MAINTENANCE - Can't live without it!

Where would we be without the folks who help us with maintenance at All Decked Out and Smoky Mountain Tower?  I'll tell you - we would be LOST!

One of our primary maintenance guys - Mark Kalinowski - has been away for over a month, helping to take care of his parents in Michigan.  We have really missed him.  But he just called and said, "I'm baaaaaack!"  I almost cried!

You may remember seeing Mark before.  He has done a lot of big jobs for us, such as the new walkway and all the work on the garage at Smoky Mountain Tower.  Here he is working on the window cranks in the sunroom there.















He does work at both cabins - like installing new flooring...















...and new light fixtures at All Decked Out.

And he's not the only one who helps us.  Darren Phillips lives very close to both our cabins and is always ready whenever we call him with an emergency.














Maintenance is one of the things we work on very hard.  In fact, we expect to be in Gatlinburg next week for a whole week of maintenance and updating.  We'll report on our progress as we go along.  But please join us in saying a big "thank you" to these guys ... and all the others who make it possible for you to enjoy Smoky Mountain Tower and All Decked Out.  We couldn't do it without them!

It's MORE than just about renting a cabin...

When we bought All Decked Out (now more than 16 years ago), we didn't just buy it as an investment or a piece of rental property.  We bought it - and we bought Smoky Mountain Tower two years later - to be able to help people.

We have a lot of involvement with missionaries, and we know they work very hard - sometimes in dangerous situations.  Like all of us, they need opportunities for rest and relaxation.  So it has been our privilege over the years to provide those places for missionaries to take a break and experience some renewal.  That's one of the reasons we advertise on Christian Hospitality Network (www.ChristianHospitalityNetwork.com).

But our willingness to help goes beyond just a place for missionaries.  As we promised in our last post, here are some examples of ways we have been able to help our guests:

• About a month ago, Marcia was talking with a potential guest who happened to mention that she was having computer problems and might have a virus.  Marcia ended up giving her instructions on how to get rid of the virus!  P.S. - The lady made her reservation immediately.
• We try to keep a close watch on the weather in and around Gatlinburg.  More than once, we've alerted guests to a potential dangerous situation.
• Traffic can be a headache when you're coming to Gatlinburg.  Many times, we have written to guests in advance of their travel to tell them about detours or other road conditions (even rock slides in the mountains), so we can hopefully give them an alternate route and save them some travel time.
• Sometimes guests have unusual situations that require them to arrive a little early or possibly delay their departure a little bit.  We work with our guests as much as possible to accommodate their travel plans.  It doesn't always work out because of cleaning schedules - but we try.

Here's the point.  Whenever we answer an inquiry, we close with this statement:  "If you have any questions, please get back to us.  We'll help you however we can."  And we mean it.  Our goal is for you to have the best possible vacation experience.

And if you think we're just giving you a "line," check out what our guests say about us.  You can find their comments on our Web sites.  Just click on "Guest Book Comments" or "Post & Read Reviews."  We hope your review will be there soon!