Within an hours' drive from Knoxville, we arrived in the town of Sevierville, which bills the Smoky Mountain Knife Works as one of its top attractions. It's the world's largest knife showroom and store (spanning 108,000 square feet, or over 10,000 square meters!), and more than 1.5 million people visit each year! So they can add 2 more people to their annual tally.
So we were prepared to see a lot of knives in this three-story building--heading in, we saw hunting knives, cooking knives, pocket knives and collector's ones on display (including a commemorative set of knives for Queen Elizabeth II's wedding to Prince Philip back in the day--why have fine china when you can get knives?). There were also a lot of other products associated with knives, such as a whole kitchen section that sold everything from chopping boards, graters, colanders and the like.
But then it was like the company recognized that they had all this space to fill, so why not add more random stuff? There were rubber ducks for the bathtub, a fossil section filled with prehistoric bones, crystals and rocks, and just more...stuff! That was really overwhelming, seeing peak consumerism of all these items that could end up in people's homes, gathering dust or ending up in landfills, because they're not necessarily things we need.
Dolly Parton and Dollywood
We arrived in downtown Sevierville, a cute and charming little town, which was getting ready for fall, as the leaves on the trees were starting to change color and fall from their branches. It's Lisette's favorite season in the US and one we've been looking forward to for a while on this trip after enduring scorching summer days! Nature's colors are most vibrant, the air is crisp in the mornings and evenings while it's still warm during the day, delicious foods like pumpkin and apple are in abundance, and decorations come out for Halloween, leading up to the holiday season. What's not to love?
In front of the Sevier County Courthouse, a group of ladies, along with a bunch of male prisoners who were being supervised by a sheriff (they were clearly doing community service), were setting up for fall, placing decorations of fall leaves, pumpkins, and scarecrows around the little plaza in front. The men were wearing orange shorts, which was kind of funny because it was the same shade of orange as the people we'd seen in Knoxville yesterday wearing the colors of the University of Tennessee in support of the football game today! Also in front of the Courthouse is a statue of Dolly Parton as a young woman, casually sitting on a rock and strumming her guitar. The country music star was born in rural Sevier County, making her one of their most beloved celebrities.
We soon hit the town of Pigeon Forge, a mountain resort town that includes Dollywood, Dolly Parton's theme park that's been operating for almost 40(!) years, and which was recently voted as the top theme park in the country(!). Apparently nearly 3 million visitors flock to Dollywood from mid-March through to the Christmas holidays, spending time at the amusement park, and its crafts, food and music events. It's basically the east Tennessee version of Disneyland. We wanted to see if we could spot some of the attractions, but despite driving up to the entrance before we had to pay for parking, we couldn't see much as all the sights are behind a dense crop of trees.
Tennessee's Version of Las Vegas
Michael had mentioned to Lisette that Pigeon Forge seemed to be a holiday resort kind of town, but nothing prepared us for the onslaught of hotels, restaurants, pancake restaurants (yes, that could be its own category), theme parks, museums and shops that went on for miles and miles!
There was the Titanic Museum, a two-story museum shaped like the RMS Titanic, at half the scale. There were numerous dinner and show venues (where you have dinner and watch a kitschy performance at the same time). There was an ocean-themed (pirates, mermaids) mini golf course; souvenir shops that proudly advertised that they sold everything from knives, t-shirts, gifts, candies and more; UTV rental companies; ice cream parlors, Jurassic Park-themed rides... it seemed to be endless!
It turns out that we were in Pigeon Forge during its Fall "Rod Run" car show, which brings together car enthusiasts who display their custom classics, hot rods, and Pro Street vehicles at various venues, and there's also a car parade over this weekend. Pigeon Forge has multiple car shows throughout the year, and today, there were hundreds of people stuck in traffic with us (driving everything from huge pick-up trucks to golf carts), with hundreds more walking along the strip, sitting in lawn chairs (with many more sitting empty lined along the streets) ahead of the car parade, or getting by on scooters or motorized wheelchairs. Between the people walking around and driving and the Vegas-style attractions that went on for miles, we couldn't get over how unique this sight was, commenting that we'd probably never see anything like it again. This was really a microcosm of what people think, when they think of America--there is nowhere else on the planet that would have all of these sights and activities, condensed into a long stretch of highway!
Great Smoky Mountains National Park
After about an hour of being stuck in traffic, the road cleared--as did the kitschy tourist sights, as we arrived at the foot of the Great Smoky Mountains, a mountain range rising along the Tennessee–North Carolina border. It's also a national park, and it's been a while since we've been in a national park centered around hiking, camping, cycling, and exploring the outdoors! While Hot Springs in Arkansas and Gateway Arch in St. Louis, Missouri are national parks that we've most recently been to, they're in more urban areas.
Entering the national park is free, but there's a $5 charge for a parking tag to stop and park along the various points within the Great Smoky Mountains. The Visitor Center (there are 2, we went to the Sugarlands one closest to where we entered), has a great exhibit of the various animals you can find in the national park (sorry, they are taxidermy animals). Who knew there was such a vast array of animals here--including bobcat, turtles, minks, bears, and so many more?
We were told that the Cataract Falls were "just behind" the visitor center, so we went to check it out, not realizing it would turn into a 25-minute little hike! Michael was perfectly prepared, wearing flip flops as we walked along the path, across footbridges and scrub to get to the falls...! The creeks looked quite dry along the way, so unsurprisingly the falls were rather small, but it was lovely to get outside and enjoy the scenery. We ended up driving up the mountains: the elevation did increase to just over 5,000 feet or so, which isn't that steep compared to places we've been to like Colorado. Still, it's been a while since we have been driving steadily uphill (and downhill!), so we had to be mindful of our brakes not overheating.
The views were wonderful at the lookouts, where we could see hundreds of different species of trees for miles. It turns out that we would cross our 34th state, North Carolina, within the national park as the borders runs through it! We exited the park at a town called Cherokee, part of a reservation for the Cherokee Nation. There were signs in Cherokee syllabary, Cherokee stores, and bear sculptures with scenes from traditional native life painted on them.
Aggressive Drivers and Saved by Cracker Barrel
Our plan was to keep driving and ideally arrive at the city of Asheville in the evening, so we had a long drive north to get there. We've encountered our share of aggressive drivers on this trip, but for now, North Carolina officially has the most aggressive drivers of any state. On this leg, we saw and experienced many drivers cutting abruptly in front of us to change lanes. Drivers had no qualms about driving right up someone else's backside, as a way to goad them into driving more quickly. And in the event that we did overtake a car, the drivers all seemed to have some insecurity complex that an RV achieved this, so they'd accelerate rapidly to make a point that someone we couldn't drive past them. It was weird and somewhat stressful to deal with!
When we tiredly arrived in Asheville, a wrong turn landed us at a shopping parking lot, where we stayed briefly for dinner, but couldn't linger as no overnight parking was allowed. We drove to a Kohl's parking lot that was apparently ok to stay at (according to an iOverlander entry), but it was even worse, with cameras and flashing blue lights overtly indicating that we couldn't sleep here. We ended up driving BACK across town near where we first entered to get to a Cracker Barrel that we saw on a map, but not on iOverlander. By this time it was dark, and the highway lacked any streetlight, making it challenging to drive in.
When we finally got to the Cracker Barrel, there were surprisingly signs saying "no overnight parking!" First time we've ever seen this for a Cracker Barrel. But there were still people eating at the restaurant, although there were lots of sketchy-looking folks milling around too, just like we'd seen at the Kohl's. So far Asheville has not been giving us a good impression! With no other options, we crossed our fingers and hoped for the best. Lisette ended up having a poor night's sleep, as every noise outside made her paranoid that it was someone going to say we needed to move on, and the sketchy folks we'd seen earlier milling about didn't help! But it ended up being an uneventful evening, and perhaps we'll see more Cracker Barrel nights in our future, as we head to the more crowded cities on the East Coast.