Nevada and Utah photos complete

The photos from Nevada and Utah are now complete. New items include areas such as the drive to I-80 from Lamoille Canyon showing beautiful mountain and desert scenes as well as more scenes from the Temple Square area in Salt Lake City, UT.

October 2, 2008 - Small Cities in WV's Mountain Areas

I visited some small West Virginia cities in the mountains today. The scenery along US 119 is beautiful. There are a number of small unincorporated communities along the way. I recall driving this road last year and describing Walton as "a string of eight houses." Last year, I went by a bit too fast. (I had to get to southern WV before dark last spring.) This year, going a bit slower, I found Walton to be much more than a few houses. It had several houses, plus a bank, sheriff's substation, a Mexican restaurant, a library, and a couple of small stores. It was situated around a bend in the road.

There were other small communities like Speed. This could be described as a "string of around sixteen houses." Gandeeville was another one like that.


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Finally, I got to Spencer. This is a city of about 2,000 people along US 33. The houses are in the mountains and almost seem "stacked" on top of each other. They were getting ready for their Black Walnut Festival. It begins on October 8th. The city suddenly becomes crowded at that point.

I decided to see a little more of this area and stay an extra day. However, there are no chain hotels directly in Spencer or any of the other small cities. The only hotel in the area is very run down. I couldn't stay there (even the locals say it's bad), and besides, I couldn't use my points there. This week has been another freebie week. So, I had to go up to Mineral Wells, WV. This is a hotel I stayed at during my visit to WV last spring. It's a very nice hotel and only takes a reasonable amount of points.

Instead of going up to Mineral Wells via I-77, I decided to go up the back way. I also wanted to see the town of Reedy. I wanted to see Reedy last spring. Reedy is north of US 33. The GPS (last spring) kept taking me south of US 33 on dirt roads with warning signs saying they could wash away in a flood. Some of those roads were so narrow that I decided not to try them last year. And in the end, they would not have gotten me to my destination anyway.


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Reedy was a nice small town. It was mostly houses. The area is surrounded by beautiful mountasins.

Finding a hotel for Friday evening was an adventure. I wanted another freebie night. When I looked through the map of available hotels, it seems as though every one of them was booked solid....when I used the free night as my rate program. If I was willing to pay, it was a different story. Yet, the policy for freebie nights is "no blackout dates." I decided to call in the reservation. That worked and allowed me to get a $104 night for free.

We're told about the supposed bad economy. Yet, people are willing to pay over $100 for a hotel night (in an average hotel) in the fall, during the school year.

My hotel for the next evening would be in Martinsburg, WV. Martinsburg is in West Virginia's Eastern Panhandle. I would work my way east along US 33 until I got to Weston. From there, it would be just over three hours to Martinsburg. I could have stayed in a hotel room in western Maryland, but I had read some negative reports about the available hotels in Tripadvisor.

October 1, 2008: Huntington and Beckley, West Virginia

I forgot to note that I entered the Eastern Time Zone on September 28th, as I was working my way to the Shepherdsville, KY hotel.

Although I'm heading east, I drove west today by nine miles. I wanted to see the Carter Caves Resort Park. There are several caves. Some can be explored without a guide (for a fee). Others are guided. The two caves open outside of the summer tourist season are Cascade Cave and X Cave. From what I read, X Cave is a little smaller and involves a lot of stooping. If this was the beginning of my trip, I'd probably be up to it. (This was necessary in the Lewis and Clark Caverns in Montana.) But at this point, I'm getting tired of sightseeing, so I just want a nice, easy walk through a cave. Cascade Cave would be the one I'd tour.

I arrived at noon. I had a number of other things to do today and assumed this would be an hour long tour. Because the heavy tourist season is over, tours are limited. X Cave (the one I didn't want to see) was having a tour at 1pm. Cascade Cave (the one I wanted to see) was not having a tour until 2:30pm. This would not allow me enough time to do everything else I wanted to do. There is also practically nothing in the area other than a few antique shops. So, it would be a lot of driving if I decided to wait. Therefore, I decided to skip the cave tours today.

I headed east along I-64. I crossed into West Virginia and did some shopping in the Huntington (second largest city in WV) metro area. This area is a big shopping and city area indistinguishable from any other city I've seen.


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After that, my next stop was Beckley, WV. This is in southeastern WV. I wanted to visit Tamarack, which is an upscale shopping area selling goods made in West Virginia. They have lots of carvings made out of coal. They also have absolutely delicious food.

My hotel for the evening was in Charleston, the capital. The capitol dome is lighted up at night and looks beautiful from the interstate. I had gone southeast on I-64 to get to Beckley. So, I was doubling back northwest to get to Charleston.

September 30, 2008 - Moving Further East in Kentucky

Today was mostly devoted to driving further east. I stopped in the city of Pendleton and then worked my way to I-64. Along the way, I saw some beautiful Kentucky countryside.

I briefly stopped in Frankfort, KY, but did not get a chance to see the capitol building. I was rushed because I needed to get to Lexington, KY before 5pm.

My goal for Lexington was to see the grave of Henry Clay. Henry Clay was a former Speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives. He was also a Secretary of State and ran for President multiple times. He was one of the main founders of the Whig Party and vigorously opposed Andrew Jackson and Martin Van Buren (7th and 8th presidents). Clay and Jackson never liked each other, but he and Van Buren became somewhat friendly. Both expected to run against each other in the 1844 presidential campaign....but the Democrats decided against running Van Buren at the last minute.

Last year, I visited Lexington and saw a replica of Henry Clay's home, called Ashland. By the time I got to the cemetery, it was closed. This time, I got in just in time to see the huge monument. As I left, the guard was waiting to close up the gates. See the photos of the monument.

My destination for the evening was Grayson, KY. This is about thirty miles from the Kentucky/West Virginia border. Originally I planned to actually be in Huntington, WV by the evening. However, this hotel allowed me to save 4,000 points. So, I figured it was worth pushing the extra thirty miles to the next day.

As I drove to Grayson, I noticed a sign for the Carter Caves Resort Park. It was only about nine miles west of the hotel. I figured it may be worthwhile to see a cave in Kentucky the next day before I left the state.

September 29, 2008 - Indianapolis: President Benjamin Harrison's Home

I had chosen a hotel just outside Louisville since that's about two hours south of Indianapolis. Indianapolis is a large city (population of around 700,000). But I had 0one thing in mind for Indianapolis: visiting the home of the 23rd President, Benjamin Harrison. I also did not want to go all this way and leave Indiana as an unvisited state surrounded by visited states. At this point, the only Midwest state I did not visit was Iowa.

Last year, I was supposed to visit Benjamin Harrison's home. I had seen the home of his grandfather, William Henry Harrison (the 9th president) in Vincennes, IN, earlier that day. As far as I knew, Vincennes was in Central Time. When I got to Indianapolis, I did not realize I was in Eastern Time. I-70 was under massive reconstruction and miles of exits were closed. I did not have a GPS at that point. The home was off I-65. I-65 and I-70 ran together for three miles. I was in the wrong lane, missed the sign showing where they split, and ended up on I-70. With so many exits closed, I had no idea how to get back to the home. I had to get help from a gas station attendant just to get to I-74 in order to go to my next hotel.

Anyway, this year, everything went smoothly. I got to Harrison's home on time for a tour. The home is a large mansion on a double lot in the city of Indianapolis. Unlike most presidential homes, the home passed from the Harrison family directly to a foundation. The foundation was actually created by his heirs. Much of the furniture belonged to the Harrisons, though there were some period pieces.

It was a cloudy day. But on top of that, there was not much natural lighting in most of the rooms. Photographs were allowed, as long as the flash is not used. Therefore, the pictures are not so great. See the photos.

The tour focuses on how Harrison lived in the house but not much about Harrison himself. The guide explained that he was a warm, kindly, caring person. The historical record claims he was very cold and did not have much of a personality. He may have been warm and caring toward his family, but he was an unpopular president.

The Harrisons (William Henry and Benjamin) are the only case in U.S. history where a grandfaher and grandson served as president. Benjamin Harrison is also the only president to be sandwiched between two non-consecutive terms of another president. Harrison beat Grover Cleveland in the 1888 election. Harrison became the centennial president, inaugurated almost 100 years after George Washington. When the Clevelands left the White House, Mrs. Cleveland told the staff to take care of everything because they WOULD be back in four years. Her words proved to be correct as Cleveland defeated Harrison in the 1892 election. There were no term limits back then. Cleveland became unpopular in his second term and the Democrats abandoned him.

Benjamin Harrison was given a cane featuring profiles of every president, up to himself. Since Cleveland was his successor, it was technically accurate up to the president that came immediately after him. The cane is displayed in his study.

The home seemed to have quite a focus on William Henry Harrison. There were multiple paintings of him hanging on the walls. William Henry Harrison was president for only one month. He developed pneumonia and became the first president to die in office. His wife never even made it to the White House. She was in mourning because all but one of their children died before both her and the president. The only child to survive them was Benjamin Harrison's father.

The home was recently given an original invitation to the inauguration of William Henry Harrison. The home also contains the original cradles which were used for both Benjamin Harrison and his father.

The third floor serves as offices for the foundation and a display on presidential campaigns throughout history from the John Quincy Adams/Andrew Jackson election up to the 2004 Bush/Kerry election.

The barn contained Harrison's carriages and sleds. Another room in the barn contained a display on women's suffrage. See the photos.

After the tour ended, my destination was my next hotel in Carrollton, Kentucky. This was about two hours southeast of Indianapolis. I got out just before rush hour traffic (something I haven't dealt with since mid-August when I visited the West Coast).

I saw a lot of farmland and small towns along the way. Indiana is mostly flat. However, near the Indiana/Kentucky border, there are mountains on the Indiana side. Once I crossed into Kentucky, much of the driving was parallel to the Ohio River, which forms the border between Indiana and Kentucky.

Finally, I arrived in Carrollton. This was a fairly small town. I had begun to enjoy staying in new hotels. This one was okay, but it was definitely not new.

September 28, 2008 - Western Kentucky

There are a number of lakes a few miles away from Benton, KY, where I stayed. There is an area called the "Land Between the Lakes" nearby which has a large number of activities. I didn't have a lot of time to see much there. I was also losing interest as I am back to sightseeing overload. However, I did get a few photos.

I later visited a park in the Kentucky Dam Village. See the photos.

The rest of the trip was mostly making my way to the next hotel which as in Shepherdsville, KY. Much of the driving was via the Western Kentucky Parkway. I remember driving this last year when I visited Kentucky. However, last year I drove it in the dark so I missed much of the scenery. At this point the leaves are just starting to turn so it's very pretty.

Shepherdsville is just outside of Louisville, Kentucky's largest city. This hotel was even newer than the one in Marion, AR. It was only open for two weeks by the time I arrived. Again, I have to ask...what recession?


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September 27, 2008 - Southeast Missouri to Benton, Kentucky

Cotton
I wanted to see the countryside in southeast Missouri. I drove to Malden, MO, which allowed me to see a bit of the area. It was very nice. But what was most interesting was that I saw cotton growing on plants for the first time in my life. I have been to the south before but it's usually in the spring, likely before the cotton has come out. This is the first time I've been around farms in the south in the early fall. See the photos.

As I drove further, I noticed pieces of cotton all over the sides of the road just as we might see dandelion fuzz. They looked like cotton balls that were pulled apart. Of course, I decided this was a nice chance for a free souvenir. I helped clean up the environment a bit as well. :)

Mississippi River
I also wanted to see the Mississippi River. While I have crossed the Mississippi River on a bridge before (going from Wisconsin to Minnesota earlier in this trip) I wanted to have a chance to actually see the river for more than a couple of minutes. Additionally, there is a small piece of land that is part of Kentucky which is not attached to the rest of the state. It is bordered by Tennessee and Missouri. I stopped at a spot by the Mississippi River in MO where I could see that part of Kentucky from across the river. See the photos. See the map below and zoom out...


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Cape Girardeau and Sikeston
From there, I went to Cape Girardeau. I went to Mass at the Cathedral of St. Mary.

On the way up to Cape Girardeau along I-55, I saw signs for "throwed rolls" (yes, they wrote it that way). Apparently, Sikeston, MO is one of the few places where you can get these. I thought this was worth trying for dinner. Evidently this must be a popular place on a Saturday. By the time I got there, the parking lot was practically full and there were lots of people waiting outside the restaurant. From a loudspeaker, I found that the wait time would be forty minutes. I didn't have time for that. I found another restaurant (with no wait time) that specialized in southern cooked food.

On to Illinois
After dinner, I headed back to Cape Girardeau for a few minutes. Then I had to get to my destination, which was in Benton, Kentucky. I passed through southern IL (my only stop was at a grocery store). As I was driving through, I noticed a big deer waiting to cross. Thankfully, he stayed off the road while I passed.


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I passed Metropolis, IL as I approached the border with Kentucky. I visited that city last year. They have a giant Superman statue. This is far from the Metropolis in the Superman comic books. Parking is free on the main road and at least last year, gas stations did not even require customers to pay before pumping.

Kentucky
Once I got into Kentucky, I went through Paducah. I visited that city last year. Finally, I arrived in Benton, which is near a tourist area called the Land Between the Lakes. When I checked in, the hotel clerk provided me with two large bottles of water. That was very nice.