I went to the gym for the past three days and worked out hard.
So, today, I didn’t. Got to rest. I’ll go out for a walk or something a little later. But, I’m taking it a little easy today and will return to the gym tomorrow.

It’s a bit too hot to bike ride I think. Well, maybe not so much in the morning. I’m taking it easy anyway.

Checking in —
The poison ivy is all but gone. The rash still persists, and I’m a bit itchy but nowhere near what it was. The puffiness in my face and around my eye has made me practically normal looking again. The websites were right. It did take or will take about three weeks to get over it.

But, during that time I got to go to Gatlinburg TN, and, more importantly, the Smokey Mountains courtesy of the little sister.

Gatlinburg is okay but very tourist-centered. The smell of fried Oreos and pickles along with sweet shops and countless places to buy trinkets reminds me of a fair. It’s a place of fake excitement and shallow content. Their intent is to take money at little personal cost. But, bless them for staying open during Brandon’s reign. It can’t be easy for them, especially since a lot of their merchandise comes from China.

The people, however, are inspiring. I didn’t get to speak to a lot of them. But, I could tell that they buck the liberal trend. They wore patriotic clothing, smoked * real * cigarettes, and drove gas guzzling trucks. This is quite unlike the vaping and e-car driving people that are happily chewing I-can’t-believe-it’s-not-beef burgers.

I can’t believe it’s not beef either. Because it’s not beef although they tend to use animal biproducts. Hypocrites.

The real draw of the area is, of course, the Smokey Mountains. Visiting it actually allowed me to mark off one small part of a bigger bucket list — visiting national parks and taking pictures. Actually, the goal is to visit parks that appear in calendars. And, maybe, eventually, make my own calendar. To do so, I need to go to national parks all across the country. The Smokey Mountains is, assuredly, one of these parks.

Side note – It’ll have to be more than 12 parks. After all, only the best can go into my calendar. I won’t know what the best are until I visit them. I’m trying to load up some pictures but I’m having a hard time uploading the pictures. I took a lot of them. To be effective, I should have just uploaded a couple instead of fifty. My bad. For some reason, I can’t manually move the pictures from the phone to the computer. I’ve done it before. I guess it’s different with this new computer.

But, it was a six-hour drive. I got to do most of it which I didn’t mind. I drove fairly aggressively when I could. It was actually fun. I was referring to cars by their make, model, and state plate. Yelling at them to get out of my way. My sister and I jammed to songs that we sung off key. That was okay because the artist was off key too.

I guess another perk is that my sister and I traveled and spent multiple days at each other without becoming upset or angry with each other. I half expected that we’d have a blowout at some point. But no. It was actually pleasant. I really appreciate that.

The highlight of the trip would have been Clingmans Dome. Clingmans Dome is the highest peak in Tennessee and potentially North Carolina. I’m thinking more North Carolina than Tennessee. From the base, it’s only half a mile and some 6,600 miles above sea level. The climb up to the Done is very vertical. It’s like cranking up the angle on a treadmill but not being able to crank it back down again.

Much like I usual do, I squared my shoulders and started leaving the little sister behind. She didn’t even want to try so this was a solo side mission. Anyway, up I went only taking brief breaks to gasp in the thinning oxygen. Heart pounding and feeling a little dizzy, I reached the platform before the Dome, paused for a minute, and just kept going. There’s no need to stop until the goal is reached.

I hauled my cancer, arthritic hip, poison ivied butt up the mountain. That was awesome.

But, passing and being passed on the trail was kind of neat too. Off to the side, there were families. I overheard bickering. Sometimes, the child was fussing. Wives and husbands urged one another to go on because they couldn’t make it. Their reactions to each other were either disgust or understanding.

Two boys, one dressed in a black Spiderman suit and one in the normal red, sprinted ahead of me. I thought that was pretty neat.

But, I passed an elderly couple. They were white with even whiter hair. He had a dark wood cane. She held on to his right arm for dear life. Both were overweight, dressed in slacks, and short sleeved shirts. Together, they were slowly making their way to the top and smiling.

I don’t know if they made it up. After I passed them, I didn’t see them at the top and don’t remember them when I went down. I hope they made it up.

It’s astounding. It really is. That they went, going together, and taking their own pace while younger people failed at the climb. Teenagers fussed and complained that it was just too hard, and they couldn’t do it – especially the ones who looked like they were in the physical shape to handle it. That’s pathetic.

But, they were there. Proof of concept. Good on them. Maybe I’ll be part of that couple one day.

The one regret, however, was not being able to walk some of the trails that are actually in the Smokeys. I did some trails that were around the visitor center. That was okay but the broad and well-maintained trails aren’t really indicative of what the mountains really are.

That’s okay. It’s a reason, if there was one needed, to return one day.

Although, to be fair and balanced, it might be nice to hang out in a city for a while. Indianapolis or Louisville would be the easiest.

But, the trips like that are so rare and few. I’m just blessed to go and was able to leave fears about money and work behind.

Here we go. Finally.