Obstacle courses

[B.G. Smith]

Just returned from a trip over in the Tennessee, Virginia area. Stopped at several Cracker Barrell Resturants, some have marked off parking for Rv's but are usually filled with cars. Entered the drive on the one at exit 92 in Wytheville Va. and got to the entrance to lot where there was a hard right turn, met a hunter leaving with a load of four wheelers and I cut the corner too short and dragged a 400 pound boulder out into the drive with the trailer. No damage I could see, made it back home with no problems. Saw some beautiful foliage up in Virginia. bg

 

[Bob4x4]

I can relate. There is a flying J that had the rv dump in the worst possible place. I would have to climb the curb with the trailer tires to access

 

[jelag]

I've found that most of the TA truck stops have good access to the RV dump and they have been free at each location I've stopped at... I've crossed the Flying J locations off my list for now... my other thought is that I've often stopped and gotten out of the truck and walked into the lot to see if I can get out... many times going on to some other location...

 

[Ram4Sam]

Years ago I did something quite similar up in Big Sur at an RV dump..........Hooked the back bumper on the rock and spun it around and into the driveway it went. The park ranger asked me how I was going to put it back.......:-laf:-laf

Sam

 

[Killgore]

Sam, you should have told him, "you get one side and I'll get the other".

BG, sorry I missed you up around Sevierville. That traffic cured me of looking at the leaves. Next year I'll just stay on my own back porch.
- Ed

 

[Deleted member 995608]

When pulling trailers, it's not a matter of "If" you hit something. It's "when" you hit something.

 

[Killgore]

I know many who have used that excuse to up-grade.

 

[B.G. Smith]

Sam, you should have told him, "you get one side and I'll get the other".

BG, sorry I missed you up around Sevierville. That traffic cured me of looking at the leaves. Next year I'll just stay on my own back porch.
- Ed

We spen a night at the Nacosomething Falls RV park at Gadsen on the way up. Wish I had known you were so close maybe I could have gat a cup of coffee? bg

 

[TLane]

I try to do as much advance planning as possible, google maps, satellite view, street view, etc. I normally plan out lunch and fuel for the trip in advance. Of course, there's always the unplanned stuff that comes up, and then there's the places I can't even get into or out of with my truck, much less with the trailer!

Of course, here in Texas, driving over the curb is considered normal. That's why you bought a truck, isn't it?

 

[Killgore]

BG, Noccalula is about 15 minutes from the house. I probably was there at the same time picking up paperwork from our security personnel who patrol the campground. Small world, and I owe you a cup.
- Ed

 

[Ram4Sam]

Sam, you should have told him, "you get one side and I'll get the other".

BG, sorry I missed you up around Sevierville. That traffic cured me of looking at the leaves. Next year I'll just stay on my own back porch.
- Ed

Actually, I made an attempt at humor with him along those lines........it failed, he had no sense of humor.:-laf He really got his hackles up when I pulled up a bit, and backed into the rock to push the corner of the bumper back in to place.........

Sam

 

[Killgore]

Sam, that helps explain why there're more horse's rears than horse's heads in the world. :-laf

 

[Killgore]

TLane, I also am anal about planning my routes: where we eat (I like to eat), where we get the best prices on fuel (I love to save money), when we hit the road and when and where we shut it down for the day. Several years ago my partner Harold and I had been on the Gulf Coast working Mardi Gras as mounted cops. After a week in the saddle, two old men and their horses were worn out and traveling late at night in a rain storm. I gave Harold some bad advice that should have been a shortcut but turned out to be a one-lane road that promptly ended in the middle of nowhere with no place to turn a twenty-foot horse trailer around. We had to back about a mile with me manning a flashlight in the rain and Harold, who didn't have a sense of humor on a good day, backing in the ditches, tearing up chrome bed rails, and trying to knock down small trees. After much frustration, we got turned around and I climbed in the truck greeting my old friend who is an Indian with, "Good job, Chief Fukawee."

You know, he didn't talk to me for two years!
- Ed

 

[NC Hauler]

I live in the mountains of Western NC and do 99% of my camping in NC, TN, VA and WVa and guess it's just something you get use to, driving on very curvy, mountainous roads. I have the long bed crew cab dually in sig and 5er is 3" shy of being 40' long....Some of the secondary roads I tow on can really put one's driving skills to task.....Camping World had an "Atlas" at one time of US and every gas/diesel station that were just off Interstates that made it easier for campers to get their rigs in and out easier....On some Secondary roads, it's something you have to plan on down the road as mentioned above.

As far as going somewhere to look at the leaves changing color....as also stated by another, I can look out the window or walk into my front or back yard and see the mountains trees in their fall colors.

 

[Killgore]

NC Hauler, you live at Heaven's Door! My ancestral home is Dandridge, TN just across the mountains. Any excuse will work to draw me home.
- Ed

 

[NC Hauler]

NC Hauler, you live at Heaven's Door! My ancestral home is Dandridge, TN just across the mountains. Any excuse will work to draw me home.
- Ed

Been here since 93, before that it was the mountains of Virginia, before that, born and raised in the mountains of Southern WV...Love the mountains....

 

[BIGNASTY]

RV DUMP????? Pull the valves and drive like hell!!! that's a redneck RV Dump :-laf suggest you only dump at NIGHT!!

 

[Bill Stockard]

As far as going somewhere to look at the leaves changing color....as also stated by another, I can look out the window or walk into my front or back yard and see the mountains trees in their fall colors.

My wife and I have visited with Jim Anderson, TDR member/writer, a couple of times late October/early November at his place in the country outside of Dandridge, TN. The fall colors on the mountains that time of year were outstanding.

Bill

 

[Killgore]

The folks that live there love it too as evidenced by the fact that in 1780 when Maj. Patrick Ferguson threatened to cross the mountains, put the people to the sword and burn their towns if they didn't stand with the King, they mounted up and saved him the trip. The Battle of Kings Mountain was the first major victory in the South during the Revolutionary War. It eventually led to Cornwallis being trapped at Yorktown and we all know the rest of the story. Rough country with tough people, and proud Americans, thanks to the Overmountain Men!
- Ed

 

[Killgore]

What? No takers on the Battle of Kings Mountain topic? Let me throw an untold story on the table.

Last Spring while in Dandridge, I struck up a conversation with a gentleman who was a volunteer at the Visitor's Center. It seems that some years ago an elderly German couple came into the Center looking for directions to the Douglas Dam. It seems that in 1943 he was the commanding officer of a special unit in the German Army that was tasked with blowing Douglas Dam which is just down the road from Dandridge. Now Douglas Dam had just been completed in 1942 and the concrete had not fully cured and punching a hole in it would not be difficult. Douglas Lake was backed up forty-three miles and the water at the dam was forty-five feet high. Imagine if you will if that special unit had actually been able to blow the dam sending a wall of water down the river and the resulting damage. The French Broad River eventually flows into the Tennessee River, etc., through Knoxville, close to Oak Ridge and the Manhattan Project where one of the atomic bombs was being produced. At that time most of the heavy freight was barged and the damage and resulting loss of life would have been catastrophic. And today, we like to think we were so smart. Now, the story has finally been told.
- Ed