September 30 - “A foggy start …”

It was a foggy morning. An ominous chill hung over the …

Well, actually it was the parking lot of the hotel, but I couldn’t figure out how to make that sound mysterious. 

Our first goal site of the day was one we had actually been to before, but never got a National Park stamp to … Cades Cove, an eleven mile circle drive with many mysteries hidden within. 

In a surprise move, we visited the dueling churches. Just like the outside world, there were several branches in evidence. First was the Primitive Baptist Church. As we walked outside we heard some people singing an old hymn. Beautiful. 

Then there was the Not-as Primitive Baptist Church (had a Bible on the pulpit so I turned it to John 3:16). We also walked in the ancient cemetery out back. All of the churches had one. 

The Methodist Church won the day, though. A park Ranger was playing tunes on the mountain dulcimer). Nice. 

Critter report …

We saw numerous wild turkeys strutting around. I even gobbled at one. He shot his head up and stared at me, like he was saying “Happy Thanksgiving“ or maybe “What are YOU looking at!”

We also saw a momma bear and her two cubs. They raced across the road just two cars in front of us. We saw them very clearly but they sprinted so fast that Chris couldn’t get a picture. 

Demonstrations Day:

We watched a few guys and a donkey making sorghum molasses from scratch. Don’t ask.  Free tastes. Good idea. We bought some. Yum. 

We also saw a working blacksmith … a lady. She was good. She was making a spoon. Impressive. 

Next we drove a twisty-turny road to another of the National Park visitor centers. There we hiked their supposed 1 miler. Nope. Our watches recorded 1.43, and we even avoided the last bit because of warnings along the trail to avoid that area. A huge mass of hornets had a nest there, and they weren’t afraid to protect it. 

We finally left the park and had to drive right through the middle of downtown Gatlinburg. That place was hoppin.’  It was like Galveston’s Strand on a summer Saturday. People everywhere.  

The closest hotel was in a place East of there called Greeneville. Lo and behold, that was the very location of our next target, Andrew Johnson National Historical Site. We are headed there this morning. 

Next ……..

Matthew‬ ‭22‬:‭37‬-‭39‬ ‭says, Jesus replied: “ ‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’ This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’

Father, thank you for the surprise appearance of the bears. Made that whole drive worthwhile. Amen. 

September 29 - “Chickenmauga … and beyond”

We woke up to something quite different here in North Georgia. 60 degrees. Yep. That’s just one degree away from the dead of winter in Galveston. Brrr. 

I had to do something pretty rare in our travels. I turned in a list of problems with our room. Some were just bad design, like you couldn’t reach the bedside light from the bed. It was attached to the wall, and you had to get out of bed to turn it on and off. Others were more really bad maintenance, like the shower curtain rod that was literally hanging by a thread - on one screw. I wrote everything down and turned it in. This would be a dream come true for Chris if we got a survey request from them. She loves to tell it like it is. 

As we were loading up the car, I got a request for a FaceTime call from none other than Ezra. He was just checking in to see where we were. He had certainly never heard of “Chickenmauga” or “Chattynooga”. Those really are some funny names. 

At Chickenmauga, the event of the stop came when we climbed the stairs in a spiral stairwell of a pretty tall tower on the battlefield. Lots of stairs. It reminded me of some of the lighthouses we have been in. Did I mention, lots of stairs?  Oh, and in one place it was dark. I mean, touch the sides dark ‘cause you can’t see the next step. Never fear, though. We made to the top, and the walk back down was much easier. And little did we know at the time that there would be more - Umm - difficulty ahead. 

After Chickenmauga (it’s always gonna be that for me now), the battle won by the South, we had to follow their footsteps as they chased the retreating Yankees and climb up Lookout Mountain over in Tennessee. It was actually just a hop, skip, and jump away, so it made sense. 

We started at the top. The very top. We ascended to the peak of the mountain to see what we could see. History first … the Confederates lost this battle, and it resulted in Union control of a railroad connection and enabled them to have provisions for the March on Atlanta. The views from up there were amazing. The Tennessee River makes a turn right there, and the water provides for luscious green-ness. We did some hiking in that part of the park that proved challenging to both of our heart rates. All was well, though, and we headed to our next attraction. 

We had received numerous notes almost demanding that we go to this next place “or else.”  Well, or else we would regret it, I suppose. Since we were on the mountain anyway, and we’d already been to Rock City, that just left … drumroll here … Ruby Falls. That was an actual waterfall hundreds of feet beneath the surface of the mountain. The crowded elevator ride down to the starting point was a good practice run for those who don’t particularly like tight spaces (Chris). But the long walk through the hewn tunnels that occasionally got pretty tight was just about all Chris could handle. She fought through it like the trooper she is. 

The cave formations and stalactites and stalagmites along the way were amazing. And the waterfall was just different enough to be amazing as well. It wasn’t one of those Niagara Falls kind that covers a huge wall like a sheet. This one was a stream flowing from one small hole high above our heads and cascading down into a five-foot deep pool. They had a light show going to show it in different colors, but my favorite was the plain white that revealed its natural beauty. I guess I have officially joined the ranks of those who recommend the experience. 

Lookout Mountain was the last thing we had on our semi-official list before we left home, so we had a decision to make as to where we’d go next. And since we were in Tennessee, Chris located a few more National Parks - further east. So it was off to Knoxville for the evening, and to locations not completely known beyond that. 

But wait. Whose bright idea was it to go through Knoxville? We ran into a serious traffic jam several miles outside their downtown that slowed us down a lot. It wasn’t dead stop like Houston gets, though, so we just plodded right on through. 

Philippians‬ ‭4‬:‭9‬ says, Whatever you have learned or received or heard from me, or seen in me—put it into practice. And the God of peace will be with you.

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Father, thank you for the chance to see some pretty beautiful slices of your creation pie. Amen. 

September 28 - “Vaughan Brigade”

We woke up in Macon, Georgia to a robust 67 degrees. That’s plum cold, you know? Or is that plumb? Probably the second. Plumb indicates measurement is involved. And cold is a measurement. But then, every plum I ever ate tasted nice and cool when I bit into it. So … take your pick. It’s a colloquialism anyway. 

We started our Eastern time zone day at 8:30. So that would be 7:30 real time. Still sleepy? Our first goal destination was some Indian burial grounds that have National Park designation: Ocmulgee National Park ancient burial and temple mounds. We climbed a lot of hill trails and stairs to get to the highest points. Chris even went inside one mound where she had to bend over to get through the entrance tunnel. She was not too excited about that. 

On our way out of the park Chris was forced to drive under a tiny, somewhat-crumbly, one lane railroad bridge - with a train rumbling overhead. She was not too excited about that. Hmm. I’m sensing a familiar theme. 

My last act of exuberance came when I played Stump the Ranger. It wasn’t an actual game … but I did have a question. I asked what kind of tree was growing right outside the door. It had acorns, but the leaves weren’t the same shape as the oak trees in Galveston. She tried several options, but admitted she really didn’t know. She finally settled on some member of the yellow oak family, maybe the blackjack oak. I looked them up. Not blackjack for sure. Leaves don’t match at all. Correct on the yellow oak part, though. I’ll give her full credit anyway. 

Oh, I almost forgot. It took a while but I finally found a worthy critter-esque travel buddy. A random wooly mammoth happened to cross my path. And his name was Willy. Now who wouldn’t adopt a lonely little wooly mammoth named Willy. Willy the Wooly Mammoth. Say that ten times really fast. 

Next stop … Atlanta. Gotta admit, this was my least favorite goal site of the entire trip. I just wasn’t all that excited about going downtown in a huge city. But hey. We’re on vacation, right? Time for adventure, right?  Onward and upward to Atlanta, then. 

First stop - Jimmy Carter, of course. Had to finish out his story. His presidential library was located smack in the middle of Atlanta. But … it was also located on 34 acres of lush green grass and lots of trees. Gorgeous place. 

Since we were in the belly of the beast anyway, we headed over to a real “difficult” part of town that housed the Martin Luther King National Park. That one was kind of weird. It was spread out between a school, the visitor center, a massive tribute building, and down the block a ways was the house he was born in. We made the walk thinking we could get into the gift shop next door. Nope. It was closed. Oh, well. 

Next we went to the Chatahoochie River National rec area. Big news there? Threefold. 

1. Chris got a stamp. 
2. We saw some homeschoolers enjoying the Ranger’s electron microscope looking at bugs and things.  
3. A squirrel did his best to hitch a ride with us under the car, but he finally gave up. 

Next we went to Kenesaw Mountain. No, it wasn’t the grave of a certain first-ever baseball commissioner who banned Shoeless Joe for life. It was an actual mountain, and the site of a key battle of the Civil War leading up to the Union army taking Atlanta. The first monument we saw was one to the Texas fighters for the Confederacy. Interesting. 

And speaking of interesting, we learned that the fiercest fighting took place in a section of the mountain called Cheatham Hill. And as we hiked up to the biggest monument on the mountain, one to the Illinois volunteers, we saw not one, but three signs marking the positions of a certain Vaughan Brigade, again of the Confederacy. Front lines all the way. 

We finally got in some serious hiking there. The trail wasn’t paved. It was up and down a mountain. I was kind of worried about Chris’ heart. Not about mine, though. But it’s been a while since we had a chance to hike like that. We have both missed it. 

Last night we made it all the way to Dalton, Georgia, just south of Chattanooga. Cracker Barrel again for a quick supper, then back to the room to crash. 

  Psalms‬ ‭30‬:‭5 says, For his anger lasts only a moment, but his favor lasts a lifetime; weeping may stay for the night, but rejoicing comes in the morning.

Father, thank you for the chance to hike yesterday. Even through her huffing and puffing, Chris said she really enjoyed it. Me too. Amen. 

September 27 - “Hangin’ with Jimmy”

Here’s a fun story to start the day. Seems our trainer in training Jachin and his suite mates at college have initiated a rescue effort … for a handicapped kitten. The critter has only three paws. They aren’t allowed to keep it in the apartment, though, so they are actively seeking out a home. They have given it a name. “Tripod.” Classic, guys. 

We pulled out of Opelika - Auburn Tiger Territory - at 8:19. Temp was a brisk 77 degrees. Last time I saw that was last winter in Galveston. Felt great. I saw a sign for the town of Chewlaka. Wonder if that’s a cousin to a certain Star Wars character?

First stop of the day made the whole trip worthwhile. It was the World Famous Drive Thru Museum of Searle, Alabama. It was a fabulous collection of oddities by themselves, as well as oddities combined with other oddities in abnormally creative ways, all stuffed into huge shipping containers with windows cut in them so you can just drive by and check out the wonderful weirdness, from two-headed ducks to hair from Bigfoot to a massive gallstone. It’s all there. And free for the looking. But you can buy some of the mash-ups … if you dare. 

From the museum we crossed into the Eastern time zone to seek out Jimmy Carter’s Plains, Georgia, hometown national monument, as well as Andersonville National Historical Site a few miles north of there. 

We decided before we ever arrived that Plains is not someplace you “just happened” to drive through. It is the definition of “out of the way.”  

In Plains we absolutely took in the sites. Well, the National Park related sites, anyway. We saw such riveting architecture as the Old Plains High School, which now houses a museum and the Park service. We had lunch in beautiful Downtown Plains at the old bank building. Good sandwich, great fried okra. Had to celebrate the great news about my heart. No heart cath needed. No further action needed. Come back and see the cardiologist in 6 months. 

We stopped in at the train depot that was Jimmy Carter’s campaign headquarters. Next we drove out to the old Carter farm, Jimmy’s boyhood home. On the way we saw the fenced and secret service protected home where the Carter’s now live, as well as the Methodist church where he got married. 

At the childhood home we met a park Ranger appropriately garbed in overalls, a noisy rooster named Rudy and his brood of hens, two donkeys, and a couple thousand GNATS. OH, and on the way out of town we stopped in the parking lot of a Baptist church to enter our next destination in the GPS. As it turned out, it was the very church where Jimmy Carter taught Sunday School. Imagine that. 

From there we drove to Andersonville. That was the site of a huge Confederate-run prisoner of war camp during the Civil War. It is now also the home of the National Park Service’s tribute site for all prisoners of war over U.S. history. I have to admit, it was quite a sobering and emotional experience for me. 

We finished our day by driving over to Macon, Georgia. Sounds like a great site for a movie, right?  

Matthew‬ ‭5‬:‭10 says, Blessed are those who are persecuted because of righteousness, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

Father, thanks for the great news about my ticker. Hard to beat that. Amen. 

September 26 - “A lot of miles”

After all that walking in New Orleans, my back was really complaining. The hot shower and medications helped me get to sleep, but I was up around 3 to take some more Tylenol. That was good for another two hours, and I was happy with that. Besides, I knew we were in for a long drive, so I figured some car napping would be in my future. 

Breakfast was pretty rough. And by “rough” I mean “bad.”Packaged sunny side up eggs (I don’t mind the institutional scrambled eggs. I even like the packaged omelettes. But these were just too nasty to even try. But guess what? Chris did. Ate one. She’s my health-hero, you know), turkey bacon that was more like jerky, ant almost raw waffle (although it did have the fleur d’lis imprinted on it. That was cool).  We ate a little of it, then took off. 

The first leg of the trip was a long one. We stopped briefly in Mississippi to get some gas, but otherwise headed straight through. I met a truck driver at the Alabama welcome center. He had just spent the night on the beach in Texas - in Surfside. That’s a long way to drive in one morning. 

Grabbed a Subway sandwich to go in Theodore, Alabama. Hmm. Wonder if there is a Simon or an Alvin, Alabama, too? Hey, somebody out there will understand that reference. 

The longest leg of the journey came between the Alabama state line and Montgomery. Not many signs to read. No critters to speak of. Just lots of trees. So glad Chris was driving. I dozed off and on the whole way. Imagine that. 

Our first goal site was the Tuskegee Airmen National Park. It was closed. It was located at a little airport, though, so we saw some of the private planes taking off. From there, we were only nine minutes from the Tuskegee Institute National Historical Park. It was closed, too. Strike two. Oh, well. Chris took pictures to prove we were really there. 

Then we headed about an hour to the north to the Horseshoe Bend National Battlefield. That was the site where Andrew Jackson defeated and obliterated a troublesome offshoot of a tribe of Indians in 1814. The Cherokee were involved. So we’re the Creek. But the troublemakers were also Creek, just an ultra right-wing (by current Indian standards) off-shoot. Whew! Politics back then, too. Lo and behold, the visitor  enter was open (at least for 30 more minutes). Chris got her stamp , and we were even able to hike to several of the trails and see the river bend. 

Last night we headed back southward and eased past a little town that I heard might have a college football team of some kind. Ever hear of “Auburn”?  Our hotel for the night was in the nearby booming metropolis of Opelika, Alabama. 

Matthew‬ ‭5‬:‭9‬ ‭says, Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called children of God.

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Father, that was a lot of miles in the car. Thank you for riding with us. Amen. 

September 25 - “Jean Lafitte all over”

We loaded back up and were on the road by 9, headed to … Jean Lafitte National Historic Park and Battlefield. Actually the battlefield has its own name. Something like Charcuterie?  

On the way we tuned in to worship with Columbus Avenue Baptist Church in Waco. We love watching Caleb lead worship as part of their choir. Doesn’t hurt that his Dad is the preacher as well. After that service we switched over to listen to Seaside on Facebook Live. I guess New Orleans didn’t care much for that decision. We lost the feed shortly after the first song.

We crossed over the Mississippi River numerous times on our way to our next stop. We pulled into the National Cemetery next to the battlefield Memorial in the Jean Lafitte National park honoring those who died in the Battle of New Orleans during the War of 1812. We may or may not have sat in the parking lot and listened to Johnny Horton sing that iconic song, The Battle of New Orleans. YouTube it. It’s a great one. And listen carefully to mention of the alligator. 

Next stop was downtown to the French Quarter. We intended to have lunch at yet another place Nathan and April speak highly of- Gumbo YaYa’s. And as luck would have it, the parking lot we randomly chose was right next to that restaurant. It was not open yet when we first walked up, so we strolled around the Jax Brewery Building looking at the gift shops. Mostly tourist items, but then, hey. We were tourists. 

The gumbo place finally opened, so we made our way in. The waiters were all distracted, for sure. The Saints were playing on TV, and nobody wanted to miss a moment. We did get served, though. And the seafood gumbo with okra was some of the best I have ever had. Good call, April. 

We decided to walk around and see if by chance we could get another of the National Park stamps Chris needed. The route we took led us through the French Market. I guess that’s a big deal place to visit. Looked to me like a lot more tourist stuff. The route also took us right by Cafe Dumond. How could we pass up a hot, drowned-in-powdered-sugar beignet. (For the uninitiated, that’s  a fried donut). Thanks to Christi for introducing us to this one.  Sweet, sugary goodness. And the donut was good, too. 

Speaking of alligators, we crossed over the Mississippi River numerous times on our way to our next stop - the Jean Lafitte National Park wildlife preserve. (Yes, Jean Lafitte had his name on both places. Not sure why. And yes, Chris did get stamps for her book at all these places).  At this last site we did the short hike from the visitor center and saw in the swamp none other than a Momma and baby alligator. I’m pretty sure they were direct descendants of a certain crazy gator from around 1814. (Told you that you should have listened to that song). Pretty exciting critter sighting. 

We were pretty exhausted when we checked in to our hotel. We couldn’t rest yet, though. The only place anywhere nearby to eat was a Wendy’s. Not a horrible option, but we had to walk there. Just a few blocks away, but we were tired. And my back hurt. 

Let me make an observation at this point. The floor at Wendy’s and the floor of the bathroom at the hotel we stayed in the night before were downright slippery. Not greasy, just slippery. Weird. 

Back at the hotel we finally settled in with a heated up beignet and the Dallas Cowboys football game on TV. Whew. I need a vacation. 

 

Matthew‬ ‭5‬:‭8‬ says, Blessed are the pure in heart, for they will see God.

Father, thank you that we were able to get several of the National Park stickers Chris needed. That completes Louisiana. Feels nice to have completed something. Amen.