Monday, the 25th of April:
Late that afternoon I headed northeast to get
away from the storms that were coming. I
had planned to go north to Fleming Co, Kentucky, but the weather was looking
poor in that direction, so I picked up Interstate 65 to Nashville, circled it
on the south, and made it as far east as Gordonsville, before both daylight and
I gave out. It rained all night, but
that was fine with me. I was indoors and
ready for a good night’s sleep. The
Comfort Inn room was wonderful except for a high-pitched noise and beeps all
night long.
Tuesday the 26th.
The rain was driving me further and further
along; I wanted to get as close to the eastern side of Ohio as I could. I drove east, then north to Kentucky. I stopped to take pictures of the hill cuts made for the highway. I don't think I've ever seen coal in the ground like this:
I took
Highway 92 across the bottom of the state, through the Daniel Boone National
Forest. It was one of the loveliest
drives I’ve ever been on. Some day I
will make it to Kentucky and see the state, instead of always just passing
through.
Somewhere along the road I saw this barn.
I couldn't get close enough for a really good picture, and had to look up later, on the Internet, the reason for the pattern on the barn. I found information that said several states had set up Quilt Trails, including Kentucky, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Michigan, Indiana and Iowa. One site even had map showing counties to visit. That would make a good trip plan, wouldn't it!
I had settled on Huntington,
West Virginia, as my next stop - even though that wasn’t anywhere that I had planned
to be - just for a starting point into Ohio.
I stayed two nights in the Ramada just off I-40
in Huntington. Jets in the whirlpool
were broken, clerks all young fellas - very friendly and good service. My kind of tea in the room - Twinings. I hadn’t planned to stay two nights, but the
weather, again, had other ideas. I also
found several good reasons to stay.
Wednesday, the 27th:
I found a place called Heritage Farm and Museum
at Harveyville, which was just down the road from Huntington. A long, winding, narrow road. It is a reconstructed village and wonderful. Again, I had a personal tour of the place and
loved it.
It was an overcast day and comfortable for walking through the buildings and grounds, but eventually began to sprinkle.
The next day I spent an afternoon walking around PullmanSquare , drove around town looking at houses, and took it
easy. The Square has a bookstore - Empire Books and News - that
has more magazines for sale in one place than anywhere I’ve ever seen. Looked and looked and looked, but managed to keep my enthusiasm to only one magazine - Threads.
It was a good time to rest and I needed it
after all the many miles of unrelenting driving I had been doing. I re-evaluated my travel plans. The rains had been so heavy that there was
flooding in many of the places I had planned to visit. I was leery of crossing the Ohio River, which
was near flood stage by this time, in case I couldn’t get back across it. Yep, it was that bad. I figured I would just spend as much time in
Monroe and Belmont counties as I could, then head back and come through Indiana
and Iowa to do more research.
I had been
in Indiana many years ago, but didn’t do much other than in Logansport. I needed information and cemetery searches in
White and Carroll counties. That was my
new plan. I sure hated to miss the
eastern places I wanted to visit, but it wasn’t worth the anxiety.
