Kentucky - Day 28 - Country Music Highway

Jenny Wiley State Resort Park
Monday, 28 October 2019

today's route

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Carter County where last night's campground sits is the site of the greatest concentration of caves in Kentucky - which is saying something when you think about Mammoth Cave, though I guess that just counts as one.  Anyway, I thought I'd heard of Saltpetre Cave, which there's one of here, but as far as I can tell from online research, this Saltpetre Cave is not the same as the Great Saltpetre Cave, farther south, though still in Kentucky.  This one, nonetheless, has some interesting history.  This link tells you about the various caves accessible from this park.   parks.ky.gov/parks/carter-caves

We had heavy fog that lingered until nearly 11:00 in some places today, including along the road I was driving.  And the road I had to take to leave the campground is a winding road that goes downhill to stream level, then climbs back uphill to the interstate.  A very narrow road but very pretty, with overhanging branches of leaves that were changing colors.  When light filtered through it was beautiful and very peaceful.

Google absolutely insisted that somewhere between the campground and the bridge across Big Sandy River to West Virginia, the interstate was a toll road.  I finally decided I didn’t believe them.  I researched as much as I knew how to learn about toll roads in Kentucky but could find not a hint of a toll being charged along this stretch of the road.  So I took a chance and proved Google wrong, yet again.  But I enjoyed the beautiful scenery again along that road.  Funny – I’ve driven that road on the other side of the border and don’t remember it being anything like as scenic as this side.  Across the river is Huntington, WV, and I stayed at a campground just a few miles from there and drove that road several times last year.  It was beautiful over there but not like this.  Yet I’d think it would be the same mountains on either side of the river and the same general topography so have no idea why there’d be such a difference.  Makes me wish I’d studied geology or geography before I began my trip.

I left the interstate for Route 23, known as the Country Music Highway, because along or near it are the homes or birthplaces of some of country music’s luminaries.  I somehow managed to see none of it.  I understand there’s a Country Music Highway Museum that may be in Paintsville and, though I stopped there for groceries and lunch, I didn’t see any indication of a museum.  Just wasn’t looking in the right direction, I guess.

I did see the turnoff to go to Butcher Holler, Loretta Lynn’s home in the tiny town of Van Lear, but I didn’t go see the home of “the world’s most famous coal miner’s daughter,” as a brochure termed it.  I actually like the music of her daughter, Crystal Gayle, better, and she too was born there.  But I don’t go to many birthplaces for people that weren’t US presidents, and this wasn’t an exception.

I passed the road to Jenny Wiley’s grave.  Since I’m staying in a state park named for her I should maybe explain that she was “a pioneer heroine who was held captive by the Indians for 9 months.  She managed to escape, reunited with her husband, and raised a family” in this area.  The quote is from a tourist brochure.  The state park brochure calls her a “brave pioneer woman,” though it doesn’t say why.  I haven’t bothered to look her up to see why she’s called a heroine, or even brave.  I thought this sort of thing happened from time to time back then.  Nobody says the “Indians” (no idea what tribe) mistreated her, or even that they used her as a slave which, let’s face it, pioneer white people were doing more than their fair share of with captive black people.  But she’s important around here.

I passed what sure looked like a nuclear power plant.

The Morehead NPR station started playing classical music, but I prefer the news programs and hunted around until I picked up a signal from an Ohio NPR station.  I’d be listening and suddenly, I’d hear nothing; then I’d hear the program again and suddenly, nothing. I finally correlated it to the mountains I was passing south of and figured they were blocking the signal.  I finally ran out of an NPR station altogether.  Fortunately, I enjoy most country music.

Yet again I had trouble finding the campground because the roads Google promised existed weren’t there.  They show them on their online maps, but they aren’t there in real life, and neither is anything else there that’s just labeled differently.  I finally ended up guessing and stumbled on the back entrance to the campground.  But I found it.

Of course, there wasn’t a ranger on duty when I got there and many of the campers had left.  In fact, it looked like several of them were packing up to leave for the season.  Fine by me.  Easier to walk the dogs.  And my campsite was somewhat more level this time, so that’s an improvement.