How to Take a Vacation.....or Not!

Near the end of July, JR and I took a little vacation through the beautiful hills and mountains of Tennessee, Kentucky, West Virginia, Maryland and Pennsylvania.  I have only one thing to say about leaving on vacation......make sure you are over the "intestinal bug" that previously kept you anchored to the toilet for three days.  And make sure you go to the doctor before leaving on vacation just to make sure you don't have some kind of parasite that needs medication.  Of course, you can be a complete "air head" like me and determine you are well enough to travel only to be hit in the gut four days into the trip with the same intestinal problem that plagued you previously.  Needless to say, my camera was not utilized as much as I would have wished since you can only creatively photograph so many restrooms before going crazy!!  I did manage to take a few pictures so here are a few highlights from our "vacation that wasn't".......(Yes, I know this post is nearly 3 months delayed but so goes the crazy life on a farm!)

I love the excitement of preparing for a trip....I kind of go crazy researching places that we might want to stop at just in case we are passing nearby......

This picture shows the location of Cabela stores - a must stop if you are in the area - even if you are not into hunting or fishing.  The displays are fabulous!  I keep a picture on my phone -  just in case.

I also photograph images of intersections just in case we have lost our way or need a place to eat and sleep....This is as important as keeping a box in the car stocked with necessities....paper towels, toilet paper, cups, alka seltza, snacks, band aids, water.....and the list goes on and on.  I am nothing if not prepared!!

Once on the road, I photograph our rental vehicle just in case it's stolen.  Then I send a picture to Meme T and Papa G and say, "Hey, look what we are driving!"  JR and I usually rent a vehicle on long road trips so we don't have to worry about breaking down a million miles from home!

Whenever we stop for gas or food, or just to stretch our legs, I peruse the souvenir shops looking for the perfect gift.  I definitely had to tuck this shirt in our suitcase for "The Little Cowboy"!   

  

JR tried to tuck this pretty blue tractor in the suitcase but it wouldn't fit!!  And yes, I have a file full of tractor pictures that JR contemplated purchasing.    

I take tons of pictures while we are driving just in case we get lost. If we do have to backtrack, I can always look back and say....."Yes, we have passed this way before".... (How poetic is that?!) This picture shows the  Daniel Boone Parkway in West Virginia - a rather desolate and isolated mountainous area. (Which comes in handy if you have to pull off and use the "porta potty" in a hurry - but no, I won't go there!)

Here we stopped to stretch our legs on top of a hillside one late afternoon.  

Beautiful blue skies!  Maryland has some picturesque farming country.....

.....as does Pennsylvania.  This picture was taken not so far from the family farm where we stopped to look at a tractor.....and purchased the darn thing!!  And that's all I am going to say about that except somehow that darned tractor was going to have to be shipped to Alabama!   

This was a quaint, little town squeezed in among the Pennsylvania farms.

This picture was taken in a nearly deserted town in western West Virginia.   The streets were extremely narrow and some porches hung over the streets.  Most homes and storefronts were empty with few cars in sight.  We wound up in this bygone area by taking a wrong turn, and then another wrong turn, and then another wrong turn until we were totally lost and turned around!!  However, this "ghost town" once boasted over 30,000 people but due to the decline in mining, now holds only about 3,500 folks of which 55 are attorneys.  ???  (This was told to us by an "old timer" sitting on one of the porches that precariously edged out over the road.  Scared me to death to see those folks sitting on those rotting decks waiting for the BIG CRASH!)

Having watched the Hatfield and McCoy miniseries on TV, nothing would do but for us to hunt down the graveyard where Devil Ansel Hatfield was buried.  This part of West Virginia was once wild and wicked!

No vehicles of any kind were allowed to enter the Hatfield cemetery.  No golf carts, no four-wheelers, no jeeps, no anything with wheels!!

A peek into the past....

I imagine, at one time, this creek was the main water source for this tiny community.

The trek to the cemetery was up a steep, gravelly path...I know this path does not look steep but trust me, it was!

And surprise!  What did we discover when we got to the top?  - NOTHING!!  Only then did we find out we had to go up an even steeper, gravelly path for another ten or twenty miles!!  Or so it seemed.    

Finally, after a climb that makes Mt. Everest look like pea soup, we reached the top.  No, I should say, I reached the top.  JR decided that my pictures would satisfy his curiosity and that "Old Devil" was not worth the sweat and tears!

There is OLD DEVIL HATFIELD himself, carved in stone, presiding over his cemetery.

In addition to the main cemetery, several beaten paths led off  through the woods with gravestones sprinkled here and there.  Might I add that this is not a place you would want to wander about on a dark, stormy night.  Or any night for that matter!!

I climbed a bit further up the hill - I mean mountain - to snap this photo.

Alas, as I started down the mountain side, there was JR waiting patiently in the shade.  Did I mention the temperature was about 95 degrees?  It was!!  Only part of me made it back to our vehicle.  The rest melted and will forever be part of  "Old Devil's" cemetery.

As we descended "Mt. Everest Jr.", the rooftop of an old, abandoned church could be seen to the north.  Maybe it was to the south.  Or the east.  I was a bit lightheaded by then and gasping for water!  Anyway, legend has it that "Devil Ansel" became a preacher in his later years trying to right the wrongs of his family history.  

I hope someday the old church is restored and music once again rings out across the mountain tops.

And this my friends, is what I ate once we entered Alabama territory two days later!  Not being able to eat for the past four days gave me a powerful appetite.  I promised myself that if I made it home to Alabama without having to make a "quick stop" within the past 6 hours, I was going to eat whatever I could stuff in my mouth!  I had been dreaming about a McDonald's "frappe" and a chicken sandwich.  Pure delicious junk food!!  But hey, I had them hold the mayo and it was GRILLED CHICKEN so it didn't count against me!

Coming soon: Our yearly trip to the Pumpkin Patch.  Yes, it is October!!  That wonderful month when the heat and humidity migrates further south and the air is full of autumn scents.  

Hunting for the perfect pumpkin,
Dee Dee