Day 42: West Virginia

Long Haul

Today was inadvertently my longest day.  When I switched Virginia and Kentucky around, I left myself with two options for today.  I could either go back the way I came yesterday and just push further into West Virginia, or I could drive up the east side of Kentucky and cross over to West Virginia.  Last night when I found that by going up the east side of Kentucky, I could follow the Country Music Highway, I had my answer. Since I drove down the Blues Highway back in Mississippi, it was destined that I drive up the Country Music Highway today.

I started the day before dawn and headed up through the coal towns before joining Highway 23. It passes though the birth places of Ricky Skaggs, Patty Loveless, The Judds, Chris Stapleton, Loretta Lynn, and that one hit wonder… Billy Ray Cyrus, among others.  The Highway has signs as you go, but you have to look fast to see whose hometown you just passed.  I stopped in Loretta Lynn’s hometown, I guess because of the movie “Coal Miner’s Daughter” they built a Highway 23 Country Music Museum there. It was closed on Monday’s, so back on the road again for me.

Even after 42 days, I can’t explain how excited I am every day to get back on the highway. At 5:00am I’m lying there in bed in a hotel in Kentucky, and all I can think of is, let’s get moving, I’ve got things to see. I know it’s it going to be all day in the car, but it’s all good, because there is all of this amazing history and scenery.

I stopped at a gas station in West Virginia this afternoon, as I was paying for a snack, a women who had pulled in at the same time as me, asked me where in Massachusetts I was from (she had seen my license plate) When I told her, she said she was originally from Maine.  I asked her where and she said a little town near Bangor, Dover-Foxcroft. Remember back to Day 2, Dover-Foxcroft was my first stop. Small World.

Song of the Day: Take Me Home Country Roads, John Denver

Podcast: How I built This: Lush Cosmetics

Book on Tape:  Finished Talking to Strangers. Why failure to Default to Truth is behind a lot of the Police encounters with African Americans that lead to violence. Also, why enhanced torture techniques used by the CIA can actually lead to getting the wrong information.

Beer of the Day: IPA, Big Timber Brewing

Total Miles: 630