labor Day Weekend

It's football time in Tennessee! So on Saturday we took a little road trip to Knoxville for UT vs Austen Peay. We tailgated and then enjoyed watching UT put a 45-0 whipping on AP. Of course it was only the first game of the season and things will be a little more difficult once we start playing conference games. 

On Sunday we had our traditional Smoky Mountain Breakfast and then headed to Metcalf Bottoms for some tubing. 

This was our first tubing expedition so we decided to start small and keep things simple. It got complicated when we couldn't figure out how to operate the new pump for blowing up the tubes. That took a while and by the time we figured it out and got five tubes inflated we were definitely ready for some cold water! The second complication was the fact that the water wasn't really quite deep enough for tubing and we kept getting hung up on the rocks. But that just added to the hilarity of our day.  But we finally figured out where to go and how to maneuver the tube. So we're floating down the river and all of a sudden we see these four people staring down in the water. Jeff floats over to ask them if they lost something and the older guy replies, "No, I'm just looking for water deep enough to baptize these kids.  They want to be baptized in the creek." So we witnessed three baptisms, said "Amen", and floated on down the river! 

After a time or two down the river we stopped and had a picnic. 

Once we finished for the day, things got complicated again. We discovered it took longer to deflate the tubes than it did to inflate them. We ended up piling them on top of the truck. But then we had to stop and rearrange things a couple of times. More hilarity!

We finally made it home and got everything unloaded before the rain set in. We spent the evening eating and playing board games and topped it off with some time in the hot tub. We turned in early for some much needed rest, only to be awakened at midnight by our neighbor shooting fireworks off his deck. 

We started our Labor Day with a late breakfast of Pancakes and omelets. Then we let the games begin!  Between I-Pads and Cornhole, we had it going on!  

Before we knew it, it was time to light the grill. Our meal for the day- Cherry & Hickory Smoked Ribs with all the fixings. 

We did our usual snack grazing while we waited. 

The ribs turned out great. I must say that Mr G is getting really good with the big grill!  After cake and ice cream, the kids packed up to go home and our Big Labor Day Bash was over. Ah, till next time........