Unplugged while camping in the Smokies

When I planned this trip to the Smokies I initially reserved a campsite just a couple miles from the heart of Gatlinburg.

To our surprise when we arrived we found that you had to park your vehicle in a Lot and walk to the tent site...um...

This wasn't going to work as our "tent" was actually our van.

We had converted it before we left, building a bed, shelving, installing a fridge and generator. (Bought a solar panel too, but decided to wait on setting that up.)

And the biggest selling point was that we would be able to use tent sites, but sleep so much more comfortably than ever before.

We've camped all over the country and this was the first time we'd ever run into such a situation.

But it was serendipitous as it turned out, because the campground we found?

Absolutely gorgeous. A little further off the beaten path, but so worth the extra miles to drive into town.

For those who are married to their phones, it might have been an issue as there was absolutely no service

But for us? This was a selling point.

There are times when being disconnected is a much needed break from the digital world, a breather from the constant bombardment of artificial stimulus.

I recently ran across a quote that said "Some poor, phoneless fool is probably sitting next to a waterfall somewhere totally unaware of how angry and scared he's supposed to be"

This was absolutely us for one glorious week!

It was such a breath of fresh air, both figuratively and literally, that I decided I need to look for similar accomodations at least once a year.

Just give me lots of trees and a campfire and I'm set.

Having a river in jogging distance doesn't hurt either :)

I'm going to see if I can dig up our van rebuild photos, a DIY that could help out someone else, for another post. Definitely one of my hubby's better ideas, and he has lots of good ones :0)