On our last visit to the Great Smokey Mountains we found this old school house which had a fenced area we thought might be a play area, but much to our surprise it was a cemetery. Also there is one random waterfall photo from this trip.

We stopped at the Tennessee Welcome Center when we crossed the State line and across the freeway was this giant guitar and it brought to mind my big brother Mike, he is a very accomplished guitarist and has played for as long as I can remember.

We stayed 1 night at the Around the Pond RV campground. The owner is very laid back and the ambiance is relaxing, its the kind of place you want to stay for awhile but unfortunately it wasn’t close enough to the Great Smokey Mountains National Park for us to do that. If you find yourself in North-Eastern Tennessee and need a quite relaxation place check out Around the Pond in Baileyton TN.

Tennessee

We think that there are as many reasons why people RV (full-time or part-time) as there are people, many things work for some but not others, its in the sharing of information that helps us all have a better experience so Thank you to the RV community.

Technology

As full-timers technology is something that is very important for trip planning, navigation, communication, and its something we could spend hundreds if not thousands of dollars on trying to make sure we have what we need as far as internet access and trip planning tools. When we got to Hermon Maine we found that the WiFi in the RV Park was very slow and that we’re in an area where our AT&T cell phones and hotspot don’t work. The first thing we try to figure out is whether this is an inconvenience that requires patients or a situation that requires a solution. Although we haven’t had this level of inconvenience in our travels we decided that maybe its a good idea not to have all our technological eggs in one basket and we moved one of our phone numbers to Verizon. We went with the Samsung Galaxy S8($760.00) and the 5gb data plan($45 a month) this was going to double what we budget for cell and internet. What we learned was that because of the pre-loaded apps on the phone updating it went through 2.5gb in ten days. The camera on the phone is said to be one of the best cell phone camera out there, but what I found was it was amazing for close ups of flowers, bugs but when you use the zoom it falls short. When we checked the first bill there were charges on it that shouldn’t be there and although Verizon said they would remove them the did not. We had 14 days to return the phone and cancel the plan if we were not satisfied. We decided that this is a inconvenience that required patients so we returned the phone and canceled the plan. This trip to the East we also upgraded our old GPS to the Garmin RV 660 LMT($317.00) which allows us to put the dimensions of our RV in and select no low clearance routes, no toll roads. It also finds things like campgrounds, rest areas, truck stops, fuel, stores and the list goes on lots of bells and whistles. For the most part its been a good upgrade and a good tool to have for traveling, but when we went from Scarborough Maine to Hermon Maine we selected no toll roads and the GPS said there was no way to get Hermon without paying tolls. We got our map out and found a route that did not have toll roads and did not increase the distance to Hermon that was a little disappointing. It also falls short on finding local attractions it seems to find the entrance to a National Parks but not things within the park.

Happy Anniversary to Us.

August 14, 2015 the escrow closed on our home of 15 years and we became homeless and started traveling, the only thing we forgot was the RV. While traveling in Arizona we found our truck and 5th wheel and the rest has been an adventure of a life time.

Travel Plans.

We will be in Hermon Maine until August 27, 2017 so we have started thinking about what we want to see and where we want to go. Here’s a few ideas: Grand kids in Tennessee, Statue of Liberty, Washington DC, Great Smokey Mountains National Park.