TN condo - 2

Passing through the Knoxville, TN area, we found plenty of autos in evidence and at one place there were about 5 westbound lanes. I was driving this area on cruise control as usual and my speed was near the posted limit, or so I thought. Suddenly I noticed that all five lanes of traffic were matching my speed, were backed up behind me and the road ahead was totally clear. It was then I saw, out of the corner of my eye, a police car slowly passing on my left – hence the reason for the traffic backup.

Glancing down at the speedometer, I realized that my speed control was set higher than I thought but was evidently within the lawman’s tolerance, because he shortly pulled across all lanes of traffic to stop a vehicle that was breaking away from the pack. That driver probably wondered why this bad thing was happening to them and not someone else. God will comfort us in our trouble, our fault or not, if we will ask Him, but we have to pay our own fines.

We continued on, making one more pit stop – gas is an expensive reality. We exited I-40 in the area of Crossville, TN and made our way the approximate 6 miles to the resort area. I found out later that they have about 500 units, loosely situated around at least one golf course and seven lakes. OB checked in and they supplied us with a map for our assigned unit. Our home for the next few days was about 3 miles away, tucked neatly among the trees and on the second floor of a building among several, with each containing about a dozen condos.

We unloaded our belongings, sat and chatted a while and from the foodstuffs brought by FSISIL, we scarfed down some hotdogs and chips. I may or may not have mentioned that I have been able to start back drinking hot tea, mostly the decaf varieties and occasionally the regular caffeinated types, as long as it’s not in the evening. After this we watched a bit of TV and I made the mistake of reclining back on the two-seater couch – I conked right out, tired from driving the 7-hour trip.

Arousing later, I discovered that I was the only one in the room. The Spice came back in to tell me that my bro and his spouse had already headed to bed – we were a bunch of live wires that night. We also retired and I arose early next morning to find myself the only one awake. We didn’t take a lot of time to explore the evening before, so I went out on the balcony in back to check out our surroundings. This second-floor deck overlooked a lawn backed up by an au natural area of trees and that bordered the driving range of the nearby golf course.

The scenery was great, but what I really drank in were the sounds of the morning. I could hear a piece of lawn care equipment on the far side of the golf course and occasional muted talking. There was the almost lonely sounding caw of a distant crow and occasional honking of geese that inhabit the green expanses of the course; I could just glimpse these latter through the trees as they walked on the driving range. I wondered if the golf balls ever hit any of those daring, yet silly, geese.

There were several other birdsongs but the closest one was very determined and continuous. Birds sing because it is the mating season, sing to mark their territory and sometimes just sing because they can. This bird would fit in the latter category and seemed to be singing to praise its Creator. We would do good to also praise our Maker in whatever ways we are talented. TBC ec