First, to start the week, a big thank you to those who have recommended places-to-see so far.  Thanks to Bill C of Eldersburg, who suggested we stop in to Oak Ridge, Tennessee, where the Oak Ridge Boys of Elvira fame take their name.  Bill recommended the American Museum of Science and Energy, where IMG_1566 we witnessed spectacles that stood our hair on end! Oak Ridge is the Secret City created to provide the enriched uranium for Big Boy and the fateful choices that brought World War II to its climactic conclusion.  Awe inspiring and spine chilling.

Thanks also to Jen’s friend Bev from Maryland who recommended Mammoth Cave.  We have a tour scheduled for 9 am today.  And we are now citizens of Central Time!

Thanks as well to Resa D  of Parker, CO, who suggested we visit Cade’s Cove in Great Smoky Mountain National Park. She suggested hiking, and we did , but the boys also love discovering their own fishing holes. 

Thanks, very much, to Eileen O of Maryland, who suggested we take in Pigeon Forge and Gatlinburg. Dollywood deserves its own post, so look for that in the next day or so.

It may just be coincidence, but I assume the town we’re in this morning gets its name from the nearby Mammoth Cave.  It is 27 degrees outside as I write, and in case you wondered, the campground shut off water just after we arrived yesterday afternoon so the pipes don’t freeze.

Because of our need for internet, for Jen’s work, and of course these vital posts, we are staying in campgrounds we don’t normally frequent. Of course, we’ve never had a 29-foot motorhome along either.  This is our second campground on the trip, and the second one that looks more like a drive in, for those who remember them, than  a park.

It’s really a flat expanse of grass squares dotting a crushed gravel drive, with a few picnic tables and fire rings (our site has neither), and a few trees that stand barely higher than the four-foot posts for the electrical and cable hook up. Yes, our kids have only ten channels to choose from.  Why, I remember a day…

But to its credit, it has a dog park where Shadow can run free if she can talk anyone into daring the bitter cold to walk her there.