Who knew one should drive through Georgia en route from the sixth borough of New York City to Wyoming? Today I spent about 10-15 miles there on my way from North Carolina to Nashville. And why go to Asheville, NC on the way to Tennessee? To drive through the Smoky Mountains, of course! It was beautiful driving today from sun up to sundown and beyond. I started when night is darkest before dawn and didn’t arrive at my friend’s house until after dark. It was a long drive, but filled with me exclaiming to myself, God, Matilda Eloise, Priscilla, and Junea about how beautiful the scenery was. And who are Matilda Eloise, Priscilla, and Junea? Matilda Eloise is my car; and Priscilla and Junea are my house plants that I am taking to my new home. They are “prayer plants.” Their leaves “bow” and “rise” throughout the day as if they were praying.
I listened to blue grass music through Virginia. It seemed appropriate. I ate chicken and waffles in Asheville because that also seemed appropriate. I listened to Alabama, my favorite country band, sing about the Tennessee River as I drove beside a river in Tennessee. Once again, it seemed appropriate!
It rained during a lot of my drive through the Smokies and really slowed down traffic. It seemed that one pickup had tried to take a curve too fast in the rain. It was in the ditch with what seemed to be another pickup trying to get it out. After that, traffic moved much slower. None of the rest of us wanted to end up like them! Due to the rain, I didn’t get out and take pictures much. I did some, so that you would have an idea of what my views were. I found the view delightful in spite of the rain. Driving was much more difficult because of it though.
I have driven about 1,106 miles so far. (Remember I forgot to write down my exact starting mileage.) I am 777 miles closer to my destination than I was when I started; so in spite of visiting Georgia, I haven’t added that many miles to my journey. The next leg of my journey brings me further north than I would need to be, so I expect to go a bit more out of my way before arriving. I think I am going to take a scenic route through the Ozarks as well.
In other news, I had the fear of traffic laws put in me today. (haha). It strikes me as funny that sometimes traffic goes way over speed limit and other times significantly under for seemingly no reason. I have observed that going down mountains, traffic usually ends up being 10-15 mph over speed limit by the bottom of the hill. I have seen police observe traffic do this without pulling anyone over. I try to hang back a little, so that if they do pull someone over, it isn’t me.
Well, when I was trying to make up for the time lost during the rain and the roads were now dry and I was pretty much a solo car going down a hill, I was doing about 8-10 over the speed limit at the bottom of a hill. Blue lights started flashing in the oncoming traffic and it was clear they were turning around. I instantly figured it was me and just pulled over trying to figure out how to explain to the police that I would need a few minutes to access my registration and insurance in my glove compartment. Well, it wasn’t me; within a few minutes the blue lights zipped around me. It turned out it was an emergency vehicle and not a police anyway.
I decided that was that. I was going to take it as a warning and not go that much over anymore. At that point, the road was four lanes with a median in the center. In a few miles, it turned into a narrow two lane road. Shortly after that, traffic completely stopped in my direction. “Hmmmm,” I thought, “must be what those blue lights were for.” Sure enough, eventually after being entirely stopped for some time, we all crawled past several vehicles with flashing blue lights, which all seemed to be congregated around a solo motorcycle and driver, who seemed unharmed.
So that was all very exciting! I used the time stopped in traffic to put on my CD of Nitty Gritty Dirt Band hits. I pretended to be a teenager and blasted it so loud that I couldn’t hear myself sing. (I am not the greatest singer; it is nice not to hear myself. haha!) There is a huge difference between when I was a teenager and now though. Now my ears still hurt from the experience!
Somewhere in the Smoky Mountains as I slowly drove along a narrow two-lane part of the road, my stress dissolved. I felt peaceful and much more rested instead of exhausted and like I needed to hurry. Rain, mountains, rivers… all are great natural detox-ers.
God has divine plans to prosper me and keep me safe, to give me abundant life!
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