Thursday, May 19, 2022
Weather - HOT! Sunny, with a high of 90F
Steps - Shaun: 7,065; Shannon: 4,562
Varmints - a soaring bird that we couldn't identify
No pictures today (it was a weird one), but we do have the conclusion to our car saga from yesterday:
Shaun found a Jeep dealership in Alcoa that opened at 7:30 am and called them at 7:31 with a plea in her voice. They didn't have any service appointments until Tuesday, but they told us that, if we were willing to wait, they would try to fit us in. We drove over, hearing that weird noise the whole way, and after only about an hour wait, our super nice service associate came out to tell us that they couldn't find any problems with the Jeep. Shaun even went on a test drive with him (his name was Lafayette by the way...only in Tennessee!), who took the car through its paces, but she couldn't hear the noise either! The theory is that something was stuck in the wheel well or between the brake pad and the rotor or something like that, and it worked its way out during our trip to Alcoa that morning. The service technician did a multi-point inspection, checked all the brakes, wheels, etc., just to be safe, and pronounced us good. We were super relieved, and they didn't even charge us for their time! The folks at Harper Jeep Ram Chrysler Dodge were excellent and showed us the meaning of true Southern kindness.
Not only that, but they gave us a voucher for a free car wash (since the Jeep was covered in dirt from all our gravel-road excursions). We drove over to what we thought was the car wash and tried to use the voucher, but it wasn't working. An attendant came out to help us and said that the voucher was for the car wash next door (why they have two right next to each other, we don't know). He told us to keep the voucher for another day and comped us a free car wash with the works package! Again, we received wonderful customer service and kindness from the folks in Alcoa.
We made use of the car wash's free vacuums to clean the inside of the Jeep before going to Walmart to pick up a few things we will need for our move to Bryson City tomorrow. By the time we left, it was quarter to 11 am, and, our car was safe to drive and noise free (trust us, we kept rolling down the windows and listening intently), so we were footloose and fancy free. We had a number of options to choose from, including what we missed yesterday, but we decided to go back to the Great Smoky Arts & Crafts Community over in Gatlinburg and do some shopping.
After dropping stuff off at the cabin and eating lunch, Shannon went on to the Community's excellent website to find a few clusters of shops to visit, and we headed on over. We saw all kinds of interesting art and crafts by local artisans, and we bought a few things, including layered wood bowls by a woodworker and gorgeous earrings and a necklace by a jeweler. The latter was in her shop, and she told us all about the stones she chooses and how she makes her pieces. Not only does the jewelry set have beautiful stones that look like an ocean beach, but they are set in swirling gold and silver that suits our filigree-loving spirit.
We stopped at an old-school soda fountain, and Shannon got a root beer float and a dairy-free Dr. Pepper float for Shaun, both of which they'd been seriously craving. However, they were pretty generous in size, so both of us felt a bit bloated when we were done. They were worth it, though, and we left Gatlinburg with full stomachs and emptier pockets, having supported the local economy expertly.
Once back at the cabin, we proceeded to do the packing dance, and what a dance it was. We do really well together, and we just flowed in and out and up and down until we had worked the logistics through and prepared for three days with no kitchen. We packed our lunch for Friday when we'll be at Fontana Dam, our dinners of stir fry that we had made the pieces of the night before, and we even organized supplements for the lunch that will be provided on the train ride on Saturday (which is not great for a vegan). Our goal was to finish as much of the food as we could because we only have a small refrigerator at the hotel.
Once we had dinner and played euchre with Mike and Grandpa Dan, we finished up the laundry, ran the dishwasher, and packed a separate bag for the "hotel days" so that we don't have to schlep our big duffle bags around. Let's face it...we've traveled enough together to make the logistics as simple as possible while still ensuring that we have everything we need.
So, onward and upward (well, actually, it's downward, but you know what I mean). We'll catch you up tomorrow on our trip to the dam as well as our first foray into Cherokee for the Museum of the Cherokee Indian and the Qualla Arts and Crafts Mutual. It should be lots of fun, and we'll learn some stuff to boot!
No comments:
Post a Comment