We are in absolute awe as we continue on our journey in Tennessee. The mountains here are so beautiful and I am beyond thrilled to be able to drive through them, over them, around them, without the anxiety that I felt last year during our stay here. We’ve been blessed to travel around/through Sevierville, Pigeon Forge, Gatlinburg, Cosby, Dandridge, Bristol and Lenoir City with intimate views of the Great Smoky Mountains and the Appalachian Mountains. They just take your breath away.

This year’s stay has been a bit rainy, and when the rain comes, it is heavy. For the first time since embracing the full-time lifestyle, we’ve had to move from a site to higher ground because of flooding at the campground. We have been safe and have had very few issues, although we are investigating some leaks that we’ve discovered. As we head back to Florida to take care of some health matters, we’ll stop off to have “Little Mama” checked out, too!

Because this is a holiday weekend, Soaring Eagle Campground, our current location, is totally full. There are full-timers, weekenders, singles, families, tenters abounding. Some of us are parked on “higher” ground, while others are lakeside. Storms, possibly dangerous, at times, have been predicted, but the sun is still shining, so we’re all keeping positive thoughts.

Our dash cam has decided to “go on strike”, so we’ve begun “negotiations”, re-reading the owner’s manual in hopes of doing some reprogramming so that we can share some of these beautiful sights with you.

Stay tuned….

We’re giving a very special “shout-out” to Smoky Mountain Mobile RV Repair Service”. They came out to Shadrack Campground here in Bristol, TN, and fixed the nose of our camper. Seems that there may be some water issues that opened up part of the seam leaving the possibility of water getting in-between the outside and the inside. They replaced some screws and then caulked the seam. The cost of the repair was minimal and the repair team was great–friendly as well as helpful!

There are a couple of other things going on, including some health concerns, so we’ll be heading back south to Florida when our stay here in Bristol concludes at the end of the week. Hopefully, once we get some things taken care of, we’ll be back on the road, headed north, again, to see our family and friends.

As usual, stay tuned….

In my last post, I talked about the issue of my anxiety, being debilitated by a panic attack and my desire to “return to the scene of the crime” as a means of overcoming the issue.  I am happy to report that a return trip to the Great Smoky Mountains National Park, with me in the driver’s seat, proved to be a success!!! Accompanied by my husband and our friends, Chris and Cherie, I was able to drive us from Sevierville, over some winding roads and elevations, to the park.  Once there, we started the journey up the mountain, about seven miles, and took the scenic route on the Cade’s Cove Loop.  It was an absolutely amazing experience with incredible views of the mountains, as well as the historic sites in the valley.  Because it was Mother’s Day, we found many families choosing spots in the area for family picnics.  But what was best for me was the fact that I had absolutely zero anxiety while driving up and down and around the one-lane mountain road. My prayers were answered!

Further evidence for me has been our trip from Sevierville to Bristol, TN. The road we drove was parallel to the Cherokee National Forest and the park in which we are presently camped is just next to Holston Mountain. There have been no further issues and I’m really enjoying my time here, just learning how to relax.

Of course, everything cannot go perfectly in life. We woke up this morning to a very heavy rainstorm. Although brief in time, it rained enough for me to discover that we have a leak in our roof. Further, I took a look at our 5th wheel and have noticed what seems to be a slight separation on one side of the cap. We’re not sure of the cause or if there is any major significance, but we’ll wait for a mobile RV service tech to give us an idea and take it from there.

In the meantime, we’re just going to stay in “relaxation mode” and continue living our dream…., on the road.

Interestingly, one year ago today, while in Sevierville, TN, we began a trip to Bryson City, NC to take a train sightseeing excursion. Leaving Sevierville took us, unplanned, through the Great Smoky Mountain National Park, to its top. Totally unprepared for that adventure, we discovered that I have an incredible fear of heights—one that caused a full-blown panic attack. As irrational as it was, there was no convincing me that I was not going to fall off the mountain into the abyss below. Frank worked hard for the twenty minutes that it took to convince me to get out of the driver’s seat of our truck so that he could drive us back down to the bottom of the mountain. Little did we know that I would be adversely affected for the duration of the months on the road from Tennessee to Vermont and back to Florida. Any mountain, or hill for that matter, that we encountered was the cause of tremendous anxiety. We thought that it would be the end of our life on the road. It certainly caused us to rethink and subsequently cancel our plans to caravan to Alaska, at least for now. Further, it stopped me from writing and keeping up-to-date with our blog, because I just couldn’t write about the experience and anytime I wanted to write, the memory of the fear would come rushing back.

Well, we’re back in Sevierville, TN, and I am determined to overcome this issue. So far, things have gone pretty well. I drove through some of the area that caused an issue last year, and with the help of our friends Chris and Cherie, we drove over one of the many mountains here. Although a bit nervous, the anxiety has not yet returned. We’re actually going to do another test by returning to the Great Smoky Mountain National Park in the next couple of days.

So…., stay tuned, my friends.