Helmsey......Todd

I would shoot to stay in Pigeon Forge unless you are just wanting to try to be closer to the mountains. You will have way more options in the PF area, and be much closer to all the stuff there is to do. 
I would say 2 days at Dollywood to be able to move around at a leisurely pace and see everything. 
Other things to check out in the area would be Cades Cove in the park, Clingmans Dome in the park, and any of the nature trails\hikes in the park.
It's sad that I live 30 minutes from there and couldn't really tell you about any of the food choices up there. I always hear people talk about the Apple Barn so check into that. Another good place is Calhouns or Smoky Mountain Brewery. They are owned by the same local company and have good eats.

FINALLY! The Butch Jones era of TN football is over! After an embarrassing loss to Mizzou 50-17, Butch Jones is no longer the head football coach at UT.
 

3 hours ago, Tri-Circle-D said:

Last week, I said that I could not be embarrassed by a loss to Georgia.

I was wrong.

Ouch.

But, thanks to Georgia, the bad hire made two and half years ago got dealt with on an accelerated basis, and the coach got fired.

Good.  I thought I'd have to endure a couple more seasons with that dummy.

Now I wish they would kick all those kids who committed credit card fraud out of the school, and then build a program with kids who follow the rules and a real coach- not some Saban reject.

Go Gata.

TCD

If it makes you feel any better, ya'll did better than my Vols could against Ga.....

Good on Stricklin for pulling the trigger on the coach. We're up here dealing with the Butch Jones debacle and our AD is yet to do anything... 

Great pics! Looks like the little man loved seeing the characters.

I'm in as well and looks like you had a good start to the trip.

I'm betting you stopped at the Lost Sea in Sweetwater on the way down (as someone else mentioned). 

On 10/20/2017 at 1:39 PM, TN22.....Brady said:

If any of those JFL teams are looking to round out their schedule, the boys from Knoxville might be interested......

 

Yes, tough to be a fan this year.......

You aren't kidding. We are well on our way to being a homecoming team. 

18 hours ago, twiceblessed....nacole said:

Mercy...we were right behind them.  I picked the little boy up, when he fell.

Crazy....thousands of people and we're on the same boat that is going to the lodge, instead of one going to the Fort, at the same time.  Very funny ?

17 hours ago, ImDownWithDisney said:

Lol yep. I saw you pick him up. 

This would be a good place for a witty 'small world' joke.

19 hours ago, Wade said:

I'm glad I'm Team Fort Fiends then.

Someone needs to come up with a shirt like this. Giant Snarky head on the front and on the back #TeamFortFiends.

On 10/5/2017 at 1:21 PM, Tri-Circle-D said:

For those of us who do not buy our gas at these places, is there a reason they can't offer pay at the pump?  Is it because of the size of the transactions?

TCD

I can only speak for Pilot\Flying J but their bulk diesel lanes were setup to provide an added benefit (turning on the pump) for their commercial accounts. If you didn't have a commercial account with them the driver has to go inside and stand in line to make their transaction for fuel.

21 hours ago, WannaBeImagineer said:

Seperate question, how do people fill up at the rigg big diesal pumps now?  Don't they require pre-payment or a member card or something?  Back in my high school days they were just like normal pumps.

We strictly use P\FJ and we have the Good Sam card that will turn the pumps on at the pump, no need to go inside. At the other big truck stops near me you have to go inside like Rennie said and prepay, then settle up the transaction when you are done pumping.

On 9/30/2017 at 9:25 PM, GaDawgFan.....Kelly said:

Look... 2 posts from me in the same day! Holy moly! I wasn't expecting that.  

We're good. Really good. I'm a happy Dawg fan. Our defense looks freaking amazing. 

Shut out the Vols at home.... revenge is sweet! 

I hope we can keep our eyes focused on the prize! 

Man the dogs looked good this week. That was a hard one to take at home, but alas that's just how the current state of TN football is.
I read a fun fact yesterday about the VOLS loss. The last time they lost that bad at home the opposing team did not fly home....because the airplane had not been invented yet. Ouch.

Thats awesome!

3 hours ago, Tri-Circle-D said:

Where's GDF now that her Dawgs are in the top ten?

They look pretty darn good.

Unlike my Gators.

Yowsa.

Two close games, and two undeserved wins.

Our coach looks like he's not having any fun.

I don't understand why 10 of our players are still out on suspension.

This season is not going to end well.

But, Go Gata.

TCD

Tennessee borrowed some of that gata luck to squeak out a win against the powerhouse of......UMass??? At kickoff Vegas had UT at -28, but alas we couldn't cover that and managed to pull off the 4 point "W"

This week we get Georgia at home and that is not going to be good. The only good thing that can come out of GA visiting it is could possibly end the Butch Jones era at UT. 

This is our favorite parade by a large margin. I'd bet the girls still ask to watch it 1 - 2 times per week.

Somehow I missed the start of this TR but I'm caught up now. 
Tinkle tower.....now that is funny!!
I wonder how many other FP pictures there are from 7DMT where only 1 person is in the shot? I can't imagine there are very many of those.

Just now, Tri-Circle-D said:

Wow.  That is inexcusable. 

I guess it's hard to find a quality head coach these days. 

I still think that Tennessee is going to have a better year than you think.

TCD

I hope we do too, it's been tough being a UT fan for a while now.

2 hours ago, Tri-Circle-D said:

Don't be so hard on your team.  It's early in the season, and what happened in Gainesville could just have easily been a win.  It's not like you got blown out.

The problem is with the coach, this being his 5th year with a couple top 5 recruiting classes. He has proven time and time again that he can't develop the talent and do anything with it. Heck we have one of the top running backs in the SEC and when we were 1st and goal and a mere inches from the end zone, he calls pass plays that were all from the shotgun formation. We ran 17 plays inside the Florida red zone and he threw every time, never once did he hand it off to our RB. At the end of the game when asked about it he told the press that "it was just a scheme thing" but once he got back to Knoxville he has since given 2 other answers, both were blaming players. I think my favorite answer from his presser yesterday was when he was asked about being in a nickle on the last play. His first answer was that we didn't have enough DB's to play a dime (even though we had played about 10 total that day), but at the end of the presser someone else asked about it and he said " we didn't know where to play the extra DB". I just cant imagine a competent coach coming out and saying....we just didnt know where to put the extra guy on the field....

Well once again TN proved on national TV that they can snatch defeat from the jaws of victory. Our current head coach once again proved he is in far over his head. Congrats to the gators on the win. Luckily we have an easy week before we are embarrassed again on 9/30 by Georgia, once again a 3:30 CBS game so everyone gets a chance to see our incompetence in action!

Just now, Tri-Circle-D said:

I hope all of the knuckleheads on suspension will be back by then. On the bright side, none of them will be out with injuries.

The joke around here is that there is no question they will all be back for the TN\FL game, and they will all be well rested and healthy for us. lol

34 minutes ago, Tri-Circle-D said:

This has to be Tennessee's year.

Seems like people have been saying that for a while now.
I think last year we had a legit shot at winning the east, until we lost to SC after a bye week and couldn't stop Vandy. Pretty strange to beat Florida and Georgia and still not win the east. Oh well, such is the life of a TN fan.

I knew that several would be missing for the Michigan game but didn't realize the number was 12....yikes. That's a lot of bodies to miss for one game.

TN gets the pleasure of heading down to ATL to play on Monday. All I can hope for there is that we don't get embarrassed by GT on prime time TV.

On 8/30/2017 at 0:57 PM, Tri-Circle-D said:

So, who thought it was a good idea to name the new spinner ride the Alien Swirling Saucers?

And what would they call the people who have to clean that ride... wipers?

On 8/30/2017 at 7:04 AM, Starbuc71 said:

fed dogfood and they will think they are in Heaven

Mickey shaped kibble!!

4 hours ago, twiceblessed....nacole said:

Do you find, that the air bags help with a smoother ride?  We installed Timbren Springs on our F250 to help with squat....but the ride can be pretty darn rough 

We took our Ford to the dealer because of the harsh ride and the fix was the leave with a Chevy    The Chevy ride\interior just fits me better and feels more plush.

38 minutes ago, Tri-Circle-D said:

Do you realize that this year's first Mickey's Not So Scary Halloween Party will be hosted at the Magic Kingdom on this Friday night, August 25th?  The MK will have all of its Halloween decorations up.  There will be campers at the Fort doing the same.

TCD

I saw this on the instagrams today: