We've moved to Raccoon Valley, Tennessee

After 6 days in the tourist mecca of the Smoky Mountains, we are headed for a more subdued area of Tennessee. We drove an hour north to a campground run by the Escapee organization. The Escapees are best known to full-time RVers for their mail-forwarding service. We have been very pleased with this service that we have used since we started our full-time journey. But they also have RV parks across the country. Most seem to be concentrated in the west, but we decided to try one of their most eastern parks here in Tennessee in Raccoon Valley.

It could be said that this park is in the middle of no where. But we would rather say it is within driving distance of several places. One of those places is the Fruit and Berry Patch in north Knoxville, where you pick your own fruit. Denisa loves buying fresh fruit for snacks, and these long rows and rows of blackberries don't come any fresher than this.

From doing some taste-testing right off the vine, she has determined that the best berries are those that are almost black. The red ones are too sour and the black ones fall apart when they are picked. The ones in the middle are just right.

Right beside the blackberries are more rows of blueberries. We have some experience picking wild blueberries off bushes that are about shoulder high, but these were more like blueberry trees.

The berries were plump and thick, but not as tasty as those we have found on the trail. Within the same stem, the berries ripen at different times, so it's a slow process to pick single ripe berries. Going through the process of picking yourself makes that price at the grocery store seem a bargain now.

Next we headed to the grape arbors, where the picking process sped up considerably. Here the stems ripen at the same time, so cutting one stem yields a bigger harvest.

These are more tart, and the skins are tougher than the grapes found at the grocery store. From taste-testing while we were wandering through the vineyards, we also found that the different varieties varied greatly in taste. But Denisa found some she really liked!

By this time we have wandered quite a ways from the store, and even scared up a skunk that was enjoying the harvest as well. This is a pretty big you-pick operation, and we were the only ones picking this evening. We hope they are busier on the weekends, or much of this fruit will go to waste.

We also found the apple orchard, and were surprised to see several varieties already red. When we found that their stems separated easily from the tree, we picked some to try. The owner had said that the peach harvest was slim this year, but we still found a couple big peaches hanging high in the tree that Mark could reach. So this was our harvest for today--a whopping $5 in produce. We love souvenirs that we can eat!

We have found several interesting things to do in this area, and we are enjoying some time in the rural foothills of the Appalachians!