Learning in the Smokies....

What a week its been! We attended the RV-Dreams Spring Educational Rally this past week in Sevierville, Tennessee. Click here for more information. Our goal was to learn from the real experts...those already out there living the full-time lifestyle. Tom and I do not know anyone personally that has done this, so most of our learning has been from camping shows/seminars and reading books and blogs about the lifestyle. We are so happy we came to this rally! Plus....we had fun!!

Walking down our street

Running off to a seminar!

Conference Center-right on the campgrounds

Howard and Linda of RV-Dreams have been full-timing for 9 years. To us, they are the experts! They have been there, done that, and will tell you about it. They were not only professional, but so open and gracious with information and sharing of their personal experiences and opinions. I really loved the emphasis on safety too...for both driving and living in the RV. Not only that, but most of the attendees were also very open,sharing lessons learned and experiences endured. You can imagine just how entertaining that can be as well, especially the experiences regarding the sewer hookups. (Think RV movie with Robin Williams).  I think we all had a story or two to tell, and learned quite a bit from each other as well!

The seminar topics covered all aspects of fulltiming-including things like weight and tires, workamping, maintenance of the rig, warranties, budgets.....all different aspects of RVing. The timing of this seminar was perfect for us, as we are just starting our journey and the more we know....the better!!

Most evenings we had a buffet dinner in the conference center, which was right on site. Afterwards, there usually was entertainment. The last night was a Kentucky Derby theme, complete with hats. Some people had quite the hats! Tom and I were party-poopers (big surprise there, huh?), and made hats there. As we had dinner, we watched the race on the big-screen. Fun!

Linda in her Derby hat

Tom....looking ready for dinner

Tasty Buffet (I didn't have to cook-yeah!)

I think there were 150 attendees?

One thing mentioned in the seminar, and something Tom keeps telling me too...that I understand academically, but I just don't feel yet....is this is a lifestyle, NOT a vacation. I sort of get it, but not fully. I am still in vacation mode, still planning things to see in the area, and such, rather than slowing it down a little. Its very hard for me to think like that. The only way I truly "get it" is when I think about being retired in our house....we would not be going somewhere or doing something every single day, all day. I imagine we would be working at our computers and doing household chores and upgrades, kinda like below. Does that count?

computer station with a view

foam pipe insulation on the slide corners....works like a charm!

After 3 days here in Tennessee, we visited an urgent care center after the daily seminars and Tom got his stitches out!! He looks great! (Most of the bruising and swelling in his eyes and face has gone down dramatically too)! The nurse said the stitching was done really well. Tom took really great care of the wound too. Good news all around : )

Looking good Tom! Healed nicely!!

The seminar ended with breakfast on Sunday morning, but we decided to stay an extra day to explore the area. Driving through Pigeon Forge and Gatlinburg to get to Smoky Mountain National Park was amazing in contrasts. You go from one type of vacation area, to another, rather quickly.

Wonderworks

Hatfields and McCoys Dinner Show

Hollywood Wax Museum

Hollywood Wax Museum

We had decided we wanted to spend our day exploring the park, and had picked out a few easy waterfall hikes (easy and rather short ). It was such a beautiful day, I guess everyone else had the same idea! It was so crowded we couldn't park anywhere near the trailheads for the hikes we had picked out. We were disappointed. Anyway, we did the Roaring Forks Nature Road trip, which was really amazing. We had our windows rolled down since it was so beautiful out, and you could hear water in the streams, and the birds! It was really like driving through a hike, if you can imaging doing that. The road was narrow and one way, with lots of curves and the speed limit was 10 mph. It was a nice alternative to the hikes we didn't go on, and we made many (photo) stops along the way.

Lunch besides a nice stream....I swear it was a highway for butterflies....they just kept flying by upstream

Appalachian house

Roaring Forks Nature Drive....like "driving" a hike

Streams everywhere...so peaceful

we stopped at many of these streams

Still smilin'-after about a month of FT-ing

Afterwards, we drove to Clingman's Dome, which is one of the highest overlook points in the park. There is a paved pathway, quite steep, that is half a mile long until you get to the top and can view 360 degrees. It was rather crowded, lots of people besides us.

Windy and cool at the top of Clingman's Dome

Just gorgeous

Clingman's Dome

on the pathway up

very nice

beauty of nature

fresh scat...hmmm

a few others enjoying the views

top of Clingman's Dome....360 degree views

Here's a postcard! Wow!

Can you imagine, on the way down....look what we saw! Looked to be an adolescent and he could have cared less how many of us were walking by. He seemed to be eating bugs and stuff under the trees, and he was very focused on getting food. He was quite close to the path, and we had no where to go but back up, so we waited it out with lots of other people, taking photos of course. He didn't seem to mind the audience, he was hungry!

Little guy....right off the path

a little video

Someone getting too close??? People are  nuts! (I had a zoom by the way!)

We had one last stop...and that was to get some ice cream! Was that ever a treat!!

Delicious!

Flowers so nice! Especially after THIS winter!

For campers out there, whether you are considering full-timing or not, we HIGHLY recommend an RV-Dreams Rally!! On a scale of 1-10, we give it a 12!! Linda and Howard were fabulous!! Oh yeah, and before we left, we signed up to get our RV weighed by them, to determine the load on each tire, and to assess if we are overloaded in any way. (Front to back, driver side to passenger side, and total weight). This was a very easy process-Linda and Howard put scales under the RV tires as we were heading out, and somehow did all of their readings and let us know what the numbers meant. Lucky for us we were "in spec". Linda and Howard have put our minds at ease, more than they will ever know...and not only about the tire load.

We are saying goodbye to the Smoky Mountains for now.....leaving with great memories, tons of information, and new friends that we hope we meet up with again further along down the road! Safe travels everyone!!