Although our primary residence is our motorhome, we DO own a couple of other properties. Our Orlando house is our “domicile” for all legal purposes and is where our mail goes. Family members live there and forward our mail to us, wherever we happen to be. And then, we have our vacation rental log cabin in Gatlinburg.

Due to the Covid-19 disruption, our rentals for the next few weeks cancelled out – thus opening up the cabin for us to occupy. So, last week we packed up clothing and cat, buttoned up the bus, and left for Gatlinburg. Although we love our motorhome, having more living space is quite a nice change of pace. Pumpkin loves the extra room! And you can’t beat the view.

Everything is shut down here. It’s eerie to walk through downtown Gatlinburg in broad daylight and see NO tourists and every shop and restaurant closed. Pigeon Forge isn’t much better, although a few drive-through (or take out) restaurants and businesses deemed critical remain open. The Great Smoky Mountains National Park is also closed –  barricaded at every entrance and trailhead. Our log cabin community is a ghost town, just us and the maintenance guy. It’s certainly not difficult to self-isolate!

We’re keeping ourselves occupied by tackling a few cabin repairs and upgrades. Things like: stripping a peeling wallpaper border on the main floor, installing a new gas grill, renewing the deck/cabin staining, and having UV blocking window film applied to the main floor vaulted windows to cut the afternoon sun/heat. We’ve got time, and vendors around here aren’t all that busy right now. There’s always something we can do!

At the end of the month, we’ll need to retrieve the bus from Greensboro and park it at our next reserved campsite in Pigeon Forge. At least the bus will be closer to us if we need anything! We plan to continue living in the cabin through mid-May while we assess our next move, based on what is happening around the country.  And hopefully by then, some things will be open around here! Not to sound whiny, but I’d sure like to take a hike in the Park and maybe even go out to dinner.

Wouldn’t we all ……