June 20, 2018 - Boys Swimming in Big Creek

I don't remember much about June 20 either.  I took only a handful of photographs.  This one is of Andy standing in Site 5 in the tent campground as we made our morning rounds.

This is the path along the creek with Site 10 (overlooking the creek) in the distance.

I like this composition and often take a picture of this log.

A group of mid-teen boys was swimming in Big Creek.

The boy in the red swim trunks lives just outside the park and we see him regularly.  He will regularly stop by our host site and chat with us.  Here, he is sliding head-first over the two-to-three-foot drop near the bridge.

June 17, 2018 - Kathy Visit

Oh, the heartbreak when I realized that our new, tiny motorhome does not have an icemaker.  Double tragedy when I realized that the freezer is too small for ice trays.  Being a cheapskate, I did not want to buy a table top ice maker.  However, six weeks in the woods without ice put me over the edge.  I got on Amazon and bought one and had it delivered to Spence's house.

Spence and Linda delivered the ice maker on Saturday morning and we set it up on our small table next to the RV (an an outlet).  You pour water into the reservoir and, just as the advertisements say, in seven to fourteen minutes it begins dropping small ice cubes into a basket.  The cubes are small and wet to start, but after the machine gets chilled properly, the cubes get larger and harder. Frozen joy!

The instructions say that the ice maker will make up to 26 pounds a day.  I have no idea how much ice that is.  However much, it is more than we need.  When I add water and turn it on it the morning, we have more than we need for lunch - and the rest of the day as long as I keep adding more water. One drawback is that it is not a freezer and does not keep the ice frozen.  When it melts in the basket, the water drips back down into the reservoir.

This butterfly was most attracted to the ice maker and fluttered around and landed on it most of the day.

Kathy was the dinner chef and made a wonderful vegetable stir fry which we served with pasta. A nice feature of our outdoor kitchen is that you can sit at the picnic table to cook and eat.

Andy spent the time reading on his Kindle.

June 16, 2018 - Kathy Visit

Daughter Kathy came for a visit and joined us for a walk around the campground.

Larry asked Spence to bring this cart to Big Creek. We did not use it as one reason we volunteer is to get in some walking time.  Clyde and Debbie will use the cart in July.

This tuft of grass in next to the picnic area parking lot.

I walked down the creek bank to take a picture while Andy and Kathy enjoyed the scene from the bridge. 

Every time Kathy comes to visit, she brings some new method of making coffee.  I forgot what this one is called.  It is something like a French Press but only makes one cup at a time.

We went to The Beantrees in Hartford for lunch and got a table at the water's edge.  A mimosa tree was in full bloom next to the deck where we sat.  The white spots are sparkles on the river water.

June 10, 2018 - Unremembered = Forgotten

Since the computer was dead, I could not write my log at night.  These were the photos I took on June 10, but I don't remember that day at all.

Andy Walking Up To Parking Lot

There had been a smaller tree on this spot, now a hole in the ground.  There must be a dozen baby trees sprouting up around the hole.

The door to the men's room was coming off its hinges.  Two maintenance men fixed it one day, but it did not stay fixed.  Spence propped it up with a rock to prevent men from opening and closing the door - and it falling off completely.  Eventually, the maintenance department sent Spence some materials with which to fix the door better.

There are wild strawberries growing in Big Creek.  They don't have any flavor.

June 9, 2018 - Daddy Long Legs

I don't think I've mentioned the Daddy Long Legs yet this year.  They are everywhere!

There was at least a dozen of them on the ceiling for the screen room, clustered in every corner and on every seam.

Since we have moved to a smaller RV, we set up a "kitchen" on the picnic table in the screen room.  Here, Andy is performing the waffle-making ritual.

We saw an interesting truck from Colorado.  The big black package on top says "Cascadia Vehicle Tents". It looked to me as though the package stayed on top of the vehicle and folded down to make a tent. After looking them up online, I discovered the tent actually stays on top of the vehicle and you use a ladder to get inside it.

Two friendly and interesting women were camped in the horse camp with an RV.  They had a beautiful Christmas Cactus on their picnic table.

The horse-camp day-use parking lot was full of cars, so Andy told a family pulling a trailer of four horses to park in Site 6.  The horses were patiently waiting while the family was eating lunch 

The day-use lot was definitely too full to park a horse trailer and unload the horses. When it gets this crowded (and sometimes before so) people start parking along the narrow roadsides.  That is when I hide out at our RV.

June 8, 2018 - I Killed My Computer

It started off as a beautiful day.  The sun was shining and all was bright (and dappled).

Big Creek was flowing clear and cold.

This Giant Leopard Moth was resting on a tree near the toilet building.

Then I went and ruined my day by closing my computer with a ballpoint pen lying on the keyboard!

This was all I could see.  We waited for the next Monday to drive to the Best Buy in Farragut, TN. The Geek Squad said they don't carry old screens.  I could probably find one online and they would replace the screen for me.  I decided to go ahead and buy a new computer since the beloved Lenovo was so old.  Then, we had to make another trip after they transferred the data from the old computer to the new one. When I finally got my new computer, I realized that I had left my program disks at home. The next week, we went back to buy new software.

June 7, 2018 - A Little Bit of Wildlife

This snail was along the campground road.

We saw this doe several times in the forest along the campground road.

Some horseback riders stopped at our site to tell us that a tree had fallen across the trail, so we walked down to have a look.  It was not a very big log - until we tried to move it.  It was a tall, tall tree wedged between standing trees.  Andy called dispatch to report it.

This is the spot where the trail divides.  The left path goes to the horse day-rider parking lot and the right one goes to the horse campground.  I love the green-ness of the Smokies!

We only heard a bit of a Search and Rescue underway today.  A man fell fifty yards off Alum Cave Trail, a very steep mountainside. Rescue Ranger Heath was on the rescue team.  Dispatch announced, "emergency traffic only".