Author: Easin' Along

Helen and I often get asked if we have considered living full-time on the road in our RV. The truthful answer is, yes, we think about it, then quickly dismiss the idea. As lifelong Knoxvillians, we know how important it is to stay connected to our friends and family.  We love that we have the freedom to leave our home for three or four months at a time, but returning home can be just as sweet as our adventures on the road.

Another reason we feel the tug of home is because we love our church and the people who are a part of it. Sequoyah Hills Presbyterian has been our church home for well over thirty years, and we have no intention of moving away from it. Although we can view Sunday services online, it isn’t the same as joining our friends in the sanctuary.

One of the highlights of every year for us is the annual camping trip for church members in the Big South Fork National River and Recreation Area near Oneida, Tennessee, on the Cumberland Plateau. I have to admit to readers that Helen and I are usually the oldest campers in the group, and one aspect of the weekend that makes it so much for us is that we can be around many young adult members of the church and spend time with their children.  The campout for this year took place last weekend, and Helen and I arrived on Thursday afternoon to join a few others who couldn’t wait until Friday to begin the fun.

It is peak leaf season in the Tennessee hills, and we have received an abundance of rain this year, so the leaves have held fast to the trees a bit longer than usual, putting on a colorful show for all to enjoy. We drove to Big South Fork in anticipation of a bright display.  The display was there…but so was the rain–lots of it.

I parked Dora in campsite number one and set everything up in a misty rainfall. There are no hookups in the group campground, so I brought a generator for electricity, ensuring Helen had plenty of hot coffee available first thing on her damp Friday morning.  The generator fired up on the first pull (whew).

That evening, Jennifer and David, the campout organizers, prepared a gourmet Surf and Turf dinner for about 12 early attendees. In addition to delicious beef tenderloin filets, Jennifer sauteed fresh diver scallops and smothered them with a mixture of crumbled bacon and maple syrup. The word delicious doesn’t come close to describing the taste. After our meal, we retired to Dora and let the gentle rain lull us to sleep.

There was no letup in the rain on Friday, but the families drifted into the campground throughout the day. That evening, Jennifer and David served a meal of homemade potato soup, supplemented by a pot of homemade chili prepared in front of the fire by Richard.  Fortunately, there is a sizeable screened-in pavilion in the group campground, complete with a massive fireplace for everyone to gather around. After dinner, the children scrambled outside to play games in the dark, rain notwithstanding.

Saturday is usually a day for hiking during this event, and, in previous years, we have enjoyed fantastic hikes in Big South Fork in glorious fall weather.  The pictures above are a good illustration, but we missed out on this year.  Instead, smart-thinking parents brought several crafts and games for everyone to enjoy. Face-painting stations, beadwork tables, card games, and jigsaw puzzles, including three furnished by Helen, were included in the activities.  Except for a few rainy-day bike riders, the children remained busy all afternoon. It was fun to watch them entertain themselves without cell phones and Ipads.

The rain held up long enough to hold a worship service around a large bonfire on Sunday morning. We sang hymns accompanied by a skilled guitarist, and Mark, one of our pastors, led both a children’s service and one for the entire group. He did well. When the service ended, everyone huddled together for a group photograph behind a veil of smoke. With that, a wonderfully wet, woodsy weekend concluded.

The sun broke through less than an hour later.

Helen and I visited six National Parks on our most recent trip, including Bryce Canyon, Yosemite, Crater Lake, Yellowstone, Grand Teton, and Glacier. I’ve said it many times; our National Parks are the greatest gifts Americans have given to ourselves, and we were not disappointed this year.

After returning home and taking a few weeks to readjust, we were itching to return to the wide-open spaces. Fortunately, the most-visited National Park in the country is thirty miles from our front door, and Helen suggested we add the Great Smoky Mountain National Park to this year’s tour. I took the bait.

Peak leaf season is fast approaching in the Tennessee Valley, so we figured that we might have the opportunity for first-class leaf-peeping at the higher elevations. Campground reservations are a tough ticket during leaf season in the Smokies, but our chances might be better if we tried for a Monday instead of a weekend. We guessed right and obtained a great spot along the stream (the last one available) at our favorite campground in Cherokee, NC. In addition to securing a great campsite, the weather was perfect for camping, outdoor adventures, and picture-taking.

There are some excellent hiking trails on the eastern side of the National Park that don’t require hill-climbing. Helen and I always enjoy Deep Creek Trail in Deep Creek Campground near Bryson City, NC. The trail follows the creek and takes hikers to two Waterfalls. Tom’s Branch Falls is the higher of the two, and if the streams are full, the waterfall can put on quite a show. Indian Creek Falls is about a mile up the trail. It is a gentle waterfall but very scenic. Indian Creek Falls always has visitors around the base–or wading in the creek.

On day two of our visit, Helen wanted to hang out in Dora to do some cleaning after our four-month road trip and prepare for our annual church campout. I was just an obstacle to work around when Helen started cleaning, so I grabbed the camera and headed up the mountain to check the leaves out and take pictures. The destination was the overlook at Newfound Gap, an always scenic viewpoint that should be spectacular on this bluebird day.

As I drove past the Visitor’s Center at Oconoluftee, I could not see an empty parking space and had my first clue that the most-visited National Park would live up to its reputation on this day. Cars also lined the roads near the hiking trails, but I found one along the edge of the Oconoluftee River and stopped to take pictures of the stream. Water flowed gently around the rocks, and the falling leaves added just a touch of color to the scene. The hiking trail adjacent to the creek was very inviting, but I wanted to see what awaited me at the top of the mountain.

From the parking area along the creek, I drove steadily up Newfound Gap road to the parking lot at the overlook–a climb of about 3,000 feet. The colors along the road provided a hint as to what I would see at the top. The sky remained a stunning blue.

At Newfound Gap, I had to wait for a parking place to open, but the wait was worth it. We’ve had a substantial amount of rain this fall, and the leaves have clung to the trees a bit longer as a result. Color had begun to fill the leaves, but I guessed they were not yet at their peak. Nevertheless, there was color enough to satisfy this leaf-peeper, and I joined the crowd on the viewing platform and snapped away. What a treat!

After a while, I put the camera down and stood still while taking in the view and filling my lungs with fir and pine-scented air–something we don’t get to do every day, then drove slowly back down the mountain. You could say I was Easin’ Along.

I always put together an itinerary spreadsheet for our RV trips, including the campground name, check-in/check-out dates, distance from the last campground, and any notes pertinent to our visit. To some, this might seem like information overload. Still, it is an essential tool that helps prevent gaps or overlaps in reservation bookings, lengthy drive times, campground phone numbers to use when delayed or a need to cancel, and information to share with family. I place a copy in a loose-leaf notebook with a tab for each stop along with a written reservation confirmation, magazine clippings, and notepaper.

Helen and I consider this exercise almost as much fun as the trip itself. We research the area we will visit and plan our activities (and meals) based on what we uncover in the planning phase. Nevertheless, it usually happens that when we plan the last week or so of any trip, that part of the process suffers from neglect, After all, we know that we have been away for several months, we’re ready to reconnect at home, so one-night stands are usually the order of the day. We made one exception on this journey.

When planning our route home, I noticed that the most direct route from Colorado Springs to Knoxville took us through Dodge City, Kansas. As a big fan of the television series Gunsmoke, back in the day, I thought it might be fun to spend a little more time there than the usual one-night rest stop. I booked three nights and looked forward to learning a bit about the rough and rowdy old west as portrayed on television in the 1960s.

Our home for this stop was the appropriately named Gunsmoke RV Park and conveniently located on the edge of town. The campground owners built the office and general store to resemble an old western town, which helped get us into the swing of things. Our campsite was spacious and offered a good amount of shade.

On our first day, we had an errand to run. While driving into Dodge, a rock hit our windshield and put a chip in the glass. I took Ruby to the glass repair shop and had a patch applied that did the job. The shop owner was an interesting person, and she walked around the office with a parrot sitting on her head the entire time. I feel sure Miss Kitty didn’t serve drinks at the Long Branch with a bird perched on her head.

Dodge City grew to prominence after the Civil War as a trading center. Merchants, cattle ranchers, trappers, and fur traders gathered in Dodge City to move or sell their wares, and the population grew extensively. As a result, Dodge attracted a fair number of gamblers, prostitutes, and outlaws as well. There were a few lawmen, but, for the most part, there was no law. Gunfights were common, and, in the early days of Dodge, the victims wound up buried on Boot Hill. After the glass repair, Helen and I visited the Boot Hill Museum, not far from the campground.

We spent an hour or more viewing the very well-done exhibits in the Museum. I found a lot of the history fascinating and reading about some of the wild west legends that lived in Dodge occupied a large part of my time there. Bat Masterson and Wyatt Erp were two of the most notable, and I was intrigued to learn that both had spent time flirting with the wrong side of the law. The producers of the “Wyatt Erp” television show failed to mention his brothel.

For fun, Helen and I also visited the Boot Hill Casino and Resort that evening. We diverted from historical norms and did not carry sidearms, but Helen did wear her new cowgirl hat. It turns out the hat was a good-luck charm, and she walked away from the casino a winner and a happy camper.

The next day, we visited Boot Hill Cemetery. Although the cemetery served the citizens of Dodge (particularly the dead ones) for only six years, the history is well-documented. Most of those buried there were poor or nameless and had no money for a proper burial. The departed arrived for burial wrapped in a blanket, fully clothed and buried with their boots on–hence the name “Boot Hill.” Gravediggers didn’t lack for work either. In the first year of Dodge City’s existence, 30 killings took place in a town of only 500 people.

I have some pictures of Boot Hill and the displays mounted there, including the cemetery’s history. There is no accurate record of the number of burials. After six years, Dodge City officials moved many of the bodies, but since most of the graves went unmarked, there is no way of determining how many remain to this day. Helen and I walked about, not knowing if some gunslinger lay resting below our feet.

Although a three-day stop is unusual for us when our home is calling, I’m glad we took the time to check this place out. The time spent learning about Boot Hill and the area adds context to all of those television shows of my youth. Now, in the words of Sheriff Matt Dillon, it’s time to “get out of Dodge.” We’re Easin’ Along.