Rainbow Connection 11/10/21

Indian Mountain State Park, Jellico, Tennessee

Because their sister Dinah had been defiled, Jacob’s sons replied deceitfully as they spoke to Shechem and his father Hamor. ~ Genesis 34:13 Like grandfather, like father, like sons. Deceit runs deep in this family. I’m sure they felt justified in their deceit – like a justifiable war – but it’s still not God’s way of doing things. Aren’t we all tempted to drift into deceit at some point or other because we feel it’ll make our lives better in some way? But it never does. ‘Honesty is the best policy’ always stands the test of time.

Something happened on I-75 this morning. Hundreds of trucks (and not a few cars) were sitting at a dead stop as we approached our entrance ramp. We first realized there was most likely a problem when we passed a half dozen semis trying to make their way through Jellico’s narrow streets. It wasn’t until the end of the day that we were able to discover what happened – a truck caught on fire. Fortunately, we were able to turn around and head off down back roads, which was a prettier drive anyway – just more curvy.

Semi fire causes major back up on I-75 in Whitley County

The Williamsburg Fire Chief said crews were called to I-75 North near mile marker 3 around 11:54 p.m. Tuesday.
A semi had disconnected from its trailer, which was hauling plastic.
The trailer was destroyed, but thankfully no one was hurt.
Crews said when the towing company arrived to start hauling it off in pieces, the flames reignited.
They were able to get that fire under control.
Multiple agencies responded to the scene throughout the night.
The road re-opened at 9:30am.

That’s a really long time for an expressway to be closed!

Today was supposed to include several short, fairly easy hikes. Bet you already suspect that not exactly what happened. 😊

It was foggy this morning. Really foggy!
But it cleared out pretty quickly as we continued down the road towards town.

It might’ve been at one time, but it’s definitely permanently closed now. : (
The thermometer works though. *Brrrr….*

The stopped traffic on I-75 headed left, all those trucks were just sitting there.
We turned around here.

This was taken in my sideview mirror.
Look at the line following us down this side road!

Oh, it started out easy enough. We drove to the Cumberland Gap Falls to walk along the river and take in the sights. We were still a little painful and stiff from the other day, so to start off, we were walking pretty slowly and gingerly – especially on the steps. Made us feel quite elderly. But we discovered a world of rainbows – double ones! It was beautiful! The trees stunning, and the waterfall amazing!

Also, you will discover a few comparison pictures in today’s post. We did much of this same day in May, 2018. It was a little warmer, and a little greener then. 😊

Do you remember this from when we were here before? We’d forgotten! : )

If you look closely, you can faintly see the other end of the bow.

Now the entire bow is more prominent!
Oh the wonders the Father has given us to enjoy!

We discovered this boat chained to the tree.
Don’t know who uses it, if anyone.
Maybe it’s there for rescues?

We then decided to do a short 1.5 mile “warm-up” hike that left just up the road from the waterfall – Eagle Falls Trail. Well, as it turned out, not only was it 1.5 miles one-way, it was also pretty strenuous! But it was worth it, and by the time we returned to the Jeep, we were actually feeling better. I guess we finally worked out all our muscle aches!

Much of this trail was alongside the river and it was lovely!

We decided to do the Gorge Overlook on the way back.
This was before we knew how difficult the trail would be. : )

Do you remember from previous Falls?
This isn’t trash strewn about, it’s Big Leaf Magnolia leaves!

We assume this is the “Devil’s Bathtub” that was mentioned on the sign when we started out.

Wait till you see the picture Blaine took!

We had to follow these orange painted rocks to stay on the path.

Sore muscles or not, I couldn’t just sit there, I had to climb around on the rocks to see what I could see!

Meanwhile, Blaine was a bit less adventurous and found an easier place to look around.
I’m actually on the other side of that large slanted rock, but we couldn’t see or hear each other.

On our way to the overlook. Easy steps, but we were tired of going uphill.
(Remember? We were down at the river bank?)
He was much faster than I was, and yelled down for me not to bother finishing the climb for the view.
I was happy to oblige! I certainly didn’t feel like I needed the exercise, plus we still had a long day ahead of us.

This was the view.
He couldn’t even see the waterfall.

Another view of the bathtub.
Things always take on a different perspective on the way back.

The rest of the day was spent revisiting places we’d been to a few years ago – the Panoramic Trail and Arch in Daniel Boone National Forest, and Yahoo Arch and Falls in Big South Fork National Park. They all looked completely different though because when we were here before, it was late Spring, so everything was green. Pretty then, but amazing now!

Driving to our next adventure.
More beautiful than words can describe!

I went under the arch to the other side.

We thought that rock formation looked like a gopher! Haha!

We’ve moved on and are on the way to Panoramic Point.

Blaine climbed up to the top of the arch. : )

I took this while I was waiting for him to come back.

Somewhere along the way, I got to thinking about a song I learned in Children’s Choir at the church I grew up in. It’s called “I Believe”, and I didn’t know it at the time, but it turns out that it was a fairly popular song written in the mid-fifties and performed by a guy named Frankie Laine. Anyway, as I was hiking, I was singing the song in my head and remembering Auntie (Mom’s sister) directing us – her graceful hands demonstrating how our voices were supposed to reflect the crescendo of a flower growing, or adding more drama as the song climaxed. I remember those things and can picture her as vividly as if a video were taken. I wonder if we ever sounded the way she heard us in her mind?

Our drive home was delayed by a passing train, and nearly stopped traffic on the expressway. By the time Blaine realized the traffic issue, we were already committed, so we just had to go along. Fortunately, it seemed to just be a construction slow down.