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We decided to take a ride to see the Great Smokey Mountains east of us. We drove an hour through the broad valleys with beautiful rolling farmland dotted with neat family cattle farms. As we approached Gatlinburg at the entrance to the Park, we discovered the shocking result of ZERO zoning or urban planning. 12 MILLION people visit the park annually and the powers to be have allowed the most distasteful, tacky urban sprawl to be built right up to the park entrance. The strip of arcades, amusement parks, tattoo parlors , and endless chain restaurants stretches for over 6 miles along a 6 lane highway. The Hillbilly Fued Dinner Theater, the Titanic Hotel ( a 300 foot replica of the ocean liner). Dolly Pardons Vacation Land, they went on and on. Although few people are here now, we envisioned the millions of tourists clogging the highways in the summer. This building free for all has blighted an otherwise beautiful area, The majestic mountains towering over 6 thousand feet are the backdrop to this sad stretch of highway.

We drove several hours south into Tennessee arriving at our next Airbnb. We’re staying on a farm 15 miles outside of Knoxville , Tennessee. Our hosts have built a new barn with a beautiful in law apartment complete with a commercial kitchen ( she does catering). We arrived to fresh blueberry muffins and a fully stocked kitchen with coffee and various foods and all condiments. Nice ! We look out over fields of grazing cattle and distant mountains, a bucolic setting. We’re off to explore Knoxville today.

We drove to Louisville for lunch enjoying a wonderful meal at a small highly recommended restaurant ( TripAdvisor). We passed several distillers on the way to city, whiskey is big business here. The original Kentucky settlers grew abundant corn crops on their fertile farmland but the isolation from markets made survival tough here. The solution was to distill the corn mash into whiskey, a compact high value product easy to ship down the Ohio River to New Orleans, a new industry was born. The countryside is now sprinkled with these distilleries, a booming industry supporting many high paying jobs. We visited Heaven Hill Distillery, makers of Elijah Craig Bourbon. Their huge storage buildings each hold 20,000 aging barrels. These giant buildings are seen sprinkled across the Kentucky countryside. Our tour guide mentioned that the distillery jobs are so coveted that a majority of workers spend their entire careers there.

When we descended out of the mountains of West Virginia into the rolling hills of Kentucky, it was spring, the flowers were starting to bloom. Our Airbnb is located on a farm about 50 miles outside of Louisville. Our beautiful secluded cottage is right on a small river gushing with spring runoff, the sound of the rushing water is wonderful. Built up off the ground, the cabin has a bar and picnic area underneath, making a great riverside hideaway. Our landlords new home sits above us, atop a hill hidden by trees. We never meet our hosts.

We’ve stopped two nights on our way to West Virginia to visit my cousins. Our first two Airbnb’s were a showcase of contrasts one can expect with this type of nightly shelter. Our first night ( top photo) was in a basement apartment in a two family house, the upstairs was rented to a full time tenant. We entered through a somewhat dingy basement hallway to a fairly pleasant but spartan 2 bedroom apartment. Although I found the place initially acceptable, Karen commented that it could use a ” deep cleaning “. We took advantage of the washer/dryer knowing it could be a few days before we had another opportunity to do any wash. The dining room table was elegantly set with attractive dish ware etc but there wasn’t a cooking pot or spoon/fork in the place, odd. The dealbreaker was the lingering smell of raw sewage . It was too late to bailout so week just went to bed early. We awoke to a full blown blizzard the next morning. We packed up and left as fast as we could.

Out next stop ( the bottom 3 photos) was a lovely apartment over a garage in our new hosts back yard. It was fully stocked with food and treats. Wow, what a difference from the previous night. We loved staying here.

My 2011 Chevy truck will be our home for the next six months. We will be primarily staying at Airbnb’s but will have complete camping gear for those places with none (Yukon, etc ). Our solar panel will power the camper including a refrigerator/freezer which should help broaden our diet when we reach the boondocks. After taking a two month trip around the world with only carryon luggage, we know how to travel light. We’ve tried to anticipate our needs but the forgotten items and those that were rejected will be purchased along the way as needed.

The camper height allows us to sit on the bench without hunching over. The ” kitchen ” has a naturally antibacterial copper countertop with storage below. Our bed has a custom made mattress to assure a decent night sleep. Curtains will give us some privacy. Fans, goose neck LED lights for reading, and wireless speakers will make the small space more livable although we realize the whole adventure will have a big learning curve. We depart in a week