No More Rambling

Saturday March 30,2013 5:34 PM Room 115 Quality Inn Huntington, WV

WHY are we staying here again--this town is the pits!  But I forgot we were here before until I saw the awful strip with the Strip Club down the street. Gawd!

But we started out in Beria, Ky with its College that is totally tuition free and only admits low income students. What a beautiful campus in a really lovely town--with a huge Boone Tavern where you can only get 1 oz worth of booze!! Hilarious!  Doesn't bother me at all, but don't think Bill would last long here--lol

How do I do these things?  Got us out of town and almost immediately on a two lane road wide enough for one and in the backwoods where the locals drive these curves and hills at 100's of miles per hour on the wrong side of the road!  Good heavens, the gray road yesterday wasn't this bad. Scenery beautiful, cutting through the mountains of eastern Ky, if only I could relax enough to enjoy it. What I did enjoy were the quilt patterns on those structures I could capture on the run--some just not at the right angle to the road, others behind obstructions that I couldn't shoot around while moving. But those I caught are really nice.

After passing through Big Hill on rte 21 we veered off to 499, black to begin with, gray and then black once more on the map. The black portion rode along the boundary of the Blue Grass Army Depot, where they were grazing quite a few cows and later, they were cultivating the fields. Good to see the Army is trying to make the best use of its land during this sequester. Soon we turned away from the depot and lost the yellow lines in the middle of the road but retained the white edge lines. When we became gray on the map, gone were the white lines and hairy became the drive. Bill, of course, wants to still drive 50 even though he doesn't know the roads--he therefore cannot relax when we meet an oncoming car and he has to reluctantly drive at 35-40, which sometimes seems to fast for me even then. LOL Promised myself that once we got back to civilization I would not choose such back roads again in Ky. It just isn't fun. So, once we reached Irvine and rte 52, I opted to take 89 to 82 and Clay City. They were still black roads--but shorter and through valleys to 460--a red road, a primary State road, which, to tell the truth, didn't seem any better than the secondary roads--lol

Wonder if they still have the Poppy Mountain Bluegrass Fest on the 3rd week-end in Sept in Morehead?? Surely, a very old sign, several trees back into the tree line--lol

Came to Frenchburg which had several old buildings on Old Campus Rd. Now, that would seem to indicate the presence of an old campus and the buildings certainly looked like those of an old institution of some type. But,not a historical sign in sight and no info on Google. So, a mystery! Nice building for the county seat but a run down place with no mention of its history. Emailed the mayor's office to ask about the strange buildings--we'll see if I get an answer.

Around Wellington we came to a huge gorge on the left side of the road and then to a pull off for Broke Leg Falls. Bill was going to go down the descending road into the gorge but it seemed eerie to me and then we began to really absorb our surroundings. The trees looked really strange all blown in one direction and then we noticed the ones lying down strangely. We could hear the water but not see it--there seemed to be too much debris. Then we decided a tornado must have gone through the gorge. Here is the gorge before:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hLcqOQpUHNA

and after

:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dpjV-BjV0gs

On into Ezel and the Kentucky cowboy and a Church that isn't Baptist!

And then into West Liberty!  490 winds and turns through the hills and, if you look at the map, West Liberty is on a direct eastern line with Broke Leg Falls and it doesn't take much to realize that the same tornado tore right through the downtown. I looked it up and the devastation happened on Mar 2 of last year.  We were on a ferry going across Mobile Bay on our way west. But my notes for Mar 3 talks about the devastating tornadoes that had ripped through Indiana, Illinois and Missouri the day before. Nothing about Kentucky but I said etc so I guess I knew about it. Here is a 6 minute video showing it happening. Don't think I could take such a video:

 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mf5IfK6qjg0

Headed north on Rt 7 out of West Liberty through very interesting strata.  We've been noticing coal deposits for a long time, but it looks like bituminous--soft and sulphur rich and dirty--not the best quality stuff. Also have been seeing pools and streams and rivers of a lovely milky blue or green, like light jade. Supposedly, this water is rich in CaCO 3 or limestone and that is what makes it such great water for bourbon--you know, the stuff that you can't get in most of these Ky counties--lol

As we passed through this last valley--with the dammed up Little Sandy forming Grayson Lake--we noticed lovely barns with painted murals on the sides. Guess artists will use whatever canvas is available. We soon came into Sandy Hook.

According to Wikipedia:  and the signs all along the road:

Sandy Hook is the hometown of country music singer Keith Whitley. A statue of Whitley playing his guitar can be seen in the local cemetery, and a local street was renamed "Keith Whitley Boulevard." Whitley is buried in the Spring Hill Cemetery in Nashville, Tennessee.
Sandy Hook is located in Elliott County, which is dry. Sandy Hook is also the location for the Little Sandy Correctional Complex, a medium security prison operated by the Kentucky Department of Corrections.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Keith_Whitley

Another sad celebrity story. Bill said he was as popular as George Strait and probably a millionaire. I didn't remember him but then played a couple of his utube stuff and actually, I do.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1GpXYKp7_Qw

Soon we arrived in Grayson where we picked up I 64,crossed the Big Sandy, entered West Virginia and rolled into the Quality Inn. Just as we did two years ago, we ordered Chinese in and it was good, but as usual we ordered too much--lol

Sated, with March Madness on the tube watching Marquette-Syracuse and Wichita St-Ohio St, another boring TV night. Think I'll watch something on Netflix. Bets called and is upset that we'll be home in two or three days without giving her more warning. How much of a pig sty did this kid make of our house?  But I could smack her--don't need her screaming at me.

She didn't want us home for Easter--said it doesn't mean that much to her--obviously, doesn't matter if it means that much to me--but she can just get her ass in gear and get ready for our arrival. Maybe she'll have to cut her visit to the Whitman's short tomorrow--too bad! 

Oh, well, will try not to let her ruin what has been a really nice trip. The rest of it will now be Interstates we've travelled before. It is just shoot home now, so I probably am finished with pictures and blogs for this year, unless something extraordinary happens. So, if this is the end, I'd like to say thanks for trailing along--it has been great having you with us. I'll let you know when the stage is leaving next year. Tootles, all! KandB