We're driving to Memphis

After a few days in the wonderful Smoky Mountains, we're driving down to Memphis.

It's a long day on the road...

Cades Cove TN

Cades Cove is an isolated valley located in the Smoky Mountains National Park, the place we went to spend the day. In early days, Cades Cove was settled by the Cherokee Indians. In 1818, the cove was then settled by European settlers such as John Oliver and his wife Lucretia Frazier and others. By 1820, the population of Cades Cove grew to 671 with the size of cove farms averaging between 150 and 300 acres.

Today, Cades Cove belongs to the Great Smoky Mountains National Park, where a ring road leads   through the cove. Visitors can enjoy the many buildings left by the early settlers.

There is lots of wildlife, including bears and deer. Unfortunately (or maybe fortunately), we didn't see any bears, but the ranger at the visitor's centre assured us there are about 1,500 bears living in Cades Cove and the numbers are increasing.

The temperature all day today was hovering around the 0 Deg C mark.

My daughter Carol has requested a map of the area, so here are a couple.

This map shows part of the Great Smoky Mountains National Park

Anyone interested, Dollywood (Dolly Parton's Theme Park) is about 20 minutes away from Gatlinburg. We didn't go there.

This map shows where Gatlinburg is in relation to the park

 Now let's have a look at some pictures I took today on the drive through Cades Cove.

A typical settler's home

The Oliver Family hut

Kathy and the Blogger imagine keeping warm in one of these houses

About half way along the loop is the Cades Cove Information Centre where they sell books, CDs and DVD's as well as souvenirs of the place.

Information Centre

Another Mill in another Woods

Another settler's hut

Finally we spotted some deer in the woods

 The early settlers in Cades Cove were very god fearing folk, both Baptists and Methodists. At one stage both lots started disagreeing with each other and both the Baptists and the Methodists split and started individual churches, so now there were two lots of Baptists and two lots of Methodists.

Primitive Baptists Church, one of the two split churches

Rob took the opportunity to preach fire and brimstone to us

A few more deer crossed our paths

Another settler's hut

And a storage hut

Tomorrow is our last day here in the Smoky Mountains. The temperature forecast for tomorrow is -2 Deg C top, -11 Deg C during the night.. Too cold for us to go outside. We're having a lay day in this fabulous B&B in Gatlinburg.

The day after, we have a long drive to Memphis TN.

A Mill In the Woods

After a fabulous breakfast in our B&B, this morning we went to explore the Newfound Gap Road through the centre of the Great Smoky Mountain National Park. It was a chilly morning about 5 Deg. C. The drive though the forest was spectacular with lots of pull-out to admire the views.

Laurel Springs B&B where we're staying B&B 

The Blogger admires the view

The Chimneys Range

Ice on the side of the road gives you an idea of the temperature

Then there was this white stuff everywhere

The Blogger looks cold

When we saw a sign on the road 'Mingus Mill This Way' we had to stop and go investigating.  After a short walk we came to this interesting working mill.

The Mill in the Woods

I had a chat with the miller, a very interesting man with a very heavy southern drawl. When I asked him if he was born in Tennessee, he drawled, No sirrr, I was born raaght here in North Carolina. Wow, I didn't even realise we had crossed the state border.

The mill was grinding cornmeal

A little further up the road, back in Tennessee, it started to rain, which really made the Smoky Mountains live up to their name.

The 'smoky' Smoky Mountains

After a stop for coffee and cake in Cherokee country, we started heading home to Gatlinburg again. But once again turned off the road for a walk, this time in the rain, to Cataract Falls.

The Blogger at Cataract Falls in Tennessee

Laurel Springs Lodge, Gatlinburg

We're staying in a wonderful B&B in Gatlinburg.  The brochure said: Gatlinburg was a sleepy, peaceful mountain village. The guests woke in the morning rested and relaxed. They enjoyed the sound of the river rushing out of the smoky mountains and savored the smell of biscuits baking and fresh coffee brewing.  There was excitement in the air as guests prepared to explore the mountains above Gatlinburg.  Talk was about the mountains becoming the Great Smoky Mountain National Park. These sights, sounds, and excitement have not changed in 80 years. They are still being experienced today!  The Lodge was known as Miss McCauley's boarding house for many of its early years. Miss McCauley was a music teacher in Knoxville.  She hosted hundreds of guests and often had school children "camping" on her screened porch, enjoying all the excitement the smoky mountains had to offer. 

The Laurel Springs LOdge at Gatlinburg

So now let's go and explore the Smoky Mountains.....

On The Road

We're picking up a hire car this morning at the Nashville airport and hit the road to Gattlinburg TN in the Smoky Mountains. For lunch we'll stop at Crossville where we'll meet a couple of Diane's blogging friends.

It's a long drive - on the wrong side of the road

Crossville

Music City Nashville

It's autumn in Nashville or as the local call it 'Fall in Music City'. Hopefully we won't. fall. So today we'll have a look around.

Making an Impact on Earth

They say everybody's dream is to end up in a Hollywood movie. Well, I never thought I would. But this morning I did land a small part in a forthcoming movie called Impact Earth, released early next year. S-I-L Bernie plays the lead in this futuristic flic about meteorites crashing towards earth.

Bernie had to go to the sound recording studio to do a couple of dubs of scenes they had already shot. He invited me along for the ride. Meeting the director and sound engineers, one of them said to me, Hey man, we can use you in the movie. My answer, I don't come cheap.

So I sat down and watched Bernie speaking dialogue to the existing vision, while the sound engineers recorded and matched the words to the vision. It was fascinating to watch them work.

When all the tracks were recorded, the director handed me the script and asked me to step into the sound booth. There I was asked to read a newsflash in a foreign radio announcer's voice, announcing the immediate impact the meteorites would have crashing onto earth. After a few takes, the director picked one version which the sound engineer then mastered into a genuine radio voice. My name was written down for the credits of the film.

Bernie with Tom Berrenger on screen with the sound engineer looking on

Bernie in the sound booth

Maybe a future star in the sound booth

After the recording session, we picked up the boys and drove to the UCLA campus to see Sonya at work. She showed us the entire theatre department and the various theatres where she works.

Unfortunately I was so in awe with her work environment, I forgot to take my camera out of my pocket.

The UCLA is a fantastic campus

There are some great buildings

 Finally, it was dinner time and we went to the local Japanese restaurant for a great fish dinner.

At the Japanese Restaurant