The drive has been beautiful so far with thick vegetations and hardwood forests that hug the narrow, winding, steep road on either side. We’re thinking that we should sent a bill for trimming all the trees and bushes that hang over the road with our solar panels. Perhaps we’ll have a testimonial on the quality and resiliency of these panels. The other obstacle is that there are many tunnels that give a height reading of 11 ft. At nearly 13 feet tall, we wondered why we had read in our RV magazine that you could drive through these tunnels. Are we going to make it.
We finally figured out that since they are rounded it is only the sides that are 11 ft. If we drove down the middle of the road we could make it, although it is a bit scary as the tunnel curve inside so if something is coming from the other direction you can’t see it.Occasionally the forest would part exposing beautiful views of the blue and smoky mountains which describes them perfectly.
It was a nice relief from the heat, as the old dodge climbed and climbed to over 6000 feet, and the temperature in the mountains was only in the mid 70s. After a week of high 90s, it was very welcome.
We took a short hike to the old Mingus Mill, a grist mill located on Newfound Gap Road (US 442). It is a working mill during the summer. 
Built in 1886 to grind corn meal and wheat flour for the citizens of the fertile Oconaluftee Valley. You can buy corn meal and wheat flour there.As we came into the first sizable town of Asheville, North Carolina we visited a famous McDonalds for a snack. It was featured on the Travel channel.
It is located near the largest mansion built in the US, by one of the Vanderbilt’s, called Biltmore Estate. Being in a prestigious neighborhood, this McDonalds has a pressed copper ceiling, large pillars, 
fireplaces and a Wurlitzer Grand Piano to entertain diners.
Definitely not your average McDonalds.With another day to drive some more of the Blue Ridge Parkway tomorrow, we are spending the night in Walmart to give us an early start tomorrow.
On the way to the park we passed through Gatlinburg, TN.
At one time, this was probably a nice little sleepy mountain community, but is now wall-to-wall tourists and unbelievable traffic jams. Both side of the main street are lined with shops and attractions. To non-shoppers it was suffocating just driving through.
and several old churches, a grist mill, 
and several retained homes of former settlers. We also came across the Wild Turkey. Not as big as the Safeway Turkeys!
June,24-25 We spent Thursday afternoon and all day Friday at Dollywood. If you go in past 3 PM you can also have the entire next day too for the one day price. Better yet, if you book online you also get a free meal at one of the buffets (normally 15.00/person). Because of the heat and humidity, there are misting fans located all over the park to help you cool off, and you can get free glasses of ice water at any drink booth in the park. Ellen is not one for rides but I was able to get her on a few. The water rides.
Of course we got wet but with the heat it felt great. We found if you walk around partially wet, you feel cooler. Later in the day I decided to try my hand at the big rides. They have some awesome roller coasters here. 
So much to do and see. My nephews would have a blast. We also took a tour of Dolly’s RV. A Lot of pink and flowers. This is the only amusement park we’ve been to that you can watch them fry up pork rinds in a giant kettle of hot fat and big bags of them sell better than kettlecorn in this part of the country. We enjoyed several shows with very talented singers and musicians. You’ve just gotta appreciate a good banjo or fiddle player!
There is a small, interesting museum that is free and of course you can eat there as well. Back in the day you could buy cigarettes from a machine.
In the afternoon we arrived in Pigeon Forge, the home of 