Davis' Trip to the Smoky Mountains

I will do my best to recreate the tale of this trip as Davis described.   There was a request for him to write it down, but he elected to just tell the tales a few times, and let Dad write the stories.   Sounds like his mom, but at least she sends me some text notes every so often.   But this adventure began at home the week prior, and some very poor parenting discussion (Completely my fault, Magan knows I have apologized) in preparation for this journey.

So Davis and his buddies come up with this trip to the Smoky Mountain National Park during Spring Break the week before, and he mentions this to Magan, who quickly delegated this decision to Dad.   Her thoughts, that she is realizing more and more are incorrect, are that Dad will surely veto this proposal, he gets to be the bad guy, and she is free and clear.   But when my Life Scout shared with me that him and some buddies wanted to spend their spring break camping near a national park, enjoying the outdoors, it was a pretty quick..."OK" from me.  

I then booked the KOA site in Davis' name, signing him up that he was 18, as was the requirement.   We then discussed about him sleeping at a Walmart if they would not let him get the website.   He then laid out a full agenda, camping list, and meal plan for this trip...as he was the only one of this group that had ever went camping.   As this plan came into a reality, the mom starting thinking about this, and second guessing everything.  Seventeen year olds are clearly going to die if they are away from their momma.  But after a lot of "fun" discussions, I understood her concerns, and we agreed to this journey with a set plan to return to Alabama if there was any issues with the campsite or a sketchy Walmart parking lot. Did I mention that Belle was away camping with her troop when Davis was leaving, and I was gone in Georgia?   

But off they went, Davis, Logan and Ryan at 5:30AM on a Monday of Spring Break.   Arriving at the campsite around noon, Davis went in by himself (as coached) and while they would not check him in at that time, it was a little early, they had no issues with him coming back later.   He said he immediately jumped into a conversation with them, lots of smiles, and no id would even be necessary.   I was pretty sure that Davis could pass for much older than he is.   But since they could not check in, they decided to go to a local knife shop and look around.   All of these guys seem to really like knives, and Davis said that Logan probably spent $200 on knives.   Davis showed me a "cheap" mini butterfly knife (I am so out of touch with this boy, I don't even know if that is the right name, he has surpassed my knowledge of basic manly tools easily) that he bought.   Then had A&W for lunch, Davis being the resident expert (he has gone much more than me or magan with his friend Cole) of gatlinburg helping Logan know where to park and the "cool" restuarants.  

After the knife shop, the went back to set up camp in Townsend, then they drove into Gatlinburg to walk up and down the strip.   I was happy to have the few pictures he grabbed of him and his buddies during this adventure.   Since his last trip with the school, I think we had just one.   One story he shared was of Ryan's mom calling him often, and each time he answered, he answered with what sounded like "YeahMa".   Ryan is Vietnamese, and him mom speaks zero english, so they listened to him conversing with her.   Then they would ask if she was checking on him, and she was not even asking about him.   Just needed help with how to do this or that at home.   Davis did send me and a mom a text about the campsite, and that they had arrived.   They later drove to Walmart in Sevierville, then ordered pizza for supper, as it was all that was open around 11PM.   And yep, they ordered accidentally back near gatlinburg, so back there to pick up pizza, then back to the campsite at 12.   

This is where they found their campsite had been destroyed by strong winds that ripped down this new tent that Logan had brought.   It was wrapped around the ONE tree that Ryan luckily had tied the tent to.   But at midnight, they got it back into place, and inside to eat some pizza under a tent that was clearly not in the best shape.   Davis said that night was loud as the winds picked up and they could hear trees falling in the woods, and at 2:30AM, he woke up (this is rare, so winds must have been bad) to see stars above him, and the tent ceiling about 4 inches from his face.   The tent had caved in.   So all three got up, packed up the tent to the back of the truck, and decided to sleep the rest of the night in the truck. 

The next morning was hard to wake up after a difficult night, but they had some neighbors in an RV that apparently were just happy to see them alive, and invited these boys over to enjoy breakfast with them.   They had eggs and bacon and toast, and chatted with this couple about the previous night.   The man that owned the RV was a rocket scientist that lived near Huntsville.   So Davis has his own crazy surreal story of going to camp in Gatlinburg, tent blown away, and eating breakfast with a rocket scientist.   

That afternoon, they attempted to drive into Cades Cove, only to have a cop speed around them to stop them shortly afterwards where a tree had fallen across the way.   Apparently this storm that luckily Davis did NOT text his mom about, took out the Cades Cove area, and you could not enter.   So they drove through the Foothills Parkway, taking some pictures along the way, getting one really cool one below of the reason they call it the Smoky Mountains.   And then with limited cell service, they drove one hour to Klingman's Dome, only to find that it also was closed.   Oh well, I don't think any of them complained, they were on an adventure that was perfect for some goofball 17 year old boys.   

Mexican for dinner, and back home to the campsite.   "Be Prepared" is the boy scout motto, and fortunately Davis had brought along a second 4 man tent.   It was actually the one we carried on our back to the bottom of the Grand Canyon, yet never used.   So this was its first use, and while quite snug on 3 teenagers, Davis said that at this point, they could barely keep their eyes open.   And they all slept perfectly with no more wind or storms.   Davis cooked them all sausages and eggs on this next Morning, and they set off again to explore the National Park.   Still had many closed roads, but they found a creek to play in, and finally hit the road on the way back.   Ruby was out front waving glow sticks as they arrived, and Mom ran out to hug her baby.   I am glad they got to go.  In hindsight, it was clearly a dangerous trip, with lots of opportunities for bad things to happen...but then again, that is life.   Some days more than others, but each new day brings an adventure, you just have to pray for the best.