Smoky Mountains NP and Cooking Out - Day 129

This is what I always imagined camping to be. Sitting by the fireside, listening to the murmuring river which is my front yard, and gazing up through the giant trees at a myriad of stars.

For the very first time, bar none, since this road trip began and with great fanfare - da da dahhh - tonight I cooked myself dinner. Over the campfire I built, and on the skewers I loaded up, I fired up some steak. I got the stir fry ready sliced steak from Krogers, and I had earlier purchased some bamboo spits. I cooked 3 skewers for varying times. The medium rare was good, the medium better and well done was the way to go. If I had A1 Sauce, perhaps the reverse, but the wood BBQ added the most flavor to the meat. My next camping purchase will be salt and pepper shakers...or I'll just steal them from a restaurant.

It has passed into complete darkness now and I revel in the day I had.

I left Murphy around 9:30 and worked my way to the Great Smoky Mountain National Park. The route I chose through the Smokies was to cut across it diagonally, catch the good stuff, and set up camp early. The good stuff was plentiful, and it took me til 6:30 to set up camp. I did a couple of mile long hikes, but they felt longer because of the steep inclines. The best was to Clingman's Dome with a panoramic view of the layered Smokies. That hike was straight up, and it embarrasses me to see the four year olds, super fatties and great grandfathers that pace their way to the top. I'm surprised more people don't keel over on these things.

I met one interesting gentleman, his wife and daughter that were from South Africa and were taking it all in. They've recently moved to Florida but continue their import-export business and have the following website (http://www.agclogisticsinc.com) if anyone is interested in wine barrel furniture...I just might be myself in the near future.

Before camping, I went for provisions (Jiffy Pop that didn't work so well and the aforementioned dinner meat) and passed through Gatlinberg, TN. This is the city to which TP and Mr. T eloped. I just gotta say, what a cheesy, tourist trap, we got a Ripley's and Wax museum, throw your money away city. No offense TP :)

My thumbs are tiring and I want to do some star gazing before enjoying the comforts of the air mattress. It's pitch black now as all the campfires are out. I have a plethora of options for tomorrow, but I think I will just hike to a waterfall, do a historic scenic drive and move on and check out some more of Tennessee...perhaps Dollywood can take the cheesy taste out of my mouth that Gatlinberg inspired.