Day 1 Sunday July 26, 2026
We departed today about 1PM for a week in Sevierville Tennessee hoping it will be a little cooler there but it doesn’t look like it will be. We stopped for a late lunch in Dunn NC at Smithfield Chicken and BBQ. This is our favorite Smithfield Chicken and BBQ plus there is a large shopping center parking lot right behind them where we can easily park.
Then we stopped for the night at Raven Rock State Park Campground a few miles past Lillington NC. The total miles from home to Sevierville is about 460 and we don’t normally drive that far in one day plus we didn’t leave until 1PM after attending Church. By stopping here we knocked 104 miles off the 460.
We set up in site 16. This is a fairly small state park and the campground is fairly new. We have stayed here twice before. We sat outside some and after it cooled down about 7:30 we took a walk around the campground which is a little over a 1/2 mile walk.
Day 2 Monday July 27, 2026
Lena said we had a thunderstorm this morning about 3am. I didn’t hear a thing.🤔 But there was water on our slide topper so she must have been correct.
We had our fruit, eggs and bacon breakfast and my “almost world famous Lattes” and were on the road by 9am. We stopped at a Loves Truck Stop near Rural Hall for fuel after about two hours of driving. They have what they call a RV Stop at this location. This is a section set aside for RV to stay with nice amenities. We have stayed in 2-3 different locations before. This location only has 5 sites and it is not enclosed in a security fence like all the others we have stayed at. We will probably stay here when we head home from this trip since it is very handy to the interstate and almost exactly half way home.
We stopped again at a rest stop in about 2 hours to get a light snack for lunch and take a break. We finally got to our destination at Two Rivers Landing RV Resort in Sevierville Tennessee about 5pm. We lost about an hour due to road construction and a traffic accident. The traffic for the accident was backed up for 2-3 miles and then it just suddenly cleared up. We never did see any signs of an accident except there was a Tennessee State Trooper setting on the shoulder of the road.
I checked in and we set up on site 23. This is a river view site. The sites are really nice, concrete pad, full hookup, cable vision, WiFi ( but we will use our Starlink) and we are setting with the front of the motorhome overlooking the French Broad River.
After we got everything setup we went to Cracker Barrel for a late lunch/early dinner about 5:45pm. We were tired and hungry. Then we returned to the resort and set outside and watched some deer and turkeys across the river. We have a nice view of the sunset over the river from our site.
Day 3 Tuesday July 28, 2026
Today started out as a wonderful day exploring the Smokey Mountains National Park but it didn’t end so wonderful.
After breakfast we drove through Sevierville and Pigeon Forge and took the bypass around Gatlinburg to get to the Park. We wanted to see the old summer cottages in Daisy Town that has been preserved in the Elkmonth Historic area of the park. In the early 1900’s there were several simple Summer cottages built in the area to enjoy to cool temperatures and beautiful surroundings. Many have long since disappeared but the park service and some local organizations have preserved several of the cottages and the club house. After we got there we discovered we were supposed to buy a parking pass if we were going to park in any area more than 15 minutes. This is something new since our last visit to this area. I didn’t want to drive 30 minutes back to the visitor center to buy a pass so we took our chances and did a quick tour of some of the buildings. So we only overstayed our 15 minutes by only 2-3 minutes and got to see what we wanted to see.
We drove out of the park and headed to the town of Townsend but it was not what I expected so we kept going. We decided to stop and put in the address into our GPS of a restaurant in Sevierville. When we pulled back onto the road we got all kinds of alarms and messages in the dash of the Jeep. So we decided to turn around and go to a Jeep Dealer about 12 miles away.
They quickly examined the Jeep and they told us the transmission fluid line coming from the transmission cooler behind the radiator had rubbed up against the tow bar bracket and the transmission fluid had leaked out and ruined our transmission.
I can’t say they are right or wrong on the statement about rubbing the tow bar bracket. But the first owner of the Jeep had the tow bar brackets installed to the best of my knowledge in 2019 to tow behind his motorhome. We bought the Jeep in 2023 and we have towed the Jeep several thousand miles. So did it take this long to wear a hole in the transmission line or did something hit the line to move it over. Who knows. There is a shield underneath the front on the Jeep so I don’t see how anything could have hit the line unless it hit further back from the front.
I guess I am somewhat stressed and blame myself because I saw a wet spot under the front of the Jeep this morning before we departed so I raised the hood on the Jeep and check the radiator and washer fluid levels and they were fine so they weren’t leaking. I looked all around the engine compartment and didn’t see anything unusual.
The wet spot looked like clear liquid so I wrongly assumed it was just morning humidity. Where I fault myself is I didn’t get down and look under the front or rub my finger over the wet spot. That would have told me it was not water but an oily substance. Hindsight is always 20 20.
I don’t know if we had stopped and had the Jeep towed the few miles to the dealer after getting the warning messages, which said nothing about the transmission, if it was already damaged at that point. Again who knows.
I have owned vehicles since I was 18 years old and have never had a major mechanical issue with any of my vehicles so I guess I was due.
But like Lena said looking on the bright side it might have happened on our upcoming two month trip from home to Maine down to Florida and back home. And we might of had to leave the Jeep up North somewhere. By leaving it here to wait for a transmission it is only about 460 miles from home.
The issue is if we don’t get it back before we leave the 3rd of September we will be traveling without a tow car. We have never travel in the motorhome without a tow car. And I am not optimistic we will get it back in time. We have some friends that will be on the trip with us that said we can ride share with them during the trip to any place where we need a car once we get to the meeting location in Maine. I told Lena I guess we will get payback for all the times we have let people ride share with us when we were on a Fantasy RV Tour. We even loaned our Jeep to one couple on our first tour so they could do some sightseeing since they didn’t have a tow car.
I don’t think I will do that again. I thought I would never get my seat and mirrors repositioned to where they were before we loaned the Jeep.
They searched for a new transmission but none are available but some are being manufactured but they don’t have a delivery date yet. It may be weeks before they can replace it. So it is what it is and we will just have to deal with it.
We rented a car from Enterprise Car Rental about a mile away. They came and picked us up and took us to the rental place to get the car. The Jeep dealer has a contract with them so we got the rental vehicle about half price. Now we wait to see what happens in the next few days.
The man at the rental place asked what my occupation was for his paperwork. I told him retired but I might need to go back to work to pay the repair 🤬
We got back to Sevierville and stopped at CiCi’s Pizza for a very late lunch before returning to the motorhome very disappointed. This is going to be a very expensive repair bill.
We sat outside and relaxed in the shade and watched the sun go down over the river.
Day 4 Wednesday July 29, 2026
We have not been to this area in about 16 years. We came to Gatlinburg several times when we were participating in PT Cruiser car events. We usually had at least one breakfast at the Log Cabin Pancake House. It is a large log cabin restaurant and they have a very good breakfast.
I ordered 3 pancakes, two scrambled eggs and country ham. Lena got two scrambled eggs and bacon but she ate part of my ham and part of my pancakes.
Then we left the car in their parking lot and walked about a half mile downtown to The Villages. This is an area tucked back in behind the buildings facing the Main Street that is a collection of shops that are in buildings that look kind of like buildings in Germany.
After walking through the area Lena went to the Donut Friar to get a Latte and a raspberry filled chocolate coated donut. It looked good but I couldn’t eat anything else after my big breakfast.
It was beginning to get really crowded in Gatlinburg so we walked back to the car and drove back to Pigeon Forge to the Dolly Parton Stampede location. We had about an hour and a half before we could go inside so we sat in the car with the AC running for a while.
We have been using our phones as a GPS on this rental car because I didn’t think it had a GPS on it. The radio/rear camera display didn’t show a GPS selection. While we were waiting I started playing with the settings on the display and saw something that gave me a clue to download the Toyota App. I did that and found out that I could connect my iPhone to the display via Bluetooth and then it would sync with the Maps App on my iPhone and we could use the display as a GPS. Wonderful.
We walked over and looked at some of the show horses before stepping inside the building to finish waiting for time to pick up our show tickets at 2pm.
Once we got our tickets we were told we could go to the lounge/bar area to see a pre show music group. Of course the bar was open and they were selling lots of popcorn, slushy drinks in souvenir boot shaped mugs, beer, etc. We didn’t buy anything because we knew they were going to be getting a huge meal served during the Stampede show.
We got seated about. 3:15 for the 3:30 show. They served us a creamy soup, a biscuit , a “whole” baked chicken, mashed potatoes, corn on the cob, pulled pork and a choice of apple turnover or chilled chocolate coconut cake. The food was very good except I don’t like corn on the cob when it is what I call a little too old. The waitstaff were very good.
Who ever planned how the meal was served really did an amazing job. The “tables” were long and narrow and arranged in tiered rows. The waiters/waitresses walked down in front of the row of tables to serve the food so it was quick and very efficient. Every one of the waitstaff had at least 30 people to serve maybe more.
The show started about the time the food started to be served. It was a very good show. They had lots of horses, wagons, buggies, riders in bright costumes, bison, long horn cattle, racing pigs, racing chickens, racing donkeys and one small hylands cow named Buttercup. There was one aerial performer that came down from the ceiling and a rider on horseback rode around the arena as the aerial performer flew around them. There was several contests between the North and South sides of the facility. We were on the South side. Several people, including some kids were brought out into the arena as part of the competition. The show ended with the release of several white doves that flew from one end of the area to the other.
It was a very good show. As everyone was leaving the waitstaff were busy cleaning everything for the next show that was starting at 6pm and we didn’t leave until just after 5pm and there was also a 8:30pm show. If the performers and the waitstaff worked all three shows they went home very tired I expect.
We returned to the motorhome and enjoyed the rest of our day outside overlooking the river until almost nighttime.
Day 5 Thursday July 30, 2026
We didn’t have anything scheduled for today so we got up a little later than normal, had our breakfast of fruit and bacon and eggs with Lattes. I did a few minor maintenance items on the motorhome and then we went to Smokey Mountain Knife Works about a half mile from our RV Resort. They claim to be the world’s largest knife dealer and we believe it. I had picked up one of those tourist coupon books and it had a coupon in it for a free knife sharpening so I went so I could get my pocket knife sharpened. It turned out to be a fairly expensive visit and the guy that sharpens the knives wasn’t even there. I have to go back Saturday when he is on site.
We have never seen so many knives. They had any brand, shape, size, etc. that you can think of. It was three floors of merchandise. We didn’t buy any knives but we did do some Christmas shopping for the grandsons and the two grand dogs.
Then we walked across the street to the Tool Store or as the sign outside said “Daycare for Men”. It was a tool geeks candy store. I think they had every power tool that Dewalt and Milwaukee sells plus any attachments a handy man or woman might need. I picked up a few inexpensive items but I resisted the power tools.
Then we walked next door to the Lodge Cast Iron store. Lena was wanting a 9” skillet with the cover. She found the one she was looking for but she knew where she could get it cheaper. As we walked around the store we found the section that had the factory seconds in it. We found the 9” skillet and lid and we looked them over very close and we didn’t find any flaws in them. The lid had a small white streak on it but Lena said it would wash off. So we got the skillet and the lid for just a tad more than just the skillet on the other side of the store.
Then we drove to the downtown section of Sevierville to see the statue of Dolly Parton that is on the grounds of the courthouse. Sevierville has a nice downtown area. As we were walking and taking photos of the placards we noticed Reds Soda Fountain and Ice Cream. It was getting to be lunch time so we looked at the menu on the glass out front and decided to give them a try. We got a Nachos and Chili and a Nachos and Pulled pork. They were very good. We thought about a banana split but didn’t have room for any more food.
On the way back to the RV Resort we rode past the local Enterprise Rental location to see where we have to turn the rental car in next Monday. Then we returned to the motorhome for the day.
I talked to the service advisor at the Jeep dealer this morning and he called me back again later after checking with the parts department. They still don’t have any updates on when they will get us a transmission. I had asked if they had looked for rebuilt transmissions and he said they had but none were available. It looks like we will be leaving here without our Jeep.
Day 6 Friday July 31, 2026
After breakfast we went to Walmart to get a few groceries and on the return trip we stopped at the local Enterprise Car Rental location to check on the procedure for returning the car Monday.
We don’t know if it is normal for a Friday morning but the traffic is extremely heavy this morning headed towards Pigeon Forge.
We left the RV Resort at 5PM and headed back to Pigeon Forge again to see the 7PM show at The Comedy Barn. This show is listed as an all family comedy show. The traffic was still heavy going into Pigeon Forge and probably on into Gatlinburg.
Luckily they have a fairly large parking lot and we got there ahead of us most of the people so we got a good parking spot.
We picked up our tickets at Will Call and got in line and waited until the doors opened. We got the outside end seats on the second row on the right side but we still had a good view of the stage and the performers.
It was a good show and it was all family friendly and very funny. They had a stage band that played a variety of songs in between the other acts. The acts included several trained dogs doing lots of tricks, a ventriloquist, a juggler, a magician, a comedian doing tricks with ping pong balls that he spit out of his mouth. Also two clog/tap dancers that performed with the band.
Some of the audience was pulled on stage to participate in some of the comedy. It was a great show. The show ended about 9:30 and it took us over 30 minutes to drive the 10 miles back to the RV Resort. Lots of people out and about on Friday night.
Day 7 Saturday August 1, 2026
We don’t have much planned for today. I did use my free knife sharpening coupon at the Smokey Mountain Knife Store. I carry a small pocket knife that has 4 blades that all needed sharpening. The man sharpened all four of them. I was showing Lena the knife when I got back and accidentally sliced my left thumb enough to draw a little blood. And no I was not testing the sharpness, or at least didn’t intend to. But it is sharp.
Then we went to Brass Pro a few miles from here. We saw some folding rocking camp chairs that also had a folding table on one side built into the chair at the Tool Store the other day that we liked but we would like the seat part to be a little deeper so we thought Bass Pro might have some. But they did not have anything even close.
Just as we got back to the motorhome we got a nice rain shower. The temperature is so much nicer today, only in the mid 70’s.
Lena took the chicken breast we saved from our Stampede dinner and made some great chicken salad that we had for lunch. It made enough for probably two more meals.
After lunch I went back to the Tool Store that is about 1/4 mile from us and bought two of the folding camp chairs we saw. We would prefer the seat to be a little deeper but they will work for us. We like the flip up table on each chair that has two cup holders, a slot for a cell phone and what we think is a place to put a pet leash, plus room to set plate of food.
They are lighter than the folding chairs we have had for several years and easier to carry. When we are on the Fantasy RV trips we often have evening meetings and campground meals where we have to carry chairs to, so these will work really good for that and they rock. There are two pistons on the rear frame that allows the chair to rock by pushing back on the chair as you are seated.
When we were setting up our new chairs the camper in the site next to us came over and wanted to know if I had a drill/driver and some sockets. He had a long bolt come loose on the air conditioner on his roof and the rainwater was leaking in. He had recently bought the motorhome and had not brought along his tools. I got out my tools and loaned him the tools he needed to tight the bolt down.
He came back in a few minutes to return them and laid a $20 bill down on my tool tray. I told him he didn’t own me anything that campers helped other campers when needed. He said no take it and buy my wife some ice cream at the local ice cream shop. I say no you don’t own me anything. He said do you go to Church and I said yes, so he said well give the $20 to your Church. So I gave up and said I would give it to our Church.
We sat outside and watched the prettiest sunset we have had so far. We have a pair of Robins that are collecting worms in the grass between the front of the motorhome and the edge of the river. They don’t seem to mind that we are setting just a few feet from them. They must have babies close by since they will collect a few worms and fly off and be back in a short while.
Day 8 Sunday August 2, 2026
We had some rain last night but nothing like Mt. Airy NC got. They have major flooding in that area, some secondary roads wash out. From what I can find out on the interstate that bypasses that area if open. We will be returning home that way tomorrow so I hope it is open.
We decided to treat ourselves to a Krispy Kreme donut and latte this morning since there is one about 4 miles from us. Lena wanted to go to Hamricks across the road but they are closed on Sunday.
We drove out into the country to the Smokey Mountain Craft Arts and Craft Community. What I saw on the internet looked like a small town with rows of arts and craft stores along a pedestrian street. What we found didn’t look anything like the photos I saw and most of the shops were closed anyway. So we returned to the motorhome.
Day 9 Monday August 3, 2026
Well it is time to head home and without our tow car (Jeep). This will be the first time we have travelled other than a few miles from home without a tow car. It’s going to feel a little weird I think.
When I looked out the windshield across the river this morning about 7:30 I saw 4 deer running through the hay field across the river.
I called the car rental agency just after 8am and told them I would be there in about 30 minutes and needed a ride back to the RV Resort. I stopped and filled the car up with fuel before arriving at the rental agency. They were very busy but I only had to wait about 15-20 minutes before Charlie took me back. We had a good experience with Enterprise Car Rental.
We had our breakfast, finished getting everything ready and departed at 10am for our 248 mile drive for today. Which is exactly half way home. We don’t like driving 500 miles in a day with the motorhome and we have no reason to be in a hurry.
We stopped at a Loves Truck Stop in Rural Hall NC. They have a small, 5 site RV Stop at this location. I reserved site 5 which is the furthest from the road.
A Loves RV Stop is full hookup RV sites off to the side at a Loves Truck Stop. I think this is the third location we have used. The ones we have used all had level concrete parking pads, easy to use facilities and clean. They also have fenced in dog parks. Some of the larger one have showers, laundry, picnic tables, picnic shelters with gas grills and pickle ball courts and the entire facility is fenced in and you only can enter with the gate code you get with your reservation. You do the reservation online and you get the gate code and when you get to your site you click the link in your email and it turns on your utilities automatically. You never have to contact an attendant unless you have a problem.
This location has an attached Bojangles so we may have breakfast there tomorrow.
The Jeep Saga continues:
The Jeep dealer found a transmission this morning at a Jeep dealer 150 miles away that agreed to release it to them. It is a remanufactured transmission with a warranty. Still going to be expensive.
So they are going to arrange to get it delivered (hopefully this week) and then they will install it. Then we plan to rent a car from Enterprise in Wallace and go back to get it. There is an Enterprise less than a mile from the Jeep dealer.
What is interesting is I did some searching on the Internet this weekend and found several businesses across the country that are in the business of rebuilding engines and transmissions. I contacted two to see if they had any for the Jeep. One called me and I guess he was from India because I couldn’t hardly understand anything he said. His co-worker called back and he was a tad better. But when I checked their reviews I knew I wasn’t going to deal with them. They have called me twice today so I told them the dealer has found me a transmission.
The other company sounded legit, had great reviews and they claimed they put the transmissions on a dynamo to test them after they are rebuilt.
Anyway when I talked to my service rep (Mark) at the Jeep dealer this morning about 9:30. Mark said he had just talked to the parts people and they still have not found one that was ready to ship in their system. So I told him I had found a company (Fraser) in Michigan that had transmissions for the Jeep and I would need their parts people to get with them to make sure they had the right transmission before I paid for it.
Well exactly 3 hours later Mark calls me to tell me they found one at a Jeep dealer 150 miles away. I wonder if I built a little fire under the parts guys butt. The BIG boss probably would have asked how come you can’t find a transmission for a customer if the customer can find one. 🤔🤔😂
Mark called again later to tell me the other Jeep dealer had agreed to release the transmission so my dealer can have it shipped to them. They expect to have it in 2-3 days and they will get it installed and tested. Then we will rent a car and drive back to pick up the Jeep, hopefully next week.
Day 10 Monday August 4, 2026
We had a good nights sleep even with trucks coming in to fuel up during the night. Lena walked over to Bojangles and got us country ham and egg biscuits and blackberry cobbler for breakfast while I made the Lattes. The biscuits were wonderful but the cobbler was a little too sweet.
It is busy as a bee around this place this morning. Lots of workers coming in for breakfast, bags of ice for their coolers and fuel for their vehicles.
Then we got everything ready and pulled out at 8:30 and headed home. We stopped in Warsaw to fill up with fuel and got home about 1PM. We drove through some heavy rain just as we got on I95 outside of Dunn. And I95 is under construction in that area and there are concrete barriers up fairly close to the travel lanes. With all the big trucks and concrete barriers and the heavy rain it was not much fun driving but we only had about 8 miles to go on I95.
