The Eighth Wonder of the World?

With almost two days of solid rain, it has cut into our touring plans while at Jenny Wiley Resort State Park.  Pam and I did manage to get out for a couple of hours yesterday afternoon to drive to Pikeville, KY to visit the Big Sandy Heritage Center Museum.

This museum is a work in progress.  It’s located in the old train depot downtown, and has a conglomeration of artifacts that have yet to be displayed in the best way (in my opinion).  The gentleman that greets you as you enter is very enthusiastic and willing to talk about each and every little item that is located there.  Artifacts range from pioneer cabin furnishings, to portraits and info on the famous Hatfield and McCoy Feud family members, to a depiction of Daniel Boone entering the valley, to Civil War items, and lots of other stuff.  Pam found it very interesting.  Me, not so much.  I didn’t dislike it, but would like to see it again a few years down the road when everything isn’t in such a state of chaos.  (again, my opinion)

Stan opted to stay home for this little trip since skies were threatening, and their dog, George, goes berserk if there is any thunder or lightening.  Emma doesn’t like storms, but just hides and shakes.  George, on the other hand, gets very vocal and overly excited.  Pam and Stan didn’t want to take the chance of him disturbing the other campers or making a wreck of their rig; and yes, he has a thunder jacket.  It just doesn’t work for him.

The rain stopped by this morning, so the three of us headed back to Pikeville with two things on the agenda.  I wanted to see the Pikeville Cut Through Project, and we were all interested in the Hatfield McCoy Feud auto tour.

The Pikeville Cut Through Project was called the “Eighth Wonder of the World” by the New York Times when it was completed in 1987.  Apparently this Cut Through is considered an engineering marvel and a unique example of cooperation among agencies on a federal, state, and local level.  We eventually found our way to the top of Peach Orchard Mountain, and to this overlook of the “Cut”.

Before the Cut Through was engineered, Pikeville was subject to repeated flooding from the Sandy River.  A total of 18 million yards of earth were moved during the project.  The river was redirected, space was created for the four lane US 23 highway, a new railroad bed was laid, and Pikeville was protected from flooding.

You can see the diverted Sandy River in the bottom and all the layers of the mountain that were removed to create the cut.  The cut itself is over 1300 feet wide, 3700 feet long, and 526 feet deep.  It’s impressive, but I don’t know enough about engineering to know if it qualifies as the eight wonder of the world.

Our vote was for something much more ordinary as a real wonder, and here it is:

At the top of the mountain was what we think is the world’s best porta-potty!  This is definitely the Ritz Carlton of portable outhouses.  Let me tell you that this was the most deluxe and cleanest unit I have ever had the pleasure of visiting.  The inside was spacious with a sink with running water in a nicely appointed cabinet, mirror, commode, hand soap dispenser, paper towels to dry your hands, and absolutely no funky odors.  Did you notice the AC unit on top?   I’m talking about a really high class outhouse here.    About the only thing I could find wrong with it is that it is not wheelchair accessible.  (I can’t believe I’m giving an outhouse review, but it is what it is.)

As an aside, as I tried to make a collage of my pics of this marvelous rest spot, I chose to use the mosaic frame setting with this pic as the focal point.  I didn’t like the result so went to move one of the pics to a different location.  That’s when all the photos I’ve taken since I left Mississippi appeared surrounding the Loo.  I don’t know how that happened, but I decided to leave it since it kind of looked like bricks to me.  Every one of my memories since May 1 are depicted there in really small blocks.  Perhaps it highlights the eighth wonder of my travels in the last ten weeks?  (Well, with this internet reception, I couldn’t publish with all the little photos, so I had to change that.  )

I guess I’ll save the Hatfield McCoy feud for another post.  I sure hope there’s no rain tomorrow so I can dry out the rug outside before I pack up and leave here on Monday.

Thanks for stopping by… talk to you later,  Judy