"Last day." Two of the saddest words: "Last day."

In the meantime, it all started out as always: we woke, we dressed, I walked Tucker, we had breakfast at Trish's. Wish the cabin wasn't reserved for tomorrow, because then I could ask for a late checkout, and we could have Thanksgiving dinner there, but alas, booked until Tuesday. But we will get to enjoy one more breakfast.

Today we drove into Gatlinburg and just enjoyed ourselves. James wanted to go to the Hollywood Star Cars Museum, so we did. It was fun. This is the collection of George Barris, who designed custom cars for Hollywood movies and television. Several cars sit in the doorway, including "Jethro Gibbs'" car from NCIS. (From his dad, played by Ralph Waite, and there was a nice printout memorializing Waite near the car.) Inside, the biggest draw is the Batmobile from the Batman TV series in the 1960s. There were five of them made from the only Lincoln Futura ever constructed (also used in a Glenn Ford movie), and this was number four. Other cars were the General Lee from Dukes of Hazzard, the Ectomobile (Ghostbusters), the only surviving Jeep truck of three made for "Jo Harding" (Helen Hunt) in Twister, Andy Taylor's Mayberry police car (autographed by Don Knotts on the glovebox), Herbie the Love Bug, the Flintstone car from the movie with John Goodman, KITT from Knight Rider (with William Daniels dialog), some Fast and Furious cars and one from Transformers, Grandpa's coffin dragster from The Munsters, a Delorean (without the Mr. Fusion; with the hook) from Back to the Future, the Batmobile from the Keaton Batman, the Beverly hillbillies truck from the movie, Bob Hope's car that he used in Palm Springs, a Dolly Parton car, one of Elvis' cars and a Mercedes once belonging to Michael Jackson, a M*A*S*H series jeep, one of the 007 cars (along with gadgets from "M" and Bond's guns; so that's what a Walther PPK looks like)...and more. About half the cars had other movie memorabilia with them: the BatComputer, lobby cards, a map of the backlot at the time The Andy Griffith Show was filmed, Terminator bodies and props, etc. The neatest thing was something you might have missed looking at the celebrity cars: there was an old motorcycle and sidecar labeled that this was the first motorcycle to cross the Marne during World War I, the passenger being Black Jack Pershing!

Then we just walked down the street a bit--James still can't go far, even with "Topper."* We stopped at the Candy Kitchen (the one invaded by a bear in 2013) and I bought some orange creams, some almond bark since Trader Joe's has quit carrying theirs, and James got some sugar-free meltaways. By that time it was lunchtime, and we ate at Shoney's (had we known there was a Texas Roadhouse in the other direction, we could have limped down there and got a decent meal for cheaper than a mediocre one--we had the buffet and it was just plain "blah"). Then we turned around and came back, stopping at the Paula Deen store and having ice cream at Baskin-Robbins for dessert.

And then we were done with downtown, and we made the final trip back up the East Parkway. Before I took my coat off, I rearranged a bunch of stuff in the car so that we can get the birdcage, the dog, and our suitcases in the  back for the trip home. The Russell Stover stuff went in one bag, the other was used for the McKay's books except for the four largest ones, which I put on the decking. The cross stitch and Books-a-Million stuff went in back of the passenger seat with James' shirt and today's chocolates. So the trunk is cleared, and so is the back seat. And Tucker had his penultimate walk through the leaves.

It's time for supper, so I will close.


* You may be wondering why, since we were able to get James' power chair before we left, why we didn't take it with us. Well, a minor thing: James thought Tucker and Snowy would ride better in the car. Every time Snowy twitches, Tucker gets excited, and James didn't know if we could cope with that in the cab. But the major reason was that we are in the same row of cabins we stayed at last year (the cabin we stayed in, however, appears to no longer be managed by Stony Brook), and every single one of them has a porch that is raised from the ground and there is no ramp. I also remembered a slightly-high doorstep. We would have had no way of getting the chair on the porch, and, had we managed it somehow (backing in and lowering the platform onto the deck?), possibly then not in the cabin.

Of course when we got here we discovered this cabin is the one cabin that does not have a step-up porch and the entry is a minimum bump. But, "thems the breaks." Because we didn't know we'd get the chair on time, we had arranged that this would be a limited-movement excursion. Next year, as mom always said, "with the help of God and a few policemen," we will work on Tucker's behavior, get a handicap access place to stay, and take the truck/chair.

Labels: excursions, food, history, television, travel

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. . . . . noted and logged by Linda at 6:51:00 PM

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