On Monday, April 29, we drove into Kentucky horse country! We had reservations at Denali Stud for a farm tour of their mare and foal nursery operation.
Our tour guide, Claire, is married to the original owner’s son. She did a comprehensive and personal tour where we were allowed to walk through barns and areas I never thought we’d be able to see. We fed the mares peppermints—their favorites—and got close to foals from one day to several months old. With their legs that stretch forever, even the foals seem to float gracefully on air when they trot and canter.
We camped for the next few days at the Kentucky Horse Park Campground just as folks started arriving on their way to the Kentucky Derby in nearby Louisville a few days from now.
Tuesday was a stormy day at the outset, perfect for a drive about an hour north to see the replica of Noah’s Ark at the Ark Encounter. The colossal ark was constructed to Biblical dimensions, and we spent most of the day there.
We enjoyed the displays and movies inside, which gave visitors much to think about. Next time we’re in the area, we’ll go to the nearby Creation Museum. It turned into a beautiful day and an excellent way to finish April, the first month of our summer adventure!
On May 1, Larry went to the campground office for discounted camper tickets for the Kentucky Horse Park. We walked from the campground to the museum when it opened at 9 am.
After the museum, we took the trolley ride with the draft horses and enjoyed the Hall of Champions show.
A large school group was there, so we navigated around them to the parade of breed shows and, finally, the draft horse presentation.
The horses were magnificent, and as a former horse owner, I truly enjoyed being back in the barns.
I can’t wait to share what we did on our last day in Kentucky!
The sentimental ballad, My Old Kentucky Home, by Stephen Foster, has been played before the start of the Kentucky Derby since 1921.
My Old Kentucky Home (updated)
The sun shines bright in the old Kentucky home,
Tis summer, the people are gay;
The corn-top’s ripe and the meadow’s in the bloom
While the birds make music all the day.
The young folks roll on the little cabin floor
All merry, all happy and bright;
By ‘n by hard times comes a knocking at the door
Then my old Kentucky home, Good-night!
Chorus:
Weep no more my lady.
Oh! Weep no more today!
We will sing one song
For my old Kentucky home
For the old Kentucky home, far away.
Thursday, May 2, was an exciting last day in Kentucky. We drove more than an hour to a neat activity I had found in the Red River Gorge called Gorge Underground Cave Tours. On this adventure, we explored a 100-year-old abandoned limestone mine. But wait! This flooded mine had been turned into a kayak (or SUP) adventure on crystal clear kayaks with LED lights! In the dark! Oh yes, we had a blast! The tour guides were very safe, informative, and entertaining as they guided us through the labyrinths of tunnels and pillars for almost 2 hours.
Below are photos from the tour company
Our photos in the dark are not quite as clear
This adventure will be hard to top! Afterward, we drove to nearby Natural Bridge State Park, where we rode the Skylift up to the hike across and under the Natural Bridge. The Skylift was a slow, peaceful chairlift up through the forest and almost vertically to the ridgeline.
We had Natural Bridge almost to ourselves, but it got busy as we left to drive the Red River Gorge Byway, with a brief lunch stop at this iconic pizza spot!
This 46-mile scenic drive wound through the Daniel Boone Forest, starting at the single lane one way 900 foot long 12 foot high Nada Tunnel. If a vehicle has already entered from the other side of the tunnel, you have to back up, which isn’t easy as the tunnel is narrow. Not that we have any experience 😬.
The Byway then follows the twists and turns of the Red River. I’m unsure if it’s the most scenic drive in Kentucky, but it is one of the curviest! We stopped to walk the Sky Bridge Trails above and below before settling into a first come, first serve campsite at Koomer Ridge USFS campground. The very nice campground host was even from Florida—such a small world!
What a way to finish out Kentucky—next up, West Virginia!!
We are not wandering east—there is a plan! Years ago, when we were contemplating Adventure 2.0, our youngest daughter gave us a map of the United States with stickers for each state. Anytime we spend the night in a state, we can put the sticker on the map. It is not sufficient to travel through the state! So here we are five years along, and there are five states we need to complete the map. West Virginia is State #1 of the last needed states we will incorporate into our travels this summer!
On Friday, we drove 111 miles for an airboat ride on the Tug River in the Hatfield and McCoy Feud area of Matewan, West Virginia. Our host gave us the area’s history and told us much about the Hatfields and McCoys.
He narrated through our headsets as the airboat skimmed over the water. Note: if you want sound on any of these videos tap the lower left corner.
The Tug River has a history of flooding, and it was the first time we have seen flood control walls with gates that close if rising water threatens to flood the town.
Matewan was also the area of the Coal Wars where the US bombed its citizens 🤔
We drove a short distance and checked into Mountain Top Adventures in Gilbert, West Virginia, for our side-by-side rental the next day. They showed us to our campsite in town, a full hook-up spot on a gravel lot, and promised to deliver our side-by-side the next day. We were glad to be in a level spot and not up the steep hill as I had feared. There was an active train track up the hill and across the street, but thankfully, it didn’t appear to run at night. Saturday, we were ready early for our side-by-side adventure. It began to rain before our side-by-side arrived!
The driver from Mountain Top Adventures gave us a short briefing, and we were off on our own. The rain pelted our faces as we drove to the start of the Rock House section of the famous Hatfield and McCoy Trail system.
We had quite a day, and Larry did a phenomenal job maneuvering in the wet clay. We visited the Hatfield Cemetery, a foggy overlook, and a waterfall before having lunch in the town of Man at Keith’s.
The road to Man includes the longest ATV bridge (it’s long, so here’s part of it)
After a delicious hamburger, we finished the 88+ miles, returning past a rock formation and high rock wall.
It was so wet that we didn’t see many other people on our route. That was a blessing, as crowded trails would have made travel much slower and more challenging. Plus, we could help wildlife get out of the way.
In town again, we rinsed off the side by side (What a muddy sight!), refueled it, and returned it to Mountain Top Adventures.
We put our very wet and muddy clothes in a garbage bag before showering, calling it a long but adventurous day. Larry did a fine job driving, and we agreed that the first experience in Hot Springs was a good introduction. These trails were much less steep and technical but much more slippery. On Sunday, we drove into Oak Hill, West Virginia, on scenic rural backroads that followed streams along steep West Virginia hills. We celebrated Mass at St Peter and Paul Catholic Church, where eight children received their first communion. The girls in their pretty white dresses brought back such fond and sweet memories of our girls. We found a nearby laundromat and washed clothes, first using the outdoor shower on the Ute to clean most of the mud from our rain jackets and pants from the day before. After resupplying at Walmart, we checked into The Outpost at New River Gorge, our home base for the next few days, while we explore the newest National Park.
According to our airboat driver, the governor of West Virginia eventually stepped in to order a halt of the open hostilities between the Hatfields and McCoys.The media was feeding the drama to an incredulous nation and the optics were bad for the state. The wealth from coal mining left the state, which arguably should be much richer from its resources, and coal miners continue to fight for fair treatment.
We spent four days exploring New River Gorge National Park, with our first stop at the Visitor Center to learn about the Park and plan our activities.
One afternoon, I had booked us on the Bridge Walk, where we walked the 24-inch catwalk 25 feet underneath the entire 3030-foot length of the 876-foot-high NRG bridge (that’s almost 3 Statue of Liberty’s tall!)
It was exhilarating to be so high above the Gorge yet so safe as we were harnessed and clipped on an overhead cable. Our fearless leader:
We enjoyed the bird’s eye view of the Gorge and would love to repeat it during fall colors.
Another day, we hiked 2 miles out to Diamond Point with a view of the Gorge and Endless Wall, but I must say the view from the Bridge Walk was hard to beat!
Larry drove the mostly one-lane gravel and paved road down the Gorge to tour the abandoned mine town of Nuttalburg. We were impressed by the old Coke ovens and the covered conveyor that ran from the closed mine at the top of the hill down to the tipple where the rail cars were loaded. The NPS did an excellent job with old photos explaining old foundations so you could see how it was when people lived there. Nuttalburg is a less visited area of the new Park, but an NPS ground crew was busy trimming and maintenance to prepare for summer visitors.
The Old Grist Mill at Babcock State Park was another fun stop at the second most photographed place in West Virginia!
On the third day, we headed to the Grandview area of the Park, where we hiked to the Turkey Spur Overlook and then below the rim on CastleRock and Grandview Rim Trails.
It was a delightful morning, and the rhododendrons are in full bloom in this section of the Park.
Many schools are taking advantage of the last week of school to bring students to the Park during the midday for field trips—they have so much energy to burn! For the afternoon, we went to the nearby Beckley Exhibition Coal Mine, where we took an excellent underground tour with Curt, a lifelong miner with experiences to share with us.
Though we have been on mine tours before, each one is different, and we are always learning something new.
There was also a tiny museum, miner homes, and a pioneer village.
My favorite little house:
A visit to the Thurmond Historic District involved driving down to the river, where there were a few buildings, including a cool train trestle and even a train on the active tracks.
Pumpernickel had a veterinary checkup where his bloodwork and exam revealed what we already knew but didn’t want to admit—that he is slowly failing. The veterinarian suggested treatment modifications, which seem to be helping his appetite.
We left on Friday with several short stops for errands such as fuel. Larry lucked into a 30-day, 30 cents off-a-gallon deal at Sheetz stations, so we’re hitting those as we travel this region. He’s also been using the Mudflaps app, which is nationwide and meant more for truckers, so for the discount he must use those lanes at fuel stations participating in the program. We ended our visit to the New River Gorge National Park with a stop at the Sandstone Visitor Center, where the floor maps the Gorge and River! Larry drove several hours on winding, narrow, two-lane roads to our campground for the next two nights. Although all the campsites appeared reserved, we had the Seven Mile Seneca State Park campground primarily for ourselves, and our site tucked into the very back was secluded. We walked a mile on the road back to the ranger station, where we found Wi-Fi and showers (and laundry if needed) for the next night. We spent the rest of the day prepping for our 80+ mile bike ride the next day, though we’ve already confirmed the return shuttle and consulted with a local bike shop about the rail to trail. We’ve charged up the batteries for the headsets and bikes, set out gear, filled the Camelbacks, and loaded the backpacks—fingers crossed that the weather holds!
Next we adventure on the tracks by bike and train.
John Denver nailed it when he sang, “West Virginia, Mountain Momma, take me home country roads.” We love West Virginia for its beauty and outdoor opportunities, but the many closely knit mountain ridges make for roads that follow the rivers and valleys running like thin ribbons between them. We take it slow, enjoy it, and figure the time it takes is at least double the miles on the route.
Greenbrier River Trail, Taggart Flyer, Blackwater Falls State Park, and Ryder John
May 15, 2024
Stop me if this sounds familiar, but we awoke early and left our campsite before dawn. We drove in the foggy cold morning (35 degrees!) to the nearby town of Cass, where we parked at the railroad station. Other cars and people were already there as they were participating in a foot race on the Allegheny Trail; fortunately, in the opposite direction we would be traveling. Larry put the bikes together, and we started our 88-mile journey on the Greenbrier Trail before 8 am.
The day proved epic in a “push yourself to your limits” sort of way. The weather was fickle, starting cold and foggy, warming into the 60s by lunch, then clouding with rain as we finished. The Rails to Trails is just that – a trail on a rail bed, so sometimes very narrow with steep drop-offs, which wasn’t a factor for the trains as they rode the rails. We saw many deer and bunnies, plus some evidence of bears. Sometimes, we rode alongside the Greenbrier River, often in the forest and also through a few towns.
We stopped about one-third of the way for a quick lunch at Rivertown Cafe in Marlinton. The egg and bacon burritos plus warm coffees were just the pick-me-up we needed. Both of us realized that 88 miles would be a stretch for us, rationing the two batteries on our e-bikes, finishing in time to meet the shuttle back to Cass, watching the weather, and making ourselves keep a brisk pace.
Larry was phenomenal without one complaint for the misadventure I’d inflicted on us. The last time we biked this far was along the Trail of the Couer d’Alenes several years ago. Our rumps were tired and muscles aching, but we wisely drank plenty of electrolyte water and ate salty snacks. We enjoyed the scenery, though having more time for stops would have been nice! We made it to the Caldwell Trailhead 20 minutes early, and our ride showed up 10 minutes early.
Whew!! He drove 90 minutes back to Cass, entertaining and enlightening us with local and personal history. Larry disassembled and loaded the bikes back into the RAM, finishing just as it started to pour. We drove to the ranger station near our campground and took the best hot showers in forever. Back at our campsite, we made a quick dinner and climbed into bed.
Sunday was not a day to sleep in as we needed to catch our train ride at 11 am, and it was at least a 1.5-hour drive away. We packed up and made it to Elkins early enough for a quick Walmart shopping trip and refueling the RAM at Sheetz. After backing the truck camper into a spot near the station where it wouldn’t be in the way, we checked in at the train station.
I had booked us a Mother’s Day ride from 11 am-3:30 pm to High Falls on the New Taggart Flyer in the Parlor Car.
The Parlor Car gave us a buffet lunch, one glass of wine, personal service, dessert, and free drinks.
It was so peaceful and lovely—we enjoyed the scenery this time as we weren’t biking.
Hey, we earned these yesterday!
I can say that it was a really, really beautiful day!
Both daughters touched base with me for Mother’s Day, and our youngest revealed that she was scheduled for a C-Section the next day as her son was still breech (like his older sister). So exciting!!
We camped just a short distance from the Elkins Train Depot at Stuart Recreation area, where we switched sites in the deserted campground from #9 to #26 as there was no way we could get anywhere near level on site #9. On Monday, we finally reserved a campsite in Schoodic Woods in Acadia for later this summer. We have been trying without success on our separate reservation accounts for over a week, but we each got a site that day! Larry’s site was better than the one I got, so we went with his reservation. We drove to Blackwater Falls State Park, where we walked to the Falls before hiking the Lindy Point trail, where a fellow hiker pointed out some wild lady slippers.
We’d been in touch with our son-in-law, who told us that eight-pound Ryder John had arrived, and both mother and baby were doing well. Another reason we came east this season was to be near them if they needed help, but the two West Pointers again have everything under control and are enjoying family bonding time.
We stayed at the nearby RestRite campground for a few days, hiked Elakala Falls, and found the Balanced Rock despite some missing trail markers.
Most importantly, we briefly chatted with our daughter and met our grandson!
Wow! Life is Good!
I have always thought that time was the sneakiest thief of all, as you are robbed of your most valuable resource slowly, insidiously, and without any recourse to recover it, but the birth of grandchildren is a magical, wondrous glimpse of eternity. Khalil Gibran said it best in one of my favorite poems:
On Parenting
Your children are not your children.
They are the sons and daughters of Life’s longing for itself.
They come through you but not from you.
And though they are with you, yet they belong not to you.
You may give them your love but not your thoughts,
For they have their own thoughts,
You may house their bodies but not their souls,
For their souls dwell in the house of tomorrow, which you cannot visit, not even in your dreams.
You may strive to be like them, but seek not to make them like you,
For life goes not backwards nor tarries with yesterday.
You are the bows from which your children as living arrows are sent forth.
The archer sees his mark on the path of the infinite, and He bends you with His might so that His arrows might go swift and far.
Let your bending in the archer’s hand be for gladness;
For even as He loves the arrow that flies, so He loves also the bow that is stable.
Flight 93 (in Pennsylvania), Harpers Ferry, Washington DC, and Shenandoah National Park
May 24, 2024
After leaving Blackwater Falls State Park, we moved north to Robert W Craig Army Corp of Engineer campground, about 39 miles, but with West Virginia roads, a winding trip that took almost 2 hours. We caught laundry and some shopping, and Larry changed the RAM’s engine oil on the way. As it was raining all day, this campsite was mainly just a stopover, but we had a great chat with the fellow who operates the little gift shop & store about families and camping at the park, which stays busy all summer. We wished our oldest daughter a happy birthday the following day!! The weather was better as we drove into Pennsylvania to the Flight 93 National Memorial Site. The first stop was the Tower of Voices, and though there wasn’t enough wind to make the chimes sing, we could watch a park video with the beautiful sounds.
We toured the thoughtfully and concisely presented Visitor Center. Two busloads of high schoolers were there, and a ranger was doing presentations for them at various locations in the park. We were genuinely impressed that the students were so respectful and well-behaved and pleased that they were here learning this history lesson. We walked the perimeter of Allie Trail with the 40 memorial groves, the trail of remembrance to the site of the first memorial, and the Memorial Plaza, where you could see the debris field, impact site, and wall of names before completing the loop with the Western Overlook Trail back to the visitor center complex.
It was very sobering to reflect on the courage of the passengers that day.
The Harpers Ferry KOA was our camping destination that night, and the staff at check-in were kind enough to let us change sites to one that was “almost” level for the two nights we were there.
On Friday, we left with plenty of time to get to the Czech Embassy in Washington, DC, and Larry picked up his Czech passport. After two long years of getting documents in multiple states and across the Atlantic, he officially has dual citizenship. This nod to his heritage will make international travel more accessible, but he mostly felt it honored his parents.
We got a great photo and picked up a bouquet before driving into Arlington National Cemetery. Yes, we drove in because Larry took the time to get a pass for relatives of those buried there. We found his parents’ gravesite and, like several other families we saw around the cemetery, spent several hours there on a blanket in the grass.
We lost track of time, so we ended up leaving Washington, DC, in midafternoon Friday traffic, which was less than ideal. The parking lot for the shuttle to Harpers Ferry National Park was right next to our campground, so we picked up the shuttle and rode into the downtown visitor center. We walked across the pedestrian bridge next to the train trestle, looked at the remains of a lock system, peeked into some of the older buildings, and hiked up the hill to Jefferson Rock.
Thomas Jefferson stood here and felt the magnificent view was worth crossing the Atlantic to see—if only he could have traveled with the Lewis and Clark Expedition he commissioned to see the Headwaters of the Missouri River at Three Forks!! (no graffiti, better view, and guaranteed goosebumps to be where they stood)
On Saturday, we went to the beginning of Skyline Drive in Shenandoah National Park in a solid drizzle.
We watched the movie at the Dickey Ridge Visitor Center and chatted with the rangers about hikes to do as we went south.
That night, we camped outside the park at the tranquil and basic USFS Elizabeth Furnace campground.
It was pretty foggy as we started the Skyline Drive the following day, but we hiked along part of the Appalachian Trail to Hogback Overlook, where the fog created its unique scenery.
At Elkwallow Wayside, we met Ranger Stephen for a talk about bears, and it turns out not only has he been at some of the same parks as we have, but last summer he was at Biggs Bosuch in Alaska, so we were probably in the same building halfway across the continent. Small world! We camped for two nights at Big Meadows, where the next day dawned with sunny blue skies, so we hiked up to the Hawksbill Summit for a stunning view to the west early enough to have it to ourselves.
We had lunch at the trailhead to Rapidan Camp before hiking downhill with three stream crossings to President Herbert Hoover’s version of Camp David.
Although we had signed up for a tour before we realized we’d signed up for the following Monday when the tours started, to our surprise, the volunteers were there, and Ada kindly gave us a tour.
It was fascinating to learn more about President Hoover and his wife, who were very philanthropic but, as Quakers, kept their charity quiet. The hike back was uphill and made for 28,000 steps, an 11.5-mile day. We started a clutch of turkey poults who were right on the trail, and mother hen did a great job of calling them to round them back up after they scattered. Back at camp, even the wildlife notice how good Larry keeps our rig looking!
The Big Meadows Museum was honest about how the park came about politically, with all the unfulfilled promises made to the inhabitants, land seizure, and the disturbing portrayal of the hard-working people as simple idiots to relocate them and take their land. In front of the building is a tribute to the CCC workers who did much of the work creating the park.
We hiked Dark Hollow Falls and camped at Lewis Mountain, where I did laundry while Larry changed the front shocks on the RAM. One of them had been leaking, so he put on Bilstein shocks and was astonished at how little recoil the original shocks had. Our ride should be a bit softer over potholes and train trestle transitions from here on!
On our hike around the Mountain, we found some wild yellow lady slippers, and although this is only the second time I’ve seen wild ones, they seemed even more delicate than their cultivated counterparts.
Before camping at Loft Mountain the next night, we hiked to some overlooks, including the Frazier Discovery Trail.
We must have reserved the bunny site as we had many little fluffy white-tailed visitors!
Pumpernickel rarely wants to go outside any longer, but he sat here after the bunnies left.
We finished Skyline Drive and, returning to civilization in Waynesboro, rotated the tires at Discount Tire. I got a haircut, we refueled the LP in the Ute, rinsed the rig, and picked up packages we’d sent ahead to Shenandoah Valley Campground. Campers love the many domesticated bunnies that roam freely here, but we most enjoyed a dip in their hot tubs after all the hiking! Now, we’ll head towards the coast.
The last stream crossing to Rapidan Camp was along a split log bridge that narrowed considerably at one end. After we had crossed the log on our return, a solo hiker chatted with us before starting to cross. She commented that she hoped the dizziness from her brain tumor wouldn’t make her fall off! We stayed to cheer her on to the other side and then completed our hike, inspired again by fellow adventurers’ resilience and courage.
For Memorial Day weekend, we headed to Newport News to review early American history. We gathered information at the Colonial Williamsburg visitor center and decided to tour the American Revolution Museum for several hours.
We spent a rainy day at the excellent museum, plus a tour of some period reenactments with characters from the military and farm life that included firing a flintlock.
Dried Tobacco leaves
Saturday was beautiful, so we visited Historic Jamestown and the Jamestown Settlement for most of the day.
Of course, we arrived early, and as we decided on the best parking spot, we noticed a sizeable fresh whole catfish on the pavement. Hmmm. The Settlement comprised a museum, village, fort, and three full-size replicas of the merchant ships that brought the colonists across the Atlantic. One of the period actors pointed out an active eagle nest in a loblolly pine tree in the Settlement, and suddenly, the fish in the parking lot made sense—it was probably accidentally dropped in flight!
The largest of the ships, the Susan Constant, is headed to Mystic Seaport in Connecticut in a few weeks for a re-fitting that will take several years. She may or may not arrive there before we do 😉. At Historic Jamestown, there was a museum on top of the original Statehouse ruins, Pocahontas and Captain John Smith statues, and some building foundations.
We toured Colonial Williamsburg on Sunday with period actors in some of the town’s buildings. A docent named Sean led a tour of the Governor’s Mansion, which was the highlight of our visit.
We also participated in a few mock trials at the Courthouse and toured the original Capitol.
At the Raleigh Tavern, we had a delicious molasses ginger cookie and then lunch at the DoG Street Cafe. This heat and humidity is brutal on us desert rats, so it was refreshing to eat and drink in air conditioning! On Memorial Day, we caught laundry very early before going to the Yorktown Monument, Museum, and historic Battlefield Drive.
This is a section of George Washington’s battlefield tent!
A diorama of the British surrender
The Battlefield had white flag markers visible from one location to another so you could envision the position of the British and American forces during the siege that won the Revolutionary War. It was a large area and more wooded than Vicksburg, so even after watching the movie at the museum it took a little more imagination to follow the battle. We toured the nearby Mariner’s Museum and Park, where artifacts and parts of the USS Monitor from the American Civil War were displayed, along with a full accounting of her history.
The museum includes ship figureheads and a fantastic collection of exquisite miniature ship models. There were several buildings to explore, including many different boat models from around the world, plus the Oracle Team USA 17, the yacht that won the 2013 America’s Cup.
Wouldn’t it be cool to ride around in a classic like this!
Afterwards, we drove down to First Landing State Park near Norfolk, Virginia, so named because this is where the Jamestown colonists first landed in 1607. We could easily walk to the beach on Chesapeake Bay from our campsite in the hammocks.
Although there is a military training center right next door, it was quiet when we were there. We spent Tuesday working on projects and planning the next day, where we drove 4 hours to visit our daughter and her family! I’d preordered and picked up a BBQ feast and also brought cupcakes from a nearby bakery to have a delightful picnic at a park where our granddaughter could play while we visited and held our new grandson. The drive back was on Cloud Nine, as spending time with family creates memories that bind us together! God Bless Larry for 8 hours of driving, though!
There are rare moments as we travel when I learn a backstory explaining something I previously accepted as vocabulary from a multigenerational military family. I had a relative who had little patience for indecision and would always say, “You may fire when ready, Gridley.”Now, thanks to the Mariner’s Museum, I know why!
My favorite little house:
