Back on the Road -- without my van
The last couple of trips in my van, there were things I could not do, or could only do with considerable difficulty, because I was in a tall, long vehicle. There were other things I couldn't do because my foot was injured. Unfortunately my foot is still an issue, but on this trip I'm in a regular car so that I can get around better in metropolitan areas.
I hit the road at 10:00 a.m. today, feeling a bit wound up from all the preparations, getting ready to drive a familiar stretch of road for the first hour and a half or so. Slightly wound up and slightly bored. At the first traffic light, a dragonfly darted around my car, reminding me to pay attention to the details of where I am, even if it's familiar. I started noticing the puffy white clouds, the different greens of the trees, and the joy of just being out on the road.
I stopped for lunch in Louisville and got back in my car, back in a "familiar territory" frame of mind. Before I started driving, two dragonflies darted around it for a moment -- another reminder to keep my attention in the present. 😀
Soon I embarked into unfamiliar territory -- the road to Frankfort. I've driven to Frankfort once before, the spring of my senior year of college, but it was from Bowling Green, not Louisville. I took that drive because I was planning to move from Kentucky to California and I was considering driving across the country to get there. The day I drove to Frankfort, I wanted to drive farther than usual to see how I liked it and I'd never been there, so on my day off I hit the road.
Just now I consulted Google maps and that test drive was over 300 miles round-trip and about 5 hours of driving. I remember liking the adventure of it, and I enjoying that amount of driving in a day. I mentioned what I was considering to at least one of my parents (my memory is a bit fuzzy on that point) and they both instantly snapped into high gear to convince me that driving was dangerous and a completely unacceptable option. They were so opposed to it that I didn't fight them. I accepted my father's offer of plane ticket, and my mother's offer to sell my car for me and send me the cash. It took me a few more decades to start taking long road trips, but look at me now. :^)
East of Louisville, the sky got cloudier and the land got hillier. In Frankfort it looked like it might rain, but it held off while I got out to take this photo of the state capitol from a lookout point:
It rained lightly off and East of Frankfort. Frequently, I found myself driving through a stretch of road where it had recently been raining hard -- almost no rain but lots of spray being kicked up by vehicles. Then just a few miles West of Morehead, my destination for the day, it started pouring. A few seconds later I saw a car spinning into the median from the other side of the divided highway, kicking up splashes as it went -- I tensed because I wasn't entirely sure it would miss me, but it stopped in the grass and I just kept driving along smoothly, untouched except for the after-effects of the adrenaline. I believe that other car just skidded and spun and never hit anything or turned over, so I'm hopeful that the worst anyone experienced was being shaken up a bit.
Coming out of that downpour, I saw misty hills and a dramatic sky with dark clouds, white clouds, and brilliant blue. I snapped this photo because it captures some of the beauty I saw. I couldn't stop to take a picture that showed more hills and mist in the valleys, but the hills here are striking:
After settling into the hotel in Morehead, I decided to drive into town. I've been dimly aware of Morehead since I was in college at Western Kentucky University. Morehead was in the same athletic conference as Western, so I'd see their name in the school paper and hear it on the university radio station. But I had no idea what part of the state it was in. I only picked Morehead as a place to stay tonight because of how many miles along the route it is, plus a tiny bit of curiosity dating back to college.
I'm really glad I did. It doesn't feel like any other college town I've ever visited. Its non-university population is only about 6,800, which is 400 less than Tell City (as of the 2010 census). The student enrollment is about 7,000 -- doubling the population during the school year. The streets are these narrow little things, some so narrow that they are one-way. The town is nestled between foothills of the Appalachian mountains.
Feuding plays a key part in the city's history and nearly led to its demise. If you're curious you can read about it here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rowan_County_War#
The clouds continued to put on a show for me. Too bad there were electric wires everywhere:
And then there were the pavers setting up for a barbecue on the tailgate of their truck in the hotel parking lot:
They were still out there gathered around the tailgate when I went to bed, and their rigs were gone when I looked out at 6:30 this morning.
I hit the road at 10:00 a.m. today, feeling a bit wound up from all the preparations, getting ready to drive a familiar stretch of road for the first hour and a half or so. Slightly wound up and slightly bored. At the first traffic light, a dragonfly darted around my car, reminding me to pay attention to the details of where I am, even if it's familiar. I started noticing the puffy white clouds, the different greens of the trees, and the joy of just being out on the road.
I stopped for lunch in Louisville and got back in my car, back in a "familiar territory" frame of mind. Before I started driving, two dragonflies darted around it for a moment -- another reminder to keep my attention in the present. 😀
Soon I embarked into unfamiliar territory -- the road to Frankfort. I've driven to Frankfort once before, the spring of my senior year of college, but it was from Bowling Green, not Louisville. I took that drive because I was planning to move from Kentucky to California and I was considering driving across the country to get there. The day I drove to Frankfort, I wanted to drive farther than usual to see how I liked it and I'd never been there, so on my day off I hit the road.
Just now I consulted Google maps and that test drive was over 300 miles round-trip and about 5 hours of driving. I remember liking the adventure of it, and I enjoying that amount of driving in a day. I mentioned what I was considering to at least one of my parents (my memory is a bit fuzzy on that point) and they both instantly snapped into high gear to convince me that driving was dangerous and a completely unacceptable option. They were so opposed to it that I didn't fight them. I accepted my father's offer of plane ticket, and my mother's offer to sell my car for me and send me the cash. It took me a few more decades to start taking long road trips, but look at me now. :^)
East of Louisville, the sky got cloudier and the land got hillier. In Frankfort it looked like it might rain, but it held off while I got out to take this photo of the state capitol from a lookout point:
It rained lightly off and East of Frankfort. Frequently, I found myself driving through a stretch of road where it had recently been raining hard -- almost no rain but lots of spray being kicked up by vehicles. Then just a few miles West of Morehead, my destination for the day, it started pouring. A few seconds later I saw a car spinning into the median from the other side of the divided highway, kicking up splashes as it went -- I tensed because I wasn't entirely sure it would miss me, but it stopped in the grass and I just kept driving along smoothly, untouched except for the after-effects of the adrenaline. I believe that other car just skidded and spun and never hit anything or turned over, so I'm hopeful that the worst anyone experienced was being shaken up a bit.
Coming out of that downpour, I saw misty hills and a dramatic sky with dark clouds, white clouds, and brilliant blue. I snapped this photo because it captures some of the beauty I saw. I couldn't stop to take a picture that showed more hills and mist in the valleys, but the hills here are striking:
After settling into the hotel in Morehead, I decided to drive into town. I've been dimly aware of Morehead since I was in college at Western Kentucky University. Morehead was in the same athletic conference as Western, so I'd see their name in the school paper and hear it on the university radio station. But I had no idea what part of the state it was in. I only picked Morehead as a place to stay tonight because of how many miles along the route it is, plus a tiny bit of curiosity dating back to college.
I'm really glad I did. It doesn't feel like any other college town I've ever visited. Its non-university population is only about 6,800, which is 400 less than Tell City (as of the 2010 census). The student enrollment is about 7,000 -- doubling the population during the school year. The streets are these narrow little things, some so narrow that they are one-way. The town is nestled between foothills of the Appalachian mountains.
Feuding plays a key part in the city's history and nearly led to its demise. If you're curious you can read about it here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rowan_County_War#
The clouds continued to put on a show for me. Too bad there were electric wires everywhere:
They were still out there gathered around the tailgate when I went to bed, and their rigs were gone when I looked out at 6:30 this morning.
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