Tom Week - Near Dollywood

5/11/23 – The Shadow Of Dollywood
This is the tackiest place in the universe. I can say that having been to Wisconsin Dells, Myrtle Beach, Biloxi, Vegas and Branson. 

Just one example: Alkatraz East, which has on display Ted Bundy’s VW and the OJ chase white Bronco.

5/12/23 – High-end Tacky
I have to revise my assessment. I still think it’s really really tacky, but at the same time it’s like snob tacky. Or, perhaps, just plain expensive tacky. 

The other weird thing is that most of the bars close at 9 or 10. I guess that’s to preserve the family image.

Tonya kept making us stop driving so she could pose with large plastic objects.

5/12/23 – Poop Path
Pigeon Forge apparently doesn’t care about poop-scooping. The bike and walking paths are covered with lumps of dog and horse poop. Too bad. They’re nice paths otherwise.

5/13/23 – Those Darn Baptists
I found a wonderful back road. Steep hills, but mostly shaded. At the very top of the hill was a Baptist church, just letting out. I stopped to take a drink and noticed movement in the grass. It was a garden snake. 

I asked it what it was doing down there in the ditch. One of the Baptist moms heard me and asked if there was someone down there. It told her it was just a snake. She asked if I often talked to snakes and I said, “Of course.” The Baptists all looked away from me and walked quickly away.

5/14/23 – Pancake Closing Time
We went to a pancake place, but I was closed. So we went across the street to another pancake place. It was open, but they were moping the floors before we left. It was one o’clock. 

5/15/23 – Storms Of Kentucky
We drove to Kentucky today. We got to the campground just the big storm hit. Power went out. We sat out the storm, no tornadoes here. Now it’s nice and cool and the bunnies are out and about.

5/16/23 – Accent Time
News people in Kentucky have stronger accents than any other place in the country.

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