Today we packed up our suitcases and loaded them into our car. We are leaving Nashville after spending a week here and heading East. We will be visiting The Great Smokey Mountain National Park for the next several days and our base of operation will be Pigeon Forge Tennessee.
I have a new app on my smart phone – Gas Buddy, which determines my current location and shows me the gas stations around me and the prices for regular gas. There was a gas station about 1 mile away selling fuel for $3.49 per gallon, but the one across the road where I normally would have bought fuel before heading out was charging $3.68 per gallon. Gee, that’s a no brainer, drive the mile and save 19 cents per gallon. For my Canadian friends, that $3.49 per gallon works out to .92 cents a liter.. Much cheaper than at home. I think at home the price is in the $1.28 per liter range.
After filling our tank we headed off along I-40. Past the J.Percy Priest Dam.
We also passed this oversized load of wind turbine blades.
Our first stop is in Cookeville TN for a roadside attraction. Can you tell we like elephants… actually it is Karen’s mother who likes and collects everything “elephant” so these recent photos the last 2 days of elephants are more for her benefit.
We encountered a rain shower as we drove into Knoxville.
Our plan was to stop and spend a couple of hours at the Sunsphere, the site of the 1982 Worlds Fair. However it was pouring rain as we were arriving, so we will have to postpone a visit until the next time we are in the area.
Another stop at another road side attraction… a Dolly Parton Statue. Seems fitting to stop here after our week in Nashville.
We drove into Pigeon Forge on the main street. My first thoughts were that this town remindes me a lot of Branson Missouri. The traffic, the dinner theaters, the wax museums, the Titanic museum, the crowds. And then I saw some Christmas stores, so now I have revised my opinion… Pigeon Forge TN is a cross between Branson MO and Frankenmuth MI.
There are two dozen or more restaurants all within a short walk from our hotel and there is even a Baskin Robbins so we walked to get some ice cream. They even had Karen’s favourite flavour.. Chocolate Fudge.
Tomorrow we will visit a portion of The Great Smokey Mountain National Park.
To see all of our photos from today, please click on this link to our FLICKR site.
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