#360 Melton Hill Dam Campground Lenoir City, TN Knoxville area

Knoxville was 2 hours away so we looked around and although there were some campgrounds there was a nice little place just outside of town told Milton Hill dam. It’s operated by the Tennessee Valley Authority TVA. As you approach the location which is very close to 40 maybe only a mile, you'll pass by a large area of parking lots and so for it then you'll see a really big hydraulic Dam. You keep on going a bit more and you'll see a campground with full hookups. We went in and they said they were going to be full by the weekend but they could put us in for one or two nights. They gave me directions on what to do and I listened partially but where I thought she said turn around seemed tight so I went down a little too far. The road ended to a place where it's like a big turnaround and a dumpster. It looks plenty big enough to do a U-turn in a big rig. It was just barely big enough and it's even better if there were not a dumpster. I went ahead and started my U-turn and I thought things were going well enough but the back rear right of the camper, actually the window of the camper touched the dumpster and because it is safety glass, shattered into a million pieces. Well, that sucks. I picked up our glass and I finally got back up there and I got scolded a bit by the lady in the office. She said I told you not to go down there and you did anyway. All I could say is I know, thank you.

From where we checked in to where we needed to be was only about four sites up a reasonably steep hill backwards. I could also go back towards the entrance and go forward for like half a mile and then eventually just back in so I decided to just go backwards up the hill.

I got positioned and started backing up the hill and I would like to say that everything was going great but the poor engine seemed like either there was a lack of power or we just weren't going as well as I like to. I realize we're 18000 lb. going back up a hill but it just seemed like the truck was kind of blowing black smoke a bit which means it's under a lot of load then it's even like the transmission was kind of jumping. It's a little like when I clutch on a straight is slipping but anyway. It seemed like she didn't have the goods to get up the hill so I went forward a little bit and just decided we need to kind of get on up the hill. I got a little head start and got on up there but I swear she was really huffing and puffing, smoking and jumping and carrying on. I was kind of concerned it why is all this happening. I had bought a rebuilt transmission in Key West a year and a quarter ago so I never expected problems whatsoever with the transmission. Several times if it were overworked and it would give a transmission overheat light so I would just stop the vehicle put it in Idol and let it cool off. I felt like I had done the right thing. Later I was told anytime it overheats like that it's doing damage. Maybe you'd be better cutting it off than waiting at idle. This seems to be great information but I get to learn everything the expensive way.

We got settled in and set up and that was that. We just kind of hung out and looked at the water and was quite pretty and the weather was nice, nothing to complain about.

We didn't have much of a signal but we went down into the town that was nearby called Lenoir City. I figured somewhere in town I could download some shows, check messages, and such. There was a Cracker Barrel, Denny's, Walmart’s, and things like that so it was so your basic 5,000-person town. If you wanted to live a little ways out of Knoxville this might be it. Lenoir city was about half an hour away. The second day we were there it's not like we did anything exciting. I just kind of goofed around and did whatever I did. We asked if there was the possibility of staying one more night. The lady at the desk said I don't have much but I've got one site for one night if you want it so I did. We left our site and went backwards up the same steep hill but it was only about two sites away. It wasn't particularly hard to do but again the transmission didn’t seem to be very happy. I was backing up and it kept on doing that jumping thing kind of like wheel hopping. We went forward a bit backed into the site and as usual, I wanted to manicure my backing job to perfection. I went back and forwards a few times to get the positioning right. Again I see an overheat light on the transmission so I'll let it cool off. Then I put it into reverse and nothing happened. Okay? I went into the neutral and forward and nothing happened. I wondered if somehow it was low on fluid so I checked it and added some just in case. I tried everything I could think of but it never moved again so I sat there and blocked the road to all the campers for better than an hour or two until a tow truck arrived.

I spoke to the tow truck guy and he said they didn’t tell me you were a big rig so I will have to come back. I asked him if he would be willing to go and behind us via the other campsite and just pull the RV backwards as it would pull the RV and the truck into our parking spot and I would no longer be blocking the road. The driver was great and he pulled us backward which he did not have to do as he had given me a line about how this is not possible or against policy or something. I said please and I will not hold you responsible if any damage occurs. He said okay and got me out of the middle of the road. You got to take what you can get so at least I was happy not to be blocking the road.

From this point on I found myself doing triage mental games. First, I'm just glad that people aren't screaming at me for blocking the road. They were all very friendly. Two, the nicest lady that just handed me a phone number of a cool mechanic. Three, We had no idea what was next but we were parked in a paid-for site and good for 24 hours. I called the guy on the little slip of paper and a few other places and they couldn’t help but referred me to a guy called Foresters transmission. I called and he said I can get you in but here it'll be about a week before we can look at it so I figured well why not. I remember feeling everything seems awful. The whole thing is just horrible but I just have to keep on noting these small successes and be grateful for anything good that happened like 1, 2, and 3. I tried to pay attention to all the good things that were happening instead of staring at the horrible thing like my transmission just died. The tow truck guy came back with a roll-on wrecker and took my truck to the mechanic.

I'm not blocking the road, my truck is on the way to Foresters and I've talked to TVA and they said that I could park the parking lot below the dam for a few days so everything's still awful but I am better than I could be had I'm not figured that much out.

Later on, I would talk to the Unitarian Church in Knoxville and they would let me park in their parking lot for a week. That was fantastic because what else would I have done.

No RV parks had a vacancy for a week or more. I just looked at all these little successes and felt like the one huge bad thing was going on but at least I could find pleasure and the little things that were going right.