Apple Harvest

(Saturday Traveling Stories part 13)

We headed north toward the Cumberland Gap. When we first crossed the Tennessee state line, somewhere I picked up a card that was touting the town of Cumberland Gap. It made it look like a cool little town with lots of interesting shops, eateries, and historical buildings. We thought that might be a good place to go and also we could drive the Cumberland Gap Parkway.

Not too far out of Gatlinburg, we came across Carver’s Orchard. They had a restaurant and a store. I asked M if she wanted to check out their apples, which is what their sign advertised. I think it was harvest time because they were well stocked. It kind of reminded me of the Porter Peach place in Oklahoma (If you’ve ever been there, you’ll get the idea). They had lots of apples along with some other farm fresh veggies and canned goods to boot. The apples were coming in on a conveyor belt and a couple of men were sorting them into baskets.

M was picking out some apples while I examined the canned goods. They had lots of various jams and jellies and a couple in particular caught my eye. T.O.E Jam and F.R.O.G Jam. I asked one of the young women who was putting apples up what that meant and what was in them. She was as ignorant as I, but between the both of us we figured out you could read the fine print on the label and figure it out.

FROG is figs, raspberries, orange, and ginger. TOE stands for tangerines, oranges, and elderberry. I did buy a pint of both kinds along with some dark honey from the smoky mountains. The prices were good. As I told M, we paid less for all that than we did that souvenir t-shirt I got.

As we got closer and closer to Cumberland Gap there were highway signs about the upcoming tunnel and what was and wasn’t allowed to go through the tunnel. I was a little hyped because I still have this childlike thing in me about going through tunnels and over bridges. But right as we hit the curve before you enter the tunnel, the road splits and you either continue on through the tunnel or go to the town of Cumberland Gap. Well, we had come all that way not to see it through, so I swung right and made a couple of sharp curves on the road into Cumberland Gap, Tennessee.

At my work we have this thing we emphasize about setting expectations with customers. If you set realistic expectations you don’t have as many problems as you do when you over promise what you can’t deliver. People don’t get as upset if they know what to expect as when you set the expectation that they would get one thing and it doesn’t measure up to that. That is a Cumberland Gap problem. Major disappointment. The two little shops we stopped in, we stuck our head in the door just to ask them where a public restroom was. Both of them seemed flummoxed as to the answer and a little shocked someone actually came into town.

We found one at the park. Not great facilities either.

I think the townsfolk were as surprised to see us wandering around there as were were at their bemusement. Maybe someone put out a pamphlet about the town as a practical joke.

Well, what we did find is that there is a trail head there that leads to the tri-state pinnacle. That is a point where Virginia, Tennessee, and Kentucky all touch borders. It was about a mile and half hike up. All up hill.

About half way up we crossed paths with a girl coming down. “Is it worth it going up there?” I asked.

“It is really pretty,” she smiled as she continued down.

We came across the rest of her family a few hundred yards further up.

We got to the summit. The views weren’t spectacular because the trees were in the way. The only line of sight was where a path had been cleared by the power company for the power lines to go through. Probably by the husband of the lady at the pottery store. Thank you sir.

I told M, “That girl wasn’t honest. There isn’t much of a view up here.”

“She didn’t say there was,” M replied. “She just said it was pretty up here.”

Fair enough.

On the hike down I almost sent us going off in the wrong direction. Not paying enough attention going up. M caught my error and got us headed back in the direction to where we parked in town. We came across a doe grazing alongside the trail as we were going down. She seemed to care little about us walking by. Animals get used to people and don’t get to skittish if they don’t consider us a threat. She and the squirrels on that section of the Cumberland Gap Trail don’t get to upset by human folk.

We had to make a big loop coming back out of Cumberland Gap which took us into Virginia, Tennessee, and Kentucky in short order but the good news is I got to drive through the tunnel. I think it was one of the longest I’ve ever driven through. I liked it. I don’t know why. I just did.

We also passed a couple of lakes on the drive back up to Kentucky. One of them was Douglas Lake and I didn’t catch the name of the other. But both were depleted of water. The boat docks were all on dry land. You could walk a quarter mile out into the lake before you got your feet wet. Must be a drought in those parts.

Leaving Cumberland Gap, I pointed us in the direction of Honeybee, Kentucky for no apparent reason except is was west and that is the direction we need to be heading. I headed that way knowing we would need to stop before we got there. It was too late to try and find a camp ground and set up for the night. The next town of any size was Williamsburg, so we would stop there and find a dreaded motel for the night.

The best thing I can say about that city is it has a hotel. And the hotel had a good shower.

We did find a decent place for a burger. M had the burger and I had a tenderloin sandwich. It was really good. And the beans they served were superb. I think they cooked some pickles and hamburger meat in with them. Don’t know. Don’t care. Ate them all.

Tomorrow we will continue westerly.

Photo by Marek Studzinski on Unsplash