Day 6. It's snow fun

peter brierton

Feb 12, 2023

7 min read

Updated: Oct 10

Saturday January 14, 2023

Wow! Every local townsperson I meet says "Oh ya shoulda been here three days ago - it was 70 degrees!"(as the snow flurries coat the window of the Honey Bee coffee shop).

Great. Nothing like making a tourist feel good huh? Just rub it in like you do your butts. Yes they do that. Well maybe I need to explain. They dry rub their butts! Well not their butts anyway. This is totally different from "rubbing your butt dry" after a shower. Which is fine. Necessary actually right? Otherwise your PJs would stick to your soggy bottom!. This is different though. It's something they do to season their pork and such. Wait, now that I think about it...am I really eating the butt of a pig? I mean, that doesn't sound all that appealing? I would kinda put that up there with eating frog legs or liver or something.

I'll have a PB n J thank you.

Googling it now says that this is actually the shoulder of the pig and it's really tough, so folk found a way to dry season it which not only tenderizes it, but also makes it super tasty. Ok I'm down with that.

So why change the name to butt then?? Does calling it a butt actually make it sound better? Who was on that board meeting? Pork Shoulder sounds just fine doesn't it!!?

OK, back to the weather around here. Most of the Smoky Mountain National park is closed and the local roads literally have no shoulder to ride on at all so road-riding is out too. The shoulder is a more of a one foot drop into a rocky rain gutter thingy which looks treachorous. I thought about navigating some of the roads up a mountain but thats just as nutty! The mountainy roads are icy and instead of a one foot drop off the side into a gutter it's a hundred foot drop into the hospital. Even the lady at the Welcome Center told me that actually "it's not bike friendly around here" "There are no mountain trails at all thru the Smoky National park". Wow! Maybe in a couple of years she heard. Well that makes the part of this trip that was keeping an eye open for places to live or spend time in - easy! A no welcomeee to the bicycle is-a-no place for this Duckeeee!

I took some local pics of downtown Sevierville before I left which is totally rebuilding in a great way. Small shops and lit up streets feel real welcoming. Dolly Parton is huge in these parts too so I took a picture of myself with her bust in front of the Town hall. What? That's ok to say right? That's what they call it right? A small statue is a bust? Like all the famous people have their bust in a museum n stuff right? (Maybe I should look that word up in the Maryanne Webster?). Anyhoo - as a sidebar, is that...like...really... all her? Like was she really born with....oh wait never mind focus Petey focus.

I left for Pigeon Forge which houses the famous "DollyWood" amusement park, which for snow reason at all (ha! you caught that didn't ya!?) was closed too! I almost took my kids there when they were young but that also turned into a bust. Wow that word has a lot of applications doesn't it!? I'll see if I can bust it out again later in the blog.

This is totally an amusement ride kinda town with go cart places and t-shirt shops every hundred feet. I got a tip that their might be some hiking trails open in a town called Townsend a few miles away so I grabbed that lead and drove off! As soon as I got near this town there were hundreds of jeeps everywhere. So cool. Old ones, new ones, lit up ones, some with no doors, some lifted really high and people just having a good 'ol jeep jamboree time! Turns out I missed a jeep drive onto some trails by two hours : (

It started and ended at this cool jeep outlet store called Cades Cove Jeep Outpost. So I bought a few things and hung with cool jeep owners and pretended I was one also. I mean I just pretended the cool part because I already have the jeep!

Maybe you don't know but there is also a jeep thing where 'hip' jeep owners put a little rubber ducky on other cool jeeps they see..which is totally a weird thing I know.

But it is a thing.

Doubly weird because my nickname is DuckpondPete ( I know I know "I gots me some more 'splainin' to do" still lol). Maybe in my other past life I was a duck? Wait so that would mean I was a Mexican Duck that migrated back and forth to Eskimo country? (Ok you need to read past blogs if that totally threw you ok? : )

When I got back to my jeep there were two ducks placed on it so now my dashboard has two more duckies on it! 'Lil Petey has someone other than me to travel with now...glad someone is making friends on this trip!

I Left Townsend and headed to Gatlinburg TN which I heard is a little more touristy.

Wow. Were they wrong!

It's like totally MAJOR touristy! There's this cool ski lift to a pedestrian wood bridge overlooking a gorge that is amazing and yikes! The streets? T-shirt shops, a Ripley's Believe it or Not and bourbon tasting places galore! I just realized it's MLK weekend holiday and it is kinda super busy here too. Totally cool vibe though. I stopped in to a brewery to sample a local IPA and it did not let me down. Felt good to talk to people and not just a 'lil duck on my dashboard.

I think we both needed some time apart : )

I had left my jeep in a local covered parking garage building - $15 for 24 hours so I figured - why not just spend the night here! They're calling for temps in the teens tonight and wind chills to minus three degrees which is just crazy. So I'm hoping this protected garage will shield me a little bit from those temps.

After having a couple of brews I hunkered down between my two beautiful ladies, the mountain and road bike, and called it a day well spent!

Inside

Wherever I find myself, whichever town I find myself in, I think to myself "Oh lemme stay here and explore a little bit more". Yet as soon as I pick up and move on...I find that the next view that pops up, or right in the next town there is something just as cool as the town I left. It's different - but still so cool and it's just sitting there waiting for me. Then I'm blown away again here and I have the same thoughts..."Oh I should stay here a lil bit longer" lol. There is literally so much to see in one town, let alone this entire country that one could spend years if not a lifetime and never do or see the same thing twice. Touching these little towns with no agenda, no kids, no buying t-shirts n souvenirs, no needing to wait in line for tickets is refreshing in a non-attached to any goal kind of freedom. I really find myself enjoying being with me, present in the surroundings and not off in my mind with a plan or a list to check off. In whatever location I am in, I find myself smelling the clear air, taking in the views, meeting people, and enjoying their stories. So many of those to share but suffice to say - there are good people everywhere...

#blessed man I am.

Outside

To descend thru the switchbacks of a steep mountain, torn between looking out into the absolutely stunning view vs. being sure to keep my wheels on the road was a challenge! Something about being elevated and looking out over the world that gives a more "godly" perspective on things. Makes you kinda realize - not the insignificance of our own lives - but more of a not take ourselves so seriously view. I am just one part of this entire beautiful world, and though my contribution to it is paramount, especially to those around me...we can lighten up and realize what a gift it is just to be here....

Upside

Wow hanging with people of similar 'frequency' as I've heard the term used is so important! Jeep owners with a sense of adventure such as my own, sharing a beer at a bar with people that have not only a love of IPA's but for spiritual teachings and even biking is not only such a healthy balance but can feed a man's soul! I did not ride again but the people connections I made today were like food to my spirit!

downside

Nineteen degrees!!! Really!!? I ended up 'ducking' into gift shops just to get warm again and then spending some cash on peoples from back home that popped into my mind...

Forecast says it will be in the 50's in Marietta Georgia which is where I am headed next!!

Bought some bourbon for a gift here...

Anyone for a trip to Dollywood!!?

Really quaint shopping spot in Gatlinburg above

If you look close people are walking across a wood bridge out there! In the below photo you can see the same bridge from the town of Gatlinburg... descending down from there was the switchiest of switchbacks I have ever been on ...!