Dragons and their Tails

 Yesterday was a cleaning day for me, while Gary went off to the Hospital to get his second shot of Neupogen.  We rode up to Walmart for a couple supplies, and then Gary stopped at Kroger to pick up his lottery winnings - $15.00.  Whoohoo (hey, it pays for the last 14 losers).

We were going out with Betsy and Rick to the Rocky Mountain Brewery for half-price pizza night.  They wanted to thank us for taking care of Laptop (totally unecessary, but greatly appreciated).  Betsy and I enjoyed a veggie pizza and the boys had lots of meat.  We stayed and talked a while, then they came over for a campfire. 

While we were gone, Ron came home finally at 5:30, and was resting when we popped over to see how he was doing.  He looked really wiped out, so we didn't stay but a couple of minutes. 

This morning we had planned a big adventure for Mesa (our jeep).  She was going for a very exciting ride on the Dragon Tail.  We have been hearing about the Dragon Tail for months, and finally did our homework.  It is a road located off of highway 129 that is reached from the Foothills Parkway.  There are 318 turns in 11 miles of mountainous road.  She felt up to it, so around 11 we headed out.  But first we needed to stop at Dollywood to see if I had any workdays lined up.  All three of my leads were there and I asked them if I was on the list.  They thought we had left.  Well, heck no.  So they asked how Gary was and told me to report for work on Sunday.  Well, alrighty then.  At Human Resources, we mentioned Phil Vananda and Tuskaleechee Caverns and how much they'd like to be on the Perks List.  Pam King made a note of that and took his business card.  Hopefully they will be able to work together again.

Off to play.  The Foothills Parkway is completed south of 321, but not north of 321 yet.  We made our left off of 321 and enetered the National Park Systems Foothills Parkway:

Many pulloffs and Lookout Rock gave us some stunning views of the mountains and the city of Maryville.

Too many pictures to post, but we were almost at the Tail!  First we passed  Cheoah Lake and Dam.  We had to stop on the bridge to take the dam picture (oops):

A few trees were getting a jump on their fall finery.

Gary told the turkeys to start hiding, as Thanksgiving is right around the corner:

Finally we reached Rte. 129, the beginning of the Dragon's Tail.  Right away it was switchback after switchback one right after the other with very little straight road in between.  The motorbikers love this road as a challenge.  We saw lots of them, some sports cars (some even with cameras attached to the front bumper) very few cars and two delivery trucks.  Apparently this is a biker's heaven and regularly we hear on the news that a few don't make it to the end.  But we did! 

Deal's Gap Motorcycle Resort and CG is a fun place to cool off after a dizzying ride.

 

 You can fill up your gas tank:

Or fill your personal tank at the Grill.  These T-shirts were donated by riders from all over the world and placed - where else - on the ceiling:

We filled our personal tanks with a shared cheeseburger and some fries.  Very good for someplace out in the middle of nowhere.  Of course, Gary had to get a T-shirt proving that he slayed the Dragon, and here it is:

There is a Tree of Shame on the property with motorcycle pieces of those who didn't quite make it in one piece. 

Well, there was only one way to get home, and that was back the way we came.  So that meant we did 636 turns in 22 miles.  During the ride, we saw these photographers parked along the road (at great risk, if you ask me) taking action shots.  I assume I will see our photos on the web tomorrow.  I really wanted to give them a good shot, so I actually stood up and waved (our top was down).  I'll let you know if I decide to buy a good one.  Gary managed to get a shot in while he was driving!  Yee ha!

 Mountain roads are cut into mountains, which are mostly rock.  Big rocks.  In order to keep the rocks from falling on topless jeeps, they often put metal nets over them and fasten the bottoms to the roadside.  For example:

This whole rock side is held back by giant nets.  I think they work as there was lots of debris at the bottom.  Whew.  No rocks on our heads this trip.

We arrived home just before Ron's brother and his wife arrived and parked behind us.  Gary was running a temp and cuddled in bed so we will meet them tomorrow.  A couple of Tylenol made him feel all better, but we stayed in and watched some TV.  Too much excitement maybe? 

Great day! Great day!

Cave Exploring and Stew

 A fabulous fall day, but reaching into the 80s - what to do?  Let's go to the caves!  Tuskaleechee Caverns was on our list of things to do, but it was awfully close to Maryville (read: Panera) so we had a little breakfast, cut up some venison for our crockpot tomorrow, made some meatballs for subs later this week, and got ready to go.  We had a great lunch on Panera's patio, made a quick stop at Michael's for a giant suction cup to hang up something on our window, and headed back towards Pigeon Forge and the Caves.

Well, I thought it was on our Dollywood Perks list, but it wasn't.  Phil Vananda (a decendent of the discoverer, Bill), and the manager, said it used to be, but he was thinking that because they are located in Blount County, Dollywood decided not to exchange fringe benefits.  I said that I would say something to HR and he said he appreciated that, as they would like to visit Dollywood.  But did we want to spend $30 to see the caves? 

Well, while we were thinking about it, we noticed a siesmograph in the lobby.  One of the young men showed us that a professor at UT sent them printouts of the big seismic disturbances from the Thailand quake and resulting tsunami, the Haiti and Cuba quakes and most recently, the quake in Virginia on August 23rd.  Suddenly Phil came up and handed us two tickets.  He really appreciated us planning to mention adding them to the Perks List with an act of good will.  We will definitely do so.

We waited for our group to assemble and then headed down, down, down.  In the early 1930s Bill Vananda and Harry Myers used to play in the caverns as little boys (and I mean little 6 and 8 years old!).  They went off to college, but never forgot the caverns.  After returning to Tennessee in 1953 they decided to open the caverns to the public.  No one would lend them money, so they did the work themselves, bringing tons of cement and building materials for the paths and bridges in on their backs.

In 1955, the Big Room was opened to the public at the same time electric lights were added, eliminating the use of kerosene lanterns.  James, our guide, showed us what it looked like with no light.  Now I know what 'pitch black' means.  Wow.   I would have taken a picture, but....

A seismometer

Wishing Pool

Broken-off stalactites probably done years and years ago

We compared this cave to the others we have seen together:  Karchner Caverns State Park in Arizona and the Forbidden Caverns in Sevierville, TN.  Each had it's own best part and I would recommend them to everyone.  In the end we had climbed 410 steps and walked over a mile. 

A crystal clear stream flows through the length of the caverns, draining much of the surface water from a small Alpine cove, Dry Valley, located directly above part of the caverns.  We were offered a taste:

Taking a drink of 99.6% pure water

We ended our day with leftovers and a campfire.  Ahhhhh.

Monday was a work day and we were expecting thunderstorms, but they didn't show up until 6 pm.  Meanwhile I checked in a bunch of people and Gary met me for lunch with soup. 

Last night we put some venison (kindly given to us by a fellow camper) into the crockpot and let it cook gently all night.  At 3 pm, Gary was planning to dump in some cut up veggies (sweet taters, butternut squash, carrots and celery) to finish the cooking in time for dinner.  By the time he came to get me at 7, he said the coach was smelling g-o-o-d!  I whipped up some cornbread and dished it up with the stew.  Very tasty!  It made a bunch, so we plan to give some to a lucky couple.

Ron was feeling very good, so the Dr. said he could eat a soft diet and come home tomorrow!  YAY!
Gary needed to get one of his three injections of Neupogen today and said it went well.

Tomorrow who knows what fun things will happen?  It's a great life everyday we wake up (especially smelling coffee!)

Thursday was still wet and drizzly, but four of us girls were meeting at the Apple Barn coffee shop for some fried apple pie and coffee. I've never had a fried apple pie before trying one at the Apple Barn, and that's so sad because they are soooo good.  Of course, they are not low calorie, so Donna and I were good and split one.  We had a nice time chatting, and then a waitress kindly took our picture.

Brenda, Cheryl, Donna and me at the Apple Barn.

After our coffee, Donna went off to the hospital to be with Ron, and Brenda and I went exploring near the Old Mill.  I took her into the Pattern Hutch where I first discovered the art of Needlepunch.  I asked some questions while she browsed the materials and other cool stuff in the store.  I got my answers and we headed over to her coach, where she thought of a clever idea.  Why don't I use stamps to create new patterns?  Brilliant! 

This is what I've begun so far: 


                                                 

 This is the front

And this is the back

                                                                                                       

I worked on my rooster for a little while tonight.  I love doing this! 

Friday was chemo day, and the Doctors are still very pleased with Gary's response.  His white cell count is too low so he will need some shots next week on Monday, Tuesday and Thursday to boost his immune system before his last treatment in this series on Friday.  Friday may be his last treatment (hopefully forever).  We'll wait to see what is supposed to happen for sure.  Happy, happy, happy campers!

We went to visit Ron in his hospital room and he was hanging in there.  Still waiting for things to move.  If they don't soon, they may have to go back in, but his Dr. is not too impatient and is still optimistic.  We didn't stay long, because a hospital is not a place to keep someone with a fragile immune system, so when Donna came back, we went to Walmart (but I made Gary stay in the car).  No need to go into that hotbed of germs!  We put away the groceries and had some tilapia with lemon sauce and angel hair pasta with sundried tomato pesto and broccoli for dinner.  Not bad.

Today I had to work, and it was a low key day.  It started out cloudy and cool, but then all the clouds disappeared and it turned out to be a beautiful fall day - great for the Shriner's Parade on the Parkway (read:  traffic headaches).

Close to six o'clock, Donna comes into the park and pulls up to the office.  She's all smiles and thumbs up - yay, Ron moved (if you know what I mean).  Doctors and nurses were never so excited!  So he got beef broth tonight for dinner while Donna took us out to No Way Jose's Mexican Restaurant.  This is us celebrating for Ron with large Margaritas and Dos Equis:

This is what my dish looked like.  I ate maybe 1/4 of it and boxed the rest:

Thank you Donna and Ron.  Next meal we will hopefully have Ron with us and it will be his choice of restaurant!

Oh, we have celebrities behind us.  Chris Perondi and his stunt dogs will be here for 5 days.  You can check out his website: www.stuntdog.com if you want to learn more.  This act gets around; they have been on Ellen, Oprah and Jay Leno.  Gary walked over to talk to him today and met four out of his 20 or so dogs that have traveled with him to get a contract with Dollywood (which he did for next year).  When he leaves, Ron's brother and sister in law will be moving into their spot.

We are still planning to leave the middle of October, but not sure exactly when.  Until then we enjoy every day!