We’ve spent the past couple of days visiting Deb and Dwayne, some more friends of mine met through the internet, and still no axe murderers found. Hurrah!

Di and I got to hang out in Williamson, West Virginia, and explore the neighbourhood, which was great since all the trees are just starting to bloom and there are vibrant colours everywhere. Many trees are just beginning to get green tinges, whilst others are blooming shades of purple, yellow and white. Ironically, one of the most prolific trees we see is purple in colour, but called “redbud” apparently. All very odd, but definitely scenic to drive through.

West Virginia, we decided, was basically the section where the people of Kentucky, and the people of Virginia decided they’d had enough of going uphills. We did not realise how mountainous the entire state was, thinking it was only in sections. We also did not realise how keen the coal mining corporations are to do something about that, removing entire mountaintops and changing the look of places in a rather greedy fashion.

An interesting drive in the area, and we have no idea of exactly how we got there because we were being chauffered around, was to the Dingus (spelling?) Tunnel. It’s an old, one mile long railway tunnel that has been converted to a road. You drive from one end to the other inside a mountain where the walls and roof arch over you, finished in brick, with water dripping down from the roof. Being one mile long, it’s kind of hard to work out who has the right of way - there are no traffic lights - so you just put your headlights on high beam and charge in. Pretty impressive, and it got our vote for the best tunnel we’ve ever been in.

Back at the house, I decided to see if I could handle the hills and become an honourary hillbilly. Turns out that it’s unlikely I’ll get that title in a hurry - I was exhausted after clambering up the side of the mountain opposite Deb and Dwayne’s house. Mind you, it was not made easy by the fact that some parts of it were close to 50 degrees angle, and were covered in loose dry leaves on flat rocks, so you just took a step forward and slid 1-3 feet down the side of the hill. Still, got some good photos of odd rock formations, so it was worth it. Sort of. Still picking evil briar thorns out of my pants two days later…

Heading off from Williamson, we went to Kentucky - not hard to do since we were looking at the border out the back of the house. We stopped and tried to post a letter, but the post office we went to was closed for lunch. We went to another post office, but it too was closed for lunch. I finally found a third post office in another town just outside of Manchester, Kentucky and found the post mistress was mentally out to lunch.

I asked how much it would cost to send something to Australia. She didn’t know, since she’d never had that request before. She then looked at her electronic scales to see if they could solve the problem. She punched the button marked “Country Code” and it beeped once and brought up some text. Looking up at me with a hopeful expression, she tentatively said “Well, I got Afghanistan…” as though it would be okay since both countries started with the same letter.

After a couple of minutes of her not having the faintest idea of how to use the machine, I leaned over the counter, looked at the keypad upside down and instructed her which buttons would be the ones to press. It was clearly not a difficult machine if I was able to work it out upside down, but she was at a total loss.

We finally got to the bit where I had to decide which level of postage I wanted, and I was able to work out how to change the type from “1st Class” to other levels, but when I asked her how long it would take for each level to get to Australia, she didn’t know that either.

I grabbed my things and began to head out the door, looking for another post office in another town. As I was leaving, she called out that she hoped I found one that could help, and that she loved Australia and wanted to go there one day. It was all I could do to not call back it would be best if she didn’t try to mail herself there…

Reaching the town of Corbin, we went to the Cumberland Gap State Resort Park to see if we could spy a moonbow over the waterfall there. Apparently there is such a volume of mist coming over the falls that on full moons, and two nights before and after, a moonbow can be seen. We were there from 6:00pm - 10:45pm and didn’t see a thing. As we got back to where we were staying the night, about 20 miles away, we noticed the moon just creeping up over the horizon. We figured we must have missed it and it had gotten up early. Still, we decided that since the park closed at 3:00am, the moon would still not be high enough by then to see the moonbow and we slumbered.

Today, went to the KFC museum (also in Corbin). The AAA guide recommended a 30 minute minimum visit. We did it in four minutes. A rather pathetic gathering of Colonel Harland Sanders memorabilia shoved into a couple of wall displays and two glass cabinets. Still, it was free, so we didn’t lose any money. Plus, the fuel in the gas station next door was the cheapest in town, so it did not work out as a total loss.

Toured the Corvette assembly plant in Bowling Green, Kentucky today. Ironically, we were the fastest car on the road to get there since we thought we might miss it. Arrived at 1:02pm for the 1:00pm tour, and had to wait until 1:50pm until our group was ready to go through the factory. All very interesting to see the cars assembled but more interesting to see what a great deal the workers had.

They work 30 hours per week, and the shifts finish at 1:30pm and that’s it for the day. They are permitted to smoke anywhere they want (except in the cars). It seemed their union was really giving them a good deal. Assuming you wanted to smoke, of course, but still, a 30 hour week sounded pretty good working conditions anyway (says the guy on day 61 of his vacation).

Categories: Travel, Odyssey 2001