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.

Leaping out of Metropolis in a Single Bound

Our stay at Harrah's was very nice and the accommodations was probably the best we had. Not being a particularly busy night we were stuck eating at their version of a diner. Priceline did a good job.

I am sucker for these historical signs and when I have to pass them I get this empty feeling, so I grabbed this one for no particular reason other than it was there. The sign does mention Father Marquette. He has a whole state park centered around him in Michigan as well. Guy must have been a LD rider.

Glad this guy was out in the field. MeAsWe is quite sensitive to these guys and can spot and smell them a mile away.

This is US 45 heading from Illinois to Kentucky. It was one long grated bridge.

We grabbed a ton of BBQ places today, something like 12 of em. This was the first one. The rest can be seen HERE.

We hit the road for The Land Between the Lakes. Highway 453 runs down the center of this area and is a really nice ride. We rode to the entrance of the Bison range, however motorcycles are not permitted. This was true out west as well. Bison can be mean son of bitches.

I didn't realize that Kentucky and the area once was home to Elk and Bison in big numbers. I figured this was a Dakota, Wyoming, Montana thing.

Crossed into Tennessee while still in the Land Between the Lakes

Not too far away is Fort Donelson National Battlefield. This shored up Tennessee for our National Park Tour. We spun around the park abit. This is where Ulysses S Grant established himself and earned the rank of major general.

At one of our stops MeAsWe spotted this guy

Grabbed another BBQ place, but this one will also satisfy the It's a Small World sidedish

Just over the border this cow got loose and was roaming the streets of Gutherie, KY

This sat right outside a BBQ joint and was an easy pick

After dilly dallying around we headed for Mammouth Cave. It was my guess we were not going to make the VC before closing. This will be the second time we have been to Mammouth Cave too late to tour the caves.

The roads leading out of Mammouth Cave heading east are beautiful.

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As we came out from under the canopy, we found ourselves in Amish farmland.

We stopped purposely to grab a scenic shot of a barn and the FJR. The horse and buggy just happened along and I snapped off the shot. Just a little up the road I slowed for another scenic shot. We were riding the right side of the road, right at a bend, planning to stop. Bounding around the corner, crossing the line well into the other lane, comes the red Ford Fiesta. All of this went into slow motion mode. I saw the kids face when he spotted us and immediately he hit the breaks. His front left tire began to fold under the car and I am sure the right wheel was off the ground between the force of the breaking and the force of just being into the curve. I would have swore he was going to flip the car, however I figured he would have rolled up into the bank and then flipped, which would have put us out of harms way. MeAsWe didn't have quite the same calculation as me and grabbed my arms about mid upper arm. Something was coming across the intercom, however I was not concentrating on what was being said. With her grabbing and pulling my arms into my body, essentially eliminated my ability to steer the bike any longer. It was over in probably 10 15 seconds. MeAsWe was noticeably shaken, I am sure the guy in the Fiesta has some stuff in his pants and me was happy to gain control back over the bike.

Not to neglect the USA Tour we stopped in Sonora, KY

Sun starting to set we headed into Danville, KY.

I have been saying we have been very successful with Priceline.com. To keep the world in balance there has to be some failures as well. The Super 8 Danville was the failure. The night before, I just couldn't make a hit on a hotel with a reduced priced. In frustration I just booked the Super 8 at the Priceline price. We have stayed at Super 8's many times and you get what you pay for. This one kinda of stands out. MeAsWe was laughing hysterically in the bathroom so I had to see what was up. She pointed to the shower head. There was a face cloth tightly wrapped around the shower head. I figured that didn't belong there so I untied and unwrapped it. Well, I was so wrong. The face cloth was the shower diffuser and was the owners fix to his/her problem. Give me a break a shower head at Walmart is what $8. Well this rendered the shower totally useless unless you wanted a hole blasted through you. Yes they had outstanding water pressure. Then there was the fix to the door and doorknob. And that's the rest of the story.

Kool puniehtyks stia drib, stia enalp on sti namrepus

Today we only have 1 National Park place to hit, otherwise it is a pure traveling day and grab some USA and BBQ places along the way. Last night (as I do every night, actually right around 4am) I log onto Priceline.com and snag a motel for our next night stop. This generally works out, I am sure I could get a cheaper price on the hotel if I wanted to hone my skills, but if I save somewhere between 30 and 40% I am happy. What Priceline does for us (more for MeAsWe) get us accommodations that are much nicer than if I would just get a place. Not that we don't get some flea bags, but in general they are pretty nice. Whats with the title, no my keyboard didn't go wild. The solution is at the bottom of the post.

Rolling out of Rolla  this sign was right outside our motel.

Did some USA pic taking

We pulled into Steelville, MO and they had a theme of canoes all over the place. It is reminiscent of Bennington, VT with their moose's. Called the Floating Capital of the World (their name, not mine) so they put up all these canoes I guess

In Cuba, MO grabbed this restore Phillips 66 gas station.

Amelia Earhart visited Cuba, so they painted a mural in her honor. They are more of these around Cuba.

Some views for the road

Just outside of Polosi MO

No signs of Eddie or Eva.

We hit St Genevieve, MO right around 230pm. St Genevieve is oldest permanent European settlement in Missouri. Guess there were Indians here before that. St Genevieve was here before Jefferson bought the place from the French on a distressed sale.

This is where we crossed the Mississippi

Our only scheduled stop today is Fort Kaskaskia to nab Illinois for the National Park Tour. For those looking for the stamp, it is in the office attached to the equipment barn as you get to the top of the hill from the entrance. It is seriously outdated for the year part of the stamp.

The Mississippi

Traveling along the Great River Rd

Just couldn't resist stopping here for another stamp. Ink comes in all different colors and sizes ya know.

In Jonesboro we stopped at Dixie's BBQ. Now nothing really significant about this place other than I needed a receipt for the 15 15 15 side dish for Smoke Chasing. So I get to talking with the girl at the counter, explaining what I want and there still was a puzzled look on her face. To make things simple, I ordered a pulled pork sandwich, but told her I just wanted the receipt and she could keep the sandwich. Again that puzzled look came on her face. I exited the joint with my receipt, some $5 or $6 short and I didn't even end up using the receipt. Makes me think of Nicholson in 5 Easy Pieces.

Reminds me of Newt during the Republican Debates

Not to neglect the Tour of Honor for the Wounded Warrior Project. King Neptune was a Navy mascot that helped raise 19,000,000 for the building of the battleship Illinois. That would be around 250,000,000 in today's bucks.

We finally pull into Metropolis, IL the home to Superman. This was an official declaration by the Illinois State legislature. Metropolis has an industry which converts uranium for use in nuclear power plants. Maybe it is kryptonite in disguise.

Our nighttime accommodations. This is actually a river boat, at least where the casino is.

Kool puniethyks, stia drib, stia enalp, on, sti namrepus, comes from 1969,  Room 339, Washington Hall, Ohio University during one of those memorable late nights.  It is Look up in the Sky, It's a bird, It's a plane, no, It's Superman, backwards. Hence the title.