Cumberland Gap
(Saturday Traveling Stories part 14)
It was an early morning for us at the hotel in Williamsburg, Kentucky. Had I known what Williamsburg was like, we might have looked down the road a bit. But you don’t know what you don’t know. I set Greta (I think that is what I am going to start calling my Apple Maps app) toward Honeybee because it was smack dab in the middle of the Daniel Boone National Forest. At least the part of the forest we were near and could reasonably drive through, and I didn’t want Greta to go getting all smart with me and deciding where I should go based on her preferences.
Route 90 is what that put us on. A road that knows no straight way. The good part is that it took us right to the Cumberland Falls State Park. Cumberland Falls is a great little water fall stop. It’s not Niagara, but why do I have to say that? Only Niagara is Niagara. No need to constantly compare one to the other. We people have a way of doing that about everything. Always comparing everything to the greatest and grandest in that category or realm.
Paul was right when he said, “Comparing yourselves among yourselves, you are not wise.”
Also, while Niagara dwarfs Cumberland in size and scope, Cumberland has something no other falls in the Western Hemisphere has! It can make a moon bow. So we were told. My understanding is that if you visit there on a clear night and the moon is full, it creates a whitish rainbow coming off of the falls and arching up into the sky. Might be worth planning a trip when the moon is right and the weather cooperates. They keep the park open until midnight, unusual for a state park, just for that reason.
We took the falls in, walking the trail to the different overlooks and all the way down to the beach. We took a selfie – something we aren’t good at. But you need one every trip. I think there is some rule or law about that.
While in the National Forest, we also stopped at an overlook. It wasn’t great because it didn’t seem to have been well maintained over the years. We actually got a better view of the mountains in the distance and the valley below us by walking across the highway to where the trees had been cut for power lines and poles to run through the area. It made me think of the husband of the lady at the pottery shop in Gatlinburg again.
The bridge there had as a guardrail some old gray stone. The cornerstone marker said it had been built in 1930. 30 years before I was born. That thing has stood solid for 95 years. The men who built that up in those mountains were some tough and skilled dudes.
Moving on we drove along 27 until we got to Burnside. It is a great name for a town where they have a Kingston Charcoal plant. There was a second one we saw later. Apparently, Kentucky is the home of Kingston. I like that. Next time I do a charcoal cookout I will think of Kentucky and know that my purchase went to support the families of Kentucky. Shoot some of them probably go to church and tithe. So, in a round about way, my charcoal of choice is helping spread the gospel in Kentucky!
Speaking of spreading the gospel. There were three massive steel crosses constructed along our route today. I don’t know who financed them, but they had to cost a lot of money. Also, there were lovely churches, the white lap-sided kind with steeples that are perched up on the side of a hill. The kind that make you think of a Hallmark Card or a nice countryside painting your Aunt Lilly created.
Lots of various Baptists – The Separate and the United, the Missionary and the Firsts. Some folks just put out little signs that said things like “Get right with God,” or “Warning! Jesus is Coming! Be ready.” Lots of different approaches, but they were all getting the word out in their own way. And I can appreciate that.
Someone might say they don’t think those efforts are effective. It reminds me of a story I heard. I think it was about D. L. Moody, but I’m not certain on that detail. Whoever was the subject of the story, it is said that someone told him they didn’t like his method of telling people about Jesus. He replied something to the effect of, “I like my method of telling them better than your method of not telling them.”
Paul’s word to the Philippians is fitting, “Whether in pretense or in truth, Christ is preached, and in this I rejoice.”
Leaving Burnside we crossed over an interesting bridge that spanned the Cumberland River. I wish had been able to get a picture, but it was an interesting design. The structure was rectangular. What I’m referring to is the part going overhead like a suspension bridge. I’m not doing a good job of painting the picture. But it wasn’t rounded or curved like most bridges. It was a huge rectangle and the upper part was strengthened by triangular steel that was set in rows across and running the length of the bridge. But the triangles weren’t all in a row as you looked at them, but each row was offset from the one in front of it. It was all done in red iron and had a real artsy feel to it, though I don’t think that was intended. I just wondered why they engineered this so differently than all the other bridges I have seen?
Route 90 took us through Monticello, Burkesville, Marrowbone, and a lot of other small towns until we got to Glasgow. Glasgow is another one of those towns that seems to boast a lot of potential and promise but doesn’t deliver. We parked in a public parking area and walked up the hill to the town square where we expected to find lots of interesting shops. We didn’t. But we did find the Creamery, a nice little ice cream shop. We did one of those desert before dinner things again.
After our fruitless – almost - walk around the town square, we went back to the truck and found the city park where we had a lunch of crackers and tuna. Those little tuna packs make for nice traveling food. We also ate one of the apples M snagged yesterday at Carver’s outside of Gatlinburg.
We continued westward toward Bowling Green the home of Western Kentucky University. Our route took us right by the campus and the football stadium. I don’t know why but I always thought WKU would be a nice school to attend if one were going to university. It is a totally unfounded belief that is based on mere romanticizing of a place based on a name.
On our drive along Route 90 we kept seeing garage sales and yard sales by the tens if not into the hundreds. I later found out we came through during the annual “Roller Coaster Yard Sale” event that is held the first Thursday through Saturday of every October. The route for the sale includes Routes 63 and 90 and a few other roads. It is 159 miles of yard sales.
It was started as a way to promote traffic and commerce along these scenic routes in Kentucky and Tennessee.
