America’s most famous feud

I’m not exactly sure what I was expecting out of the Hatfield – McCoy Feud Driving Tour, but I thought I’d see a little more than historical markers.  We had heard from more than one source that the portion of the tour in West Virginia was best done with a four wheel drive vehicle, so we opted to only visit the sites around and in Pikeville, KY.  Kentucky is where the McCoy clan hailed from.

Pam and Stan had recently watched the Hatfield/McCoy Feud movie on the History Channel, but I had not.  This is probably why the tour was more rewarding for them than for me. 

Following the tour route pamphlet was not easy.  Of course, it didn’t help that there was a car show going on in town which meant that Main Street was totally blocked off.  So we missed two of the sites because we couldn’t get to them.

Eventually we found the McCoy house.  It is still standing and is presently an Italian Restaurant. 

The highlight to the tour was the Dils Cemetery.  I found it interesting that the tombstone engraver spelled the word feud incorrectly on the McCoy grave marker.  We had to walk up quite a few steps to get to this cemetery on the side of the mountain.  What with Stanley’s back, Pam’s painful knee, and my miserable hip, we looked like the walking wounded.    Of course the heat and humidity didn’t help one little bit. 

All good things must come to an end, and this morning Pam, Stan, and George pulled out of the campground to make their way back to the Chicago area.  Despite the awful temps at the beginning of the week, and the rain and thunder storms the last few days, I thoroughly enjoyed our time camping together.  It is such a treat for me to share some of my travels and adventures with someone to laugh with and talk to other than Emma.  I’m already looking forward to where we may meet next year.

As I spent the day getting things packed up for my departure tomorrow morning, I once again noticed one of the camp hosts pilfering through the garbage cans.  What is up with that?  He drives around to all of the cans each morning, pulls all of the garbage out, rips open each of the bags and rummages around in them.  Yuck!  I know he’s looking for aluminum cans, but wouldn’t it be easier to have an aluminum recycling bin?  He doesn’t even wear gloves!  It really grosses me out.  I can’t imagine that this is part of his required duties as a host.  If it is, I certainly wouldn’t volunteer here.  If I think about what could be in those bags it’s enough to turn my stomach.

Thanks for stopping by… talk to you later,  Judy

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

Faster than a speeding bullet! Able to leap tall buildings in a single bound!

It’s a bird!  It’s a plane!  It’s Super Emma when she sneaks past me out the door!  Doggone it, I haven’t had this problem with Emma in a couple of years, but when Pam knocked on the door this morning and I went out to talk to her, Emma shot past me like a rocket.  The race was on!  In two shakes of a lamb’s tail she was a quarter of a mile down the road of the campground.  Grrr.  I grabbed her leash and hobbled my way up to the entrance station.

Of course, she had already been there and blasted past it without a second glance.  People turned their heads and marveled at her speed.  Two young ladies ran after her, and a gentleman accompanied me up the hill to try to find her.  We all were just a distant memory for her.  She was no where to be seen.  The girls thought she went up the mountain through the woods.  I would expect that from her.  She is a wild child.

Eventually Stan and Pam had the bright idea to bring George along in our search.  George, the old smooth collie, is the love of Emma’s life even though he won’t have anything to do with her.  Sure enough, she soon came bolting down the road to slurp his face (he absolutely hates that).  I casually walked over and hooked her to the leash as she gave me a look that said, “What’s the matter Mom?  Why are you so upset?  I had fun!”

I was just relieved to have her back on the leash without her having caused too much chaos with folks who either don’t like or are afraid of dogs.  Phew!  It was not the beginning to the day that I had envisioned. 

After that little episode, Pam and I walked over to a canopy in the park where there was supposed to be an activity for making Tobacco Walking Sticks.  It was my idea to go there since I’ve been known to make a few diamond willow walking sticks in my time on the road.  It turned out to be an activity for kids in the park, and lots of kids showed up.  With only one recreation staff person and a few parents, it appeared they needed help with so many kids so I jumped in and helped a couple of youngsters with the task.  Soon after, Pam joined in as well.  We all had a good time, and all of the decorated walking sticks found new homes.

                                                                    “RIBBIT…” 

I got a kick out of this frog up at the lodge yesterday while we were waiting for our van tour to start.  It appears to be made out of two  wheelbarrows.

The lodge also has this very cool large quilt hanging on the wall.  You can see Jenny Wiley, Loretta Lynn, and Kentucky race horses depicted in some of the panels.  I’m not sure, but I’d guess that the Northern cardinal may be the state bird, and the state flower may also be represented.

An appropriately ‘green’ box houses a hand powered crank at the lodge.  You keep turning the crank after pushing one of the buttons, and an audio begins to play talking about one of the four things to see and do in the area.  I thought this was very cool, and let me tell you that it is a great way to build up the muscles in your arm!

Kind of a Hodge-podge of things tonight.  We didn’t do any touring today, but tomorrow we’re off to Pikesville to learn about the Hatfield/McCoy feud. 

Thanks for stopping by… talk to you later,  Judy

“The Marvelous Wonderettes”

After our adventure on the Country Music Highway yesterday, we headed back to the rigs for an early dinner.  It was my turn to cook.  I had started the frozen pork roast in the slow cooker before I went to bed on Monday, so I woke up to the tantalizing aroma of pork roast on Tuesday morning.  I had pulled the roast apart and let it simmer all day while we were gone.  I must say that my pulled pork sandwiches with homemade cole slaw really tasted good.

We ate early since we had reservations for the 6:30 pontoon boat cruise on Dewy Lake.  ($6.00)  It was a very relaxing one hour cruise.  The right side of the lake is managed by the Army Corps of Engineers, and we drifted past many of their boat accessible only campsites.  Wouldn’t those be nice places to stay if you owned a boat?

That lady on the left was born and raised on the mountain in the distance, and remembers having to leave at the age of five.  In order to protect the area from flooding, a dam was built and Dewy Lake was created.  That meant that communities and folks living in the lower areas had to vacate their homes.  There seems to be a common theme to the places I’ve visited lately.  The creation of things like the Blue Ridge Parkway, the Great Smoky Mountains National Park, and Dewy Lake all involved the removal of people from their ancestral homes for the greater good of the country and all citizens.  While I have enjoyed seeing the beauty of all of these places, I can’t help but sympathize with the sacrifices these people made. 

After all of the hot temperatures many of us have endured recently, this lake tour was a welcome relief.  The young captain of this cruise snapped this picture of Pam and myself as we made our way around the lake.

We were headed for the main lodge this morning for a free van tour of the state park.  It was worth about what we paid for it since we had already seen most of everything on our own in the last couple of days.  I’d recommend it if it’s the first day you are in the park, or if you are the type that doesn’t investigate things on you own.

The highlight of the day came after lunch when we went down near the park lodge to see the Jenny Wiley Theater presentation of “The Marvelous Wonderettes.”   ($20.00)  It was a musical originally produced for the New York Stage, and was a fun and entertaining afternoon.  The songs were from the 50’s and 60’s and depicted four high school seniors performing at their prom in 1958 and again at their 10 year reunion.  Photos were not allowed of the performance, so I had to settle for this hand held time exposure of the stage before it began. 

I felt it was money well spent, and truly enjoyed this live performance.  My feet were tapping, I was tempted to join in singing along, and though it was a little corny, I left with a smile on my face.  I can’t think of any other state parks I’ve been in that offered such an experience. 

We’re going to take a day off from touring tomorrow to relax a bit, but I may just attend an activity to make a walking stick.  We’ll see.

Thanks for stopping by… talk to you later,  Judy

The Country Music Highway adventure

US Highway 23 in eastern Kentucky is considered the Country Music Highway because so many famous country music singers came from the small towns along this road.  After breakfast and getting the dogs comfortable in the rigs, Stan, Pam, and I headed out to find the U.S. 23 Country Music Highway Museum near Paintsville, KY.  That doesn’t sound like much of an adventure, but along the way we saw a sign pointing to the childhood home of Loretta Lynn and Crystal Gayle.  So, off the highway we turned and that’s when the day’s adventure began.  We had a little booklet that said to follow the signs and look for a rock with Butcher Holler painted on it.

Sounds simple, but along the way we got lost for quite a few miles.  After about an hour, we finally gave up.  I had earlier commented on the seeming lack of road signs in Kentucky. 

It was just by a stroke of luck after several backtrackings and U-turns that we eventually happened upon the museum that we had originally set out to find.  ($4.00 entrance fee)  We figured that after visiting the museum, we could ask for better directions to Butcher Holler.

There was a neat map in the museum where you could hit the button of the singer you were interested in to see where they had lived along this highway.  The red arrow in the middle of the map is for Loretta Lynn and Crystal Gayle.  (I didn’t know before that they were sisters)

Besides Loretta Lynn and Crystal Gayle, many other country western stars came from this area such as Tom T. Hall, The Judds, Hylo Brown, Dwight Yoakam, Patty Loveless, Keith Whitley, Ricky Scaggs, and more.  There are quite a few displays of artifacts from each of the stars.  A sign says no pictures are allowed, but after talking to the lady working the museum, I was given permission to take these pictures.  I told her I wrote a travel blog, that I wouldn’t use a flash, and that I had no intention of selling these pictures.

She played a very interesting video for us of an interview with Loretta Lynn about the movie “Coal Miner’s Daughter” which depicted her life.  Perhaps you remember that movie starring Cissy Spacek?  I know I remembered it well.  We also asked this most exuberant museum worker about how to get to Loretta’s childhood home.  She went on and on with specific directions, and also supplied printed directions.  Cool beans, I thought.

Well, we followed those directions to a ‘T’, until we got to a little historical society building where we should stop for further help.  That building was closed, so we kept on driving.  The little back road got skinnier and skinnier, and after several miles, we decided we had better turn around.  This couldn’t possibly be right.  (no signs, of course)

Turning around wasn’t easy to do in these back hills, but I managed it as a car slowed to allow me to turn around.  The lady in the car rolled down her window, and shouted at me, “Just follow me!”  Alrighty then!  I turned around once again to follow an unknown women down a curvy, increasingly skinny road to who knows where.  Yep, all kinds of scenarios went through our heads as we got further and further into the back woods.  Then she stomped on her brakes, got out of the car, and came towards me.  She pointed off into the woods and said, “Do you see that hole?  It’s the entrance to the coal mine where the coal miner’s worked.”   She then hopped back into her car, and we headed off again.  Pam and I looked at each other in wonder as we figured out we had our own personal tour guide to Butcher Holler.  I couldn’t believe my luck!

She also stopped to show us the old schoolhouse/church that was used back in the days when there wasn’t this skinny little road, but only a railroad track to ship out the coal. 

Eventually we drove past the much looked for rock with Butcher Holler painted on it.  I found out there used to be signs, but people stole them.  They even stole the first rock.  That’s when they moved this bigger rock in.

This is the woman that came to our rescue and led us off that road right up a very steep gravel driveway to the childhood home. 

We would never have found it without her.  It turned out that she was a cousin of Loretta’s, and when she saw people that looked like they were lost, she guided them to their destination.  What a wonderful person.

Once we mounted the steps to the home, we were given a personal tour by Loretta Lynn’s brother!  ($5.00 fee)  Loretta Lynn and Crystal Gayle were two of eight children raised in this home.  Talking to both the brother and the cousin of these famous people was such a wonderful experience.  They are really down home folks, and made our day.  It brought me a real awareness of the hardships and perseverance of these back woods coal miners and their families.  What a history lesson it was.

I’m not a big country music fan, but today’s adventure made me appreciate the roots that go so deep and helped produce such classic’s as “Coal Miner’s Daughter.”  A truly memorable day.

                                                                               THE END

Thanks for stopping by… talk to you later,  Judy

What’s a State Resort Park?

I left Raccoon Valley SKP park by 9:20 on Sunday morning, and headed out for Jenny Wiley State Resort Park in Prestonsburg, Kentucky.  It was about a190 mile drive on one of the hottest days of the year. 

So, what constitutes a state resort park anyway?  I was about to find out.  I figured it just meant that there were lodging accommodations besides a campground.  Well, at this park there’s more than that.  There is a lodge, a campground, a restaurant, and lots of picnic sites, but this park also has a summer theatre. 

There’s also a marina where you can park your houseboat.  There are some very nice houseboats parked here right now.  They all have access to Dewy Lake.  You have to drive around the lake about five miles to get to the campground.  Along that drive, you will also see campsites that are only accessible by boat across the lake from the road.

Oddly enough, both rigs arrived within five minutes of each other.  How crazy is that?  Pam and Stan were coming from west of Lexington, KY, and I was driving up from Knoxville, TN.  That’s the first time that’s happened when we’ve decided to meet somewhere.

With the temps in triple digits, I about passed out getting set up.  Stanley wasn’t fairing much better than I.  The inside of the rig upon arrival was 99*.  My first mission was to get the electric hooked up and start the AC.  The humidity was up as well, and it felt like you could cut the air with a knife.  All of the clothes I was wearing were soaked through by the time I could sit down for a few moments in front of a fan.  Uf-Dah!  I was hoping it was going to be cooler here.

I sure should have been running the generator and AC while I was driving here, but it didn’t start getting bad until the last 100 miles of the journey, and there weren’t really any places for me to pull off and get it started.  It sure would have been an advantage to have a second person traveling with me.  I can turn on the generator from the driver’s seat, but I just wasn’t sure if I put the rig in cruise control that I could get up to turn the AC on. 

That drive here yesterday wore all of us out, so we just relaxed around the rigs for most of the day today.  Thunder storms rolled through last night with rain for a good share of the night.  That, and the cloud cover today kept temps down into the eighties.  What a welcome relief!

We did spend a couple of hours today taking a drive around this big park and buying tickets for the musical on Wednesday. 

We also visited the Dewy Lake Dam which was, of course, built by the Army Corps of Engineers.  On the other side of the dam, we couldn’t believe the beautiful park with multiple playgrounds for children, tennis courts, basketball courts, and a couple of huge picnic pavilions.  There isn’t a campground at this Corps park, or you can bet I would have been there.

While we were wandering around the state park, we picked up a copy of this week’s recreational opportunities.  Can you believe it is seven printed pages long?  Holy Mackerel there are lots of things for families to do here with many child centered activities.  I guess that’s another thing that makes it a State Resort Park.  We signed up for two things ourselves.  One is a pontoon boat ride ($6) tomorrow evening on Dewy Lake with an interpreter.  The other is a morning interpretive van tour of the park with the park’s naturalist (free).  They are also opening up the pool to us trailer trash on Sunday for a two hour free swim. 

After putting up my trucker’s antenna and plugging in my Wilson amplifier, I do have internet.  Pretty slow, but better than nothing.  I’ll see if I can publish this or not.

Thanks for stopping by… talk to you later,  Judy

Just a quick note

Well, the weatherman got it right again today.  With temps forecasted in the triple digits, I was out early this morning to get things ready for my departure tomorrow.  By the time I got the DISH packed, dumped the tanks, swept and rolled up the outside carpet, and put away everything from outside I was dripping wet.  I had to take my glasses off because they were fogged up and the sweat was pooling in them.  Goodness, it was sure hot and muggy!  All I have left for tomorrow is to unhook the utilities, pull in the slides, raise the levelers and hook up the toad. 

Since I’ll be spending the next week at Jenny Wiley State Park, Kentucky, in the Appalachian Mountains, I have no idea if I will have air card reception.  So, if you don’t hear from me, know that I’m just in an internet dead zone.  I looked up the forecast for that area, and after tomorrow, temps are supposed to cool some with highs only in the mid 80’s.  I can deal with that!

Now I’m off for a dip in the pool one last time.  Apparently, the pool at the state park is only for the use of the lodge guests.  What’s up with that?

Thanks for stopping by… talk to you later,  Judy