Thursday, May 24, 2012

Take Me Home, Country Roads

Today is almost a pure travel day to set up for our primary destination tomorrow. Miles are on the short side, but we will be hitting eastern Kentucky and into West Virginia, where there are no straight roads. WV is a great place to ride, unless you like sight seeing. Since their roads are so twisty, paying attention is mandatory, so looking around while piloting is not so good.

Danville redeeming itself for the Super 8 has 2 National Historic Landmarks. KSD was established as the Kentucky Asylum for the Tuition of the Deaf and Dumb on April 10, 1823. It was made a NHL in 1987.




Ephraim McDowell house was Declared a NHL in 1966, who found Centre College and performed some ground breaking surgeries in the early 1800's. In 1809 he removed a 22 pound ovarian cyst from Jane Todd. This was a first for the world.


This is the only BBQ joint we grabbed for the day. They are becoming less and less frequent.


The roads start to get a bit more twisty as we head east.

KY 15 right outside Natural Bridge State Resort Park
As we pull into Saylersville, we begin to see trees snapped like tooth picks. Apparently they had some real devastating tornadoes in March. Apparently this thing stayed on the ground for 95 miles.


Grabbed another NHL, Middle Creek National Battlefield. This is where James Garfield established his name.  This was a fight during the Civil War to maintain control over Kentucky.



Rolled into Allen, KY for a USA opportunity


A view from the cockpit

US 119 just outside Pikesville, KY
We hit Matewan WV right around 230, which sits right on the border of WV and KY at the confluence of the Tug Fork River and Mate Creek. This was suppose to be a NP stamp grab, however no one was around the train depot, even though it said OPEN. Matewan was in the heart of the Hatfield-McCoy feud and the Battle of Matewan, which was over union organizing in the early 1900's. Matewan was declared a NHL district.




From here we headed into the barn for the day.







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