Taking The Road Less Traveled

As a kid I loved reading about Daniel Boone and can still remember most of the story yet today. He had a wife Rebecca. He also had 10 children one of who's name was Rebecca. He had a daughter captured by the Indians. He had two sons killed by the Indians. He loved to take the road less traveled and in 1775 was hired to blaze a wilderness road through the Cumberland Gap. More than 200,000 pioneers eventually traveled west on that road. This past week our family visited his old stomping grounds and stayed in the Cumberland Gap Valley.

Thirty one of us ranging from 3 months to 60 years formed a wagon train with our pickups and haulers and headed for Kentucky and down into the Tennessee Smokey Mountains.

And just like the old days it wasn't without some troubles along the way. We had to fix a tire.

Also just like the old days we needed supplies and lots of them so what we didn't bring from home we stopped at the local trading post (Walmart) and loaded up.

Fortunately our cabins were already built and fully furnished. They were located on the edge of Norris Lake along Cove Creek. The lake backs into 5 counties.

The "Boone-der" kids enjoyed swimming all week. We had our own private dock. In the pic below several grandkids dared Uncle Kurt to try and dive through a small tube. You're welcome to ask a family member how the dare turned out. 

Late afternoons were for tubing and the kids had a blast challenging Uncle BJ to try and throw them off.

Back in the day Daniel Boone's sons were excellent marksmen. These guys were pretty good shots as well and every night after dark Mike and crew would take the boat, crank up the generator and lights, and go out on the lake and bow hunt for Carp, Gar, and Shad.

When Uncle Mike took the kids tubing he treated his nieces like young ladies and the nephews would enjoy his teasing and keeping them in line.

Mealtimes were special and everyone took turns cooking. The guys would help cook a big breakfast including eggs, sausage, bacon, biscuits and gravy, hash browns, pancakes, fruit, and cinnamon rolls. The gals would prepare sandwiches for the road for lunch time. Supper ranged from roast beef sundaes, grilled burgers, to pizza makers over a fire. Our devotion times were after meals.

Some of the natives (mostly friendly) told us about an eternal flame somewhere up in the mountains that never went out. Tennessee has no maps or trail signs so all we had was a GPS coordinate. Trouble was, there appeared to be no route to get there. Every morning after breakfast we would load up and head out on the Rangers.

Remember in all the old pioneer movies how the wagons would cross water and come out on the other side clean as a whistle. Believe me, it doesn't work that way.

Sometimes we would even have to unload our cargo and get pulled out by another wagon. Believe me these were roads less traveled and often times we didn't even know where they were going and would end up on a different side of the mountain.

One of our horses got a flat tire. So we stopped for lunch and tried to figure out what to do. We tried plugging the large hole with multiple tire plugs. No luck. We tried twisted bread bags. No go. We ended up driving on it flat the rest of the day with no troubles.

Crossing washed out trails also involved unloading most of the family first.  

The afternoons would get hot so sometimes we would stop at a river or creek to cool off, clean up, and relax.

Late in the afternoon on the third day we found the flame. After several dead ends we finally drove down a river a ways to get to it. And sure enough it was just a flame coming out of the ground high up in the wilderness with no main roads up to it. As we stood and observed it we wondered how long it has been burning. Jan threw a little water on it and to our horror it went out. Kurt quickly lit it again with his lighter and other than you folks, no one knows the difference.

I observed our family taking another road that gets traveled less and less these days and it made me thankful. That's the road of having a genuine interest and caring for others. I watched cousins share. On one occasion I watched as one took a toy another had been playing with and I heard the first say, "no worries. You may play with it." I watched grownups care for each others kids. We all enjoyed each others company and fellowship.

Some of you will remember my cousin Dave. He and his wife Janet live in Tennessee where Dave is a developer and general contractor. He and I grew up together for a while when our Dad's farmed together in the late 50s.

On our way home we stopped overnight in St. Louis where the girls did some shopping and the guys took care of the kids.

Our last road less traveled was unexpected. Karl had gotten sick and was needing IVs. We decided to go to the emergency room in St. Louis late at night. Wow, did we get our eyes opened. Three ambulances were unloading and there were at least 30 folks waiting for help inside. Most looked poor and needy. We were told we easily could have a 3 to 4 hour wait. Kristin, Karl, Malaki, and I drove home during the night and arrived at the Pella ER around 3am where Karl received the care he needed.

Just like the folks that settled our country 250 years ago our lives have peaks and valleys. As I observed those folks in the ER in St. Louis I'm so thankful for families with fathers and mothers. I'm thankful for children with work ethics and goals. Our leaders are succeeding in creating a dependent culture of folks who are taught they are entitled. Believe me, that outcome will not be pretty.