August 3, 2023 It rained off and on all night and sprinkled off and on while we got ready to leave. Luckily, it didn’t rain while we were hooking up the Jeep. We jumped on I-81 for our 187-mile drive to Pigeon Forge, TN. It was overcast with drizzle and a temp of 65. Our weather forecast for today was calling for rain off and on. We haven’t had to drive in the rain on any day of our trip so far, so we’ve been pretty lucky. Today would be the first. Visibility was only 5 miles due to the rain and haze.
The rain continued for most of the drive–sometimes heavy, sometimes light. We crossed the Tennessee border at 10:30 and it was still raining.
Once we were in Tennessee, the traffic lightened up, but the rain continued on this highway boulevard.
At the town of Sevierville, we turned south on Highway 66 heading towards the Great Smoky Mountains. Sevierville is very touristy with lots of things going on. I’ve never seen a water park so huge. It covered the whole hillside over lots of acres.
There were lots of whiskey and moonshine distilleries around. Typically, Tennessee. Dolly Parton signs were everywhere and so were the fireworks signs. Four Miatas pulled up next to us at the stoplight. They were probably together planning to do a drive on the Tail of the Dragon–the #1 motorcycle and sports car road of 316 curves in 11 miles. We have driven on it a few years ago in our Corvette and it was a blast!
There wasn’t much traffic here. LOL
We took Dolly Parton Way to Veterans Highway which would take us to our campground. The rain finally stopped, but clouds hung over the mountains. You can barely see the mountains in the distance.
We passed Dollywood on this highway and it was pretty busy for such a crummy day.
We entered the town of Pigeon Forge and found the campground–Pigeon Forge/Gatlinburg KOA.
We checked in at 1:00 and were assigned site #401.
We unhooked the Jeep along a straight-away in the campground and proceeded to our site.
It was in a newly developed area of sites overlooking the Little Pigeon River.
It is a nice location with a view of the river as we watched the ducks swim down the river in the rain.
We got plugged in and hooked up to water as it started to rain lightly. Auggie was excited, as he always is, to get out and stretch his legs. He hung outside under the awning which kept him dry. We have a nice cement area with patio furniture for our 5-day stay.
We got all set up inside and then it began to rain steadily. There was a KOA worker who we saw pulling weeds along the fence-line near our site that continued to work as it continued to rain. He finally stopped after about an hour and left. He got a lot accomplished, but he was soaking wet!
We hung out just relaxing after a drive almost entirely in the rain. Hopefully, while we are here the weather will allow us to do some exploring in the mountains. We had an “indoor meal” which we always have on-hand for rainy days like this. The rain finally ended right before dinner. Auggie and I took our evening walk around the campground. It turned out to be a very pleasant evening.
WOW, that is quite a nice site, looks like someone’s patio at home! And, right along the river, another plus! Ya’ll did good! I think I would have been very happy staying there for this leg of the trip!
It’s a beautiful spot. Love to wake up in the morning and look at the river.