Picked up Kara from Highland Inn -- said goodby to everyone and headed to Great Smoky Mountains to show Kara how we spend our time on the road, visiting great places. You probably had to be there to appreciate it, but we experienced a really weird situation. Shel took a wrong turn and instead of backtracking, he decided to take a turn that led us up a windy mountain road that was leading to nowhere. . .and slowly. Up and up we went (obviously this was not going to take us to the the route we were looking for). But, being a guy, he wouldn't turn back nor admit he may have made a mistake until we got to the top and to a private way sign. I don't know which of us three decided to take the left rather than the right turn that led us all the way, way down the mountain, but, inexplicably, we landed on the road we needed to be on. We have no explanation for this freak stroke of luck!

Great Smoky Mountain got more overcast the higher we went, so we weren't able to see the view from the observation deck at Clingman's Dome. Kara and I walked the half mile up the steep path to get to the deck anyway, watching everyone in various stages of huffing and puffing their way to the top. We knew we wouldn't see anything, but it is one of the highest points in the east, so we wanted to say we were there.