Cruising Through West Virginia

We got going at about 9am. It was a nice easy morning..no parasites and egg mcmuffins for breakfast. We decided to take the back roads through West Virginia for the first leg of the drive. We knew it would take much longer but it's about the journey and not the destination. Lexington Kentucky was our goal for the day and it didn't matter to us what time we got there.

West Virginia is the most densely wooded state we have been through thus far. They don't call them "the mountaineers" for nothing. The terrain and surrounding mountains are steep. The leads are pretty windy, it's a very good thing I brought motion sickness pills. We drove through miles of these small communities, some are named but I would not exactly call them towns but I guess they are. They have post offices and several churches, most look like less than a hundred people live there, but still these small hollows always have more than church, usually Methodist and or Baptist. Being Sunday morning we could see sometimes 4 to 6 cars and sometimes as many as 20 cars parked out back of the churches. This really is the bible belt. There are Jesus slogans everywhere you look. As Keith said with this much poverty alls they may have is their faith. There is extreme poverty. Really broken down mobile homes and houses that look as if they are ready to collapse but are clearly inhabited. Front porches and yards loaded with " stuff" I may think it's junk but to them it may be treasures. What I found interesting was that there many nice homes as well and they were not in separate areas. So we saw ramshackeled homes next to homes that were lovely and freshly painted with well tended yards. I could not help thinking what it would be like to grow up here. For sure everyone knows everyone else's business. If you were different in any way I imagine it would be difficult. On the other hand it is beautiful country and the closeness of the community could be a comfort during hard times.
Coal is king in West Virginia and we drove by many coal mines and coal processing plants. Huge mountains of the stuff and long shoots to transport it form the site to to where they did whatever it is they do to it. There are clear differences between Virginia and West Virginia. We saw tons of State Police in Virginia, as you know I met one myself. We saw none in WV . In Virginia the roads are pristine, in WV there is litter lining the roads. In Virginia they have really nice rest stops with clean bathrooms. In West Virginia we had to pull over and pee in the woods ( just keeping it real). The have and the have nots, sadly nothing new. Still natural beauty is everywhere there too.
As we pulled off the highway into Lexington Kentucky it started to pour down rain. Not just a regular downpour but heavy sideways rain where you could not see even with the windshield wipers going on full speed. I found our hotel without any drama and here we are. From the land of steep mountains to the gentle rolling hills of Kentucky, the journey continues. More on Kentucky next time. Till then...Hi Mom and Peace out.

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