November 23,
2017 – Thanksgiving Day!
It sure seemed odd to be in a
motorhome on Thanksgiving Day. This was
the first Thanksgiving Dave and I had not spent with our extended family. But we are very thankful for our family! It began in a Walmart parking lot. For breakfast we ate salad, stuffing, and
sweet potato casserole. We used maple
syrup we purchased at the maple syrup farm in Vermont and it was
scrumpcious! We then drove through
Alabama and Georgia and stopped at a rest stop just outside of Chattanooga, TN
for our lunch. We ate gluten steaks,
mashed potatoes, rolls, and corn. The
gluten steaks were the juiciest and best every – our theory is if boiled while
bouncing down the road it must make them even better! We then went to Rock Mountain, on Lookout
Mountain, overlooking Chattanooga, TN.
It is a tourist trap and there were a lot of people there on
Thanksgiving day which surprised us.
There are beautiful rock outcroppings to walk around, through, under,
and over. There is also a waterfall
there and an overlook where you can see 7 states at one time: Georgia, Tennessee, Kentucky, North Carolina,
South Carolina, Alabama, and West Virginia.
It was a beautiful clear day. We
then headed a couple miles away to Ruby Falls.
Ruby Falls is a waterfall that is over 100ft. tall and is in a
cave. We took an elevator down into the
cave and then walked through the cave to the falls and back. After Ruby Falls we went back to Rock City
for a night Christmas light walk. It
sure was beautiful and ushered in the Christmas spirit. We ended with our
supper of both pecan and pumpkin pie and phone calls to friends and family back
home.
TRADITIONS –
THANKSGIVING TREE
The most challenging part of
this trip is the lack of stability. We
are creatures of habit, and yet while traveling the road our schedule changes
regularly and many of our personal and family traditions and habits cannot be
maintained. Thanksgiving morning as we were about ready to hit the road
Serenity said “We should do our thanksgiving tree.” At home every year on Thanksgiving day we cut
out a tree and leaves and write on them what we are thankful for. We have used the front door of our home for
this project. So – we used the motorhome
and made a Thanksgiving tree. It was
beautiful! And it really helped boost
our spirits as we thought of the countless things we are thankful to God for
and we decorated our motorhome.
November 24,
2017
Friday we took the Incline
Railway from the valley floor of Chattanooga up to Lookout Mountain. At the top the traincar was at a 72%
grade! We felt like we were going to
slide right out of our seat! The weather
was clear and the views were beautiful again.
We then headed into downtown
Chattanooga. After talking with a
parking attendant we were able to find a place to park not too far away and we
went to the Aquarium. The facilities
there were excellent and we had a fabulous time seeing God’s nature from under
the rivers and oceans. They had an
extensive collection of jellyfish that were
amazing and gorgeous. We then
watched two imax movies there. One was
with the diver Cousteau. It was
fascinating to learn so much about the behaviors of animals under the
water. The other was about Henry Bates
in the Amazon jungle. We didn’t realize
ahead of time it was focused on his proving Darwin’s evolution of species. There was beautiful footage in it and it was
great conversation for our family in regards to Darwinism, evolution, and the
fallacies of their theories.
We then drove out to Southern Adventist University so the kids could see
the beautiful campus. Even with it being
winter and all the leaves already off the trees, it was even more beautiful
than I remembered. We walked the
promenade and then headed north through the woods to Laurelbrook Academy.
November 25,
2017
Sabbath we went to church at the chapel at Laurelbrook Academy and then
ate in their cafeteria with our friends from Mexico Missions trip. In the afternoon we went on a hike to a
waterfall on their property and then had an extreme hike down the rockways of
the riverbed. Most people kept their
feet mostly dry. Lol It was like paradise though! That evening after worship we headed to their
lake and the kids went out in canoes to look for the beavers. A few of us adults stayed at the boat dock. After a little bit we heard the beaver
chewing and with flashlights looked under the dock and saw him there!
November 26,
2017
Sunday Rich Sutton gave us a tour of Laurelbrook Campus. It is huge!
Close to 2,000 acres and has many homes on it, its own cemetery, a
gorgeous lodge, many old buildings, farmland, woods, cliffs, rivers, and even an
active rock quarry. We saw how they
bring out the rock, cut it, and stack it for sale. The school used to have its own peanut butter
and tofu factories. Now its main income
sources are the nursing home and auto shop.
In the afternoon we visited the nursing home, went on a hike through “fat
man squeeze” where rocks come so close together you can barely squeeze
through. The rock formations throughout
the East coast show immense amounts of evidence of a global flood. Before the
sun went down the kids canoed the lake again.
November 27,
2017
Monday we headed to Lost Sea. It
is the largest underground lake in America.
We walked through a tunnel and quite a way through a large cave. Along the way we saw beautiful formations
including anthrodites which are formed on the ceilings from evaporating
water. They look like crystal
flowers. At the bottom we got on a boat
and went around the 5 acre lake and fed rainbow trout that have been
transferred there. They lake must be
restocked every few years because the rainbow trout will not reproduce
there. Their colors and eyesight also
diminish while being in a cave. The lake
was discovered by a 12yo young lad. He had to climb through an 80 foot tunnel
the size of a bicycle wheel. He then
went back and told everyone, but nobody believed him. Finally awhile later his dad went with him
but the tunnel was completely filled with water and covered. 60 years later the owner paid to have the
cave mapped and they found the lake. The
gentleman was still alive and said it was the biggest “told you so” moment of
his life. They pump enough water out to
keep the lake at a level to be able to access it. The lake is still 70 feet deep. God’s creation is so amazing! And again, we saw so much more evidence for a
large global flood. The limestone layers
in there were beautiful and obviously carved out in a quick hurry.
We headed back to Southern Adventist University to visit another
family: Hillis, Rose, Allana, and
Allysa. We know them from Mexico
Missions and they shared how God has miraculously worked in their lives in the
last few months. All in one day Rose got
a job even when she wasn’t looking for one and Hillis was admitted to SAU so he
could do 1 year of college to finish his theology degree. The same day they got housing too. When God opens up a door, it isn’t a tiny
window, but an open highway. We hated to
say goodbye to them – stayed up until almost midnight on a school night! Godly friends are so wonderful to have!
November 28,
2017
Tuesday we went to the Village Market so we could get some vegan
marshmallows, chicken seasoning, hot dogs, etc.
Then we went to Red Clay State Park.
Upon arriving we saw thousands of European Starlings in groups of trees
together having quite the noisy convention.
Red Clay State Park is where the Cherokee Indians began their trail of
tears – when the U.S. government forced them off of their land and sent them to
Oklahoma. I had not realize before that
many of these Indians were actually part Caucasians and that the Cherokee
Indians were living in homes and practicing industries they had learned from
the Caucasians. For American Indians
they were very industrialized.
We then headed through beautiful mountain roads beside the Hiawatha and
Ocoee Rivers. We stopped where the 1996
Olympics were. You can see where they
changed the course of the river for the Olympics and also had drains to adjust
the flow of the water. We drove east
through beautiful countryside.
November 29,
2017
Wednesday morning we drove into Smokey Mountain National Park. Eventhough it is winter and the trees are
barren, it is beautiful! We took several
hikes along creeks, and to waterfalls. We
saw where boars had been rooting around and saw some huge wild turkeys that
must have been at least 6 ft. long. We
were laden down with our warm jackets but became hot and so we transferred them
to a sign where we could get them on our way back down. While hiking the Appalachian trail we put our
hands out so that our right side was in North Carolina and our left side in
Tennessee at the same time. We went to
the Clingman’s Dome, the summit, at 6,600 feet with a 360 degree view. We saw some beautiful ice formations while
driving to the summit. After one of our
hikes a park ranger came and told us there was a bear just off the road a
couple hundred feet down. We ran with
all of our might – but just missed it.
It had just walked around the corner.
The people told us though that the bear’s den must be close by because
it comes out of that area every morning around 10am and goes back to that area
every afternoon around 4pm. It goes
through the hillsides looking for hickory nuts.
For living on the road for 2.5 months – we still haven’t spent a night at
a campground. We stopped at a campground
and it only cost $8.50, but the 7 pieces of firewood was another $7. We roasted hotdogs, ate smores, and talked
about life around the campfire. The boys
successfully rummaged through the woods so we wouldn’t have to buy more
firewood.
November 30,
2017
Thursday we drove through Cades Cove area. It is a great area to see wildlife, beautiful
views, and Appalachian community history.
We saw more wild turkey and a grey fox.
We went on another hike to another beautiful waterfall. We drove and walked through old homes, churches,
water mills, barns, etc. It was
beautiful land! We saw deer, a grey
wolf, and an albino turkey. In many ways
it reminded us Yellowstone in some areas or Teton National Park. The Smokey Mountains have over 100 different
species of trees making it a beautiful mosaic of trees. I wish I could bring them all home and plant
them in my woods! We then headed down the road back towards the area the bear
had been yesterday. And the mother bear
was there with her two cubs! We saw them
from a couple hundred feet away.
For over a week us adults have been planning a secret gathering together
with our extended cousins, the Dale family, from West Virginia again. The Dale family had invited us to a
partnership weekend for “It Is Written” in Gatlinburg, TN. The weekend is from Friday evening through
Sunday morning but we wanted to get together Thursday evening so the kids could
enjoy the pool together. We were trying
to figure out how this would work. We
texted and they said they were going to the store to get supper. We told our kids we were thinking of maybe
getting a hotel room and so drove to the hotel.
I went into the hotel, came back out, and told the kids to get on out
because we were going to have some fun here.
At that moment the Dale family drove up right beside us. The cousins were all shocked. They had a
great time playing football, marco polo, etc. in the pool and us adults enjoyed
the hot tub. We all slept well that
night (with us still being in the motorhome.)
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