Day 1: Modern Marvels

We managed to leave the house at 4:15 this morning, only a few minutes after our scheduled time. After a prayer and a brief “open forum” concerning cell phone usage, we were on the way. Fortunately, social media usage is less restricted this time around because of changed culture and the fact that Daddy says Fowler and I are “more mature” than we were four years ago. Not sure about that, but thankful for free reign on the Blackberry.

We stopped north of Nashville for Hardee’s around six and continued on the way, making our first real stop in Lexington, Kentucky, at the University of Kentucky. One thing you should know about the way we travel: if the door’s open, we’re probably going to go through it. We waltzed right into the Commonwealth Stadium (KY’s football stadium) through an unlocked gate. We drove around campus and downtown Lexington as we made our way to the Rupp Arena. We walked on in there too. I was wearing my UofL Cardinal gear, so Daddy told me to walk behind him to avoid potential hostilities from any wildcat fans that might be lurking around there. The doors into the arena were all locked, but we saw a custodial crew coming out one of the doors. Daddy chased them down, and a nice supervisor named Larry let us in the arena. He told us it was built in the 1970s and seats 24,000. There was also a Subway in there somewhere because we could smell it.

We left Kentucky headed to Huntington, West Virginia, and the campus of Marshall University. We visited the campus bookstore, football field (again, walking through open gates into the stadium), and the memorial to those lost in the airline tragedy of 1970.



The next stop was Charleston to visit the state capitol of West Virginia. We went inside to check out the dome and governor’s reception before getting back in the car and proceeding on to New River Gorge.

The New River is one of our “National Rivers,” and the bridge crossing it is the longest arched bridge in the western hemisphere. It’s huge. The gorge itself is massive and beautiful, with white-water rapid riders on the river running through it. “Gorge-ous” if you will. We arrived at 5:06, which happened to be six minutes after the Visitor Center closed, but were able to explore on our own. Mom thought it all very “rustic,” and we decided the Xterra was the right choice for the narrow, rough, winding roads going down into the gorge.



After twelve hours of travel, Daddy was certainly getting on our nerves. He left us no choice…

Anyway, we knew if we wanted our driver and credit card holder back, we’d better reevaluate the situation. We headed back up to the top of the gorge and went on our way. Turns out, workers have been pouring into West Virginia drilling for oil, and the hotels were filled. Classic problem of no room in the inns. After calling chain after chain, we finally found a place in Frostburg, Maryland, and decided to call it a night. Tomorrow, Pennsylvania!