A Tale of Two Mountains

After an early ride in the hunting preserve this morning, Herb and I grabbed lunch and headed out in the truck.  It's supposed to get down to 17° for the next couple of nights, and we needed to take some plumbing precautions at the Leahaven and East Brow  houses.  First, we headed up Lookout Mountain on the way to Leahaven.  (Lookout Mountain starts in Tennessee, runs a bit through Georgia near us, and ends up mostly in Alabama.)  Crossing over the top of Lookout Mountain in Georgia, we drove through a winter wonderland where every single branch of every tree was outlined in snow. 

The higher we went, the colder it got, going from 36° at home to 30° at the top of the mountain.  The road hadn't been plowed yet, and we were thankful for four-wheel drive as we drove through half frozen snow.  I had to laugh at the 55 mph speed limit sign!

Far more dangerous than the icy conditions were the idiots on the road-- like this one!  I've heard of walking by faith, but never of driving by faith!

At least this bad driver was off the road!

By now we had come down off Lookout Mountain, gone south on I-59 (where often one lane was obscured by snow despite 36° temperatures), and gone up Sand Mountain, where Leahaven is located, down to 32° temperatures and icy roads.

It took more than the usual hour to get to Leahaven this time, but we arrived safely to find a pristine one-tenth mile of untouched snow between the county road and the house.  Once again, we were thankful for four-wheel drive. 

After turning off the water at the main by the road, we turned on the kitchen faucet to drain the water from all of the pipes.  We turned up the heat a bit, did a few chores, and were ready to head out.

As I looked out across the beautiful snowy field in front of the house, I wished we had the horses there and could go for a ride--but we would never risk getting them there over such icy roads!

Once off Sand Mountain, we returned to a relatively balmy temperature of 36° all the way into Chattanooga until we started up the Tennessee side of Lookout Mountain.  Temperatures quickly dropped to 30° again as we drove through a beautiful frosty landscape.

The road was better here, and we could appreciate the view!

Our East Brow house looks lovely in the snow.  In the nine years we owned it, we never saw it with a snow like this, and we never will again since it will pass to new owners on Jan. 31.  We turned on a bathroom faucet to a trickle--a precaution we learned after several burst pipes.  No matter how well insulated they are, you can never be too safe!

This is one of the last times I'll enjoy this priceless view.  I'll miss it, as I'll miss this wonderful Victorian house--but the looming house across the street (which I cropped from the photo) is one reason I could leave and move to Zephyr Hill Farm.

On the way back home, driving in the valley alongside Lookout Mountain, it was fascinating to see the snow line above which the trees were shrouded in white.

Finally, four hours after we left, we arrived back home to our own priceless view in our own secluded valley with Lookout Mountain just peeking through the trees.  May our little corner of God's amazing creation long remain unspoiled by man.