Kentucky Backroads

Several weeks ago we decided to have a Sunday afternoon adventure so we drove down into Kentucky towards Lexington, to visit Shaker Village in Pleasant Hill. Well, we never quite made it to Pleasant Hill because we didn't have a map. Now stop laughing - you know we usually plan our trips really well, taking the NavMan, the big Atlas of the US, and individual state maps, not to mention MapQuest directions of all sorts. Well, we were in the new car which has no maps in the glove box yet and the brochure of Shaker Hill had NO specific directions on it. We realized that we were doomed to drive around the rolling hills of the Bluegrass State for hours when the locals at a gas station couldn't even agree on directions. So we made the best of it and came across all sorts of interesting little spots. We grabbed some sandwiches in Paint Lick, Ky. which was barely a town at all. Sweet Pea's Diner was actually an old general store / eatery with a number of customers who all seemed to know one another. We were obviously the out-siders, especially me with my camera. An odd feeling.

We drove across a bridge that spanned a rain-swollen muddy creek - this, I guess, is the redneck version of a dam? We couldn't quite figure out why anyone thought this would be effective. At first we thought it was a foot bridge that had collapsed, but no, it really was meant to stop debris in the creek. Time to call in the Army Corps of Engineers for Dam Building 101. Seriously.

Now one thing they seem to build really well in that part of Kentucky is stone walls. Miles and miles of stone walls, everywhere we turned. Quite old, I guess, but they're holding up much better than that dam. I was quite impressed with the workmanship - no cement holding the stone together, just all fit together like a puzzle. It must have taken stone masons a looooong time to build all those miles of stone walls. Awesome. Where do you suppose all those rocks came from, anyway?

Then came the 4 little ponies that were trotting down the side of the road, carefree and happy because they had just escaped from a field near by. I don't know anything about horses, but they were miniature something-or-another and they were SO cute! A man and lady were walking down the side of the road in hopes of catching them - I bet it took a while! These guys were enjoying their freedom. They had no fear of the road or the traffic so I hope they made it home safely.

Next we came upon a town where there was an old building facade that was being held up by support beams lest it come crashing down into the main street. What you can't really see is that the entire backside of the building has been demolished - you can see straight through the windows of the building into ... nothing! OK, dare I say it ... redneck architecture? Only in Kentucky. Evidently someone had the crazy idea to save the facade and build a new structure in behind it. Must be some cost-savings in the equation somewhere!

Somewhere along the way we came across this abandoned tunnel. The road used to go through it, but the pavement is almost overgrown now, and the interior is cool, creepy and dank. The newer portion of the road goes alongside it so it would be easy to miss as you fly by on the crazy curved road. When Chris put on the brakes to turn around and go back, I had no idea what I had missed.

Eventually we found our way back to I-75, and on the way we passed ... the entrance to Shaker Village. One of these days we'll go back, if I can convince Chris that we can really find it again.