To Gatlinburg, via Chattanooga

Drove on today following the interstate South-East then for a confusing half a mile or so dropped into Georgia State, where it must be illegal to buy fireworks as either side of the state border were loads of Firework shops just off the highway in Tennessee. I pulled off the highway just after it turned North-East into Chattanooga not really sure what I was going to find here. I followed a number of signs to something called 'Lookout Mountain' which turns out to be slightly big hill on the edge of town. It also boast having an Inclined Railway and Ruby Falls; the largest known under-ground water fall, which is supposed to be very impressive. On arriving at the Carpark I parked up but found my back was incredibly stiff and sore today and I hobbled over the Entrance. The cost for entry was about $40 and included a long walk through caves to reach the water fall. I certainly wasn't willing to fork out $40 just to see a water fall and to be honest I don't think I could of managed to walk into it any way and hobbled back to the car like an old man to pop a couple more Paracetamol. Back on the road I was ok as long as I kept still and didn't move around too much on carried on up the interstate to the Gatlinburg turn off. The weather forecast was good and as the Great Smoky Mountains National Park was here I saw it as an excellent time to camp for a change. Off the Highway I pulled into one of the Visitor centers and asked for advice on where to camp. The lady there told me to head up to Elk Mount Campsite and even told me which site to pick once in there!
On the way up to the site you pass through the area of Pigeon Force (no idea why it's called this) but its a tacky strip of motels, fast food joints and small amusements which has all sprung up allegedly because of the nearby Dollywood; Dolly Parton's very own theme park (Which I had no intention of visiting as numerous people had already told me how cheep tacky and expensive it was!)
Just before the road wound into the mountains towards Gatlinburg there was a large Wallmart to I pulled in to get some tea and supplies(beer) for the night. Wandering around this huge monolith of a store that sells everything I came to the Gun section. Some how I find it slightly worrying. Just out of interest I asked the guy behind the counter what I needed to buy one; “ just a Driving Licence and a Credit Card” he replied with some what of glee in his voice, I declined to buy one but assured him I may come back later! I wandered around and picked a six pack of beer and some snacks and salad stuff and went to pay. At the check out I did the usuall now here of handing over my Driving Licence and card to prove I was over 21 and to pay. The girl was apparently under 21 so she had to call the Supervisor to ring the beer through. This is where I got rather annoyed, the supervisor took on look at my Driving Licence and said she couldn't accept it as “I was an alien” I needed to show her my Passport to prove I was over 21! I remonstrated the fact that did I really look like I was just over 21 or a little over and also asked why my Driving licence would have been perfectly valid to buy a gun but not beer. I'm not sure whether she didn't understand my accent or just was being bloody minded but she asked ofr my Passport again, luckily I had it on me and showed it to her, She then took ages to go though each of the pages and compare it to my driving licence. The dates then threw her; my Passport shows 6/MAR/69 and my Driving Licence shows 6/3/69 (which is the 3rd of June in the US not the 6th of March), finally after explaining this to her she finally asked me “how is Ireland these days?” - “I've no bloody idea... I'm English, from England” I retorted. With that she agreed to sell me 6 small bottles of beer while the checkout girl behind her smirked and smiled at her supervisors bloody minded incompetence & ignorance. Finally out of the Walmart I drove on up Gatlinburg which is a little like Bowness on Speed and out into the National Park to the Campsite.
Unfortunately the (nice) lady at the Visitors Center got the price a bit wrong telling me it was only $10/night, I had $30 on me so I assumed I would be ok. When I got there it turned out to be $17 a night and as I planned to stay for 2 nights I was $4 short. The site is run on a honesty box system where you post your payments into a slot with the site you've picked and your details. There were big warning signs about non-payment and I wasn't going to risk it so headed back down to Gatlinburg I'd passed through before to the ATM, a round trip of about 15 miles just for $4! The site though was excellent and hidden up a long twisting valley in the park. Each small site had an pitch for a tent a fire pit and a bench and table all amongst an oak forest. There were also signs everywhere about keeping all food locked in your car to keep the bears at bay!