Wedding Ride - Summer of 2013 - On to Dodge City

I enjoyed a good couple of days hanging out in Denver with my club brothers.  Stretch’s wedding was on a Saturday night and I managed to keep the partying to a respectable level given my plan was to be up and on the road by 6 the next morning.  I had a relatively short day planned riding from Denver to Dodge City, Kansas (365 miles), but I had a lot of things I wanted to see along the way.

Dodge City was on my stop list because, well, it’s Dodge City.  The fictional home of Marshall Dillon and Miss Kitty.  The cowboy in me insisted I needed to stop in for a visit.  Assuming I got to Dodge City early enough, I'd be able to wander around town before the sun went down.

I only had to do about 80 miles of interstate to start the day and after that I was good to go on US highways, mostly two lane, from Limon, Colorado to Dodge City.  I left I-70 and headed south on US-287 across the plains of eastern Colorado.  As I passed through the small town of Hugo, I noticed another sculpture sitting in front of the local bank.  I decided to make a U-turn and go back and check it out since it looked pretty cool as I past it.

I’m glad I did.  It turned out to be another impressive sculpture by Charlie Norton (the same sculptor who created the Buffalo Bill sculpture in Oakley, Kansas).  This one was called “The Partners” and was a monument to the way of life on the plains and how neighbors, even though maybe separated by miles, helped each other when they needed it.  As I've now come to expect from Charlie Norton, the detail in the sculpture is incredible. 

"The Partners" depicts a male and female rancher holding a newborn calf while their faithful dog stands watch for predators on the plains.

From Hugo, I continued south on US-287 to Kit Carson.  I used my instincts again to draw me to my next stop which was the Trading Post Restaurant.  I noticed the parking lot was full of pickup trucks.  That's always a good sign, particularly in the morning when you’re looking for breakfast.  I pulled in and ordered my usual, biscuits and gravy.

I have never gone wrong when I have stopped at a restaurant with pickup trucks filling the parking lot.  The Trading Post proved to be another good stop.

I know you've seen this shot before, but biscuits and gravy looks pretty much the same wherever you get it.  However, this is actually my breakfast at the Trading Post.

After leaving Kit Carson, I noticed some signs on US-287 referencing Sand Creek Massacre National Historic Site.  I checked the map, but felt it was a little too far off my route to go visit.  Plus, to get there would include five or six miles of dirt road and that's just not fun on a Harley.  Still, it piqued my interest, so I looked into it to find out what happened here.  

The Sand Creek Massacre was an atrocity that occurred during the Indian Wars on November 29, 1864.  A force of 700 men from the 1st and 3rd Colorado Cavalry and the 1st Regiment New Mexico Volunteer Cavalry under the command of Colonel John Chivington attacked a campsite of Cheyenne and Arapaho Indians.  Two officers, commanding the 1st Colorado Cavalry companies D and K, refused to follow Chivington's order and told their men to hold fire.  Chivington's remaining soldiers massacred many of the campsite's inhabitants.  Historian Alan Brinkley wrote that 133 Indians were killed, 105 of whom were women and children.  Kind of makes you think maybe the white man entering the plains states in the 1860's knew a little about terrorism techniques too.

A few more miles on US-287 and I connected with US-50 and headed east.  I always enjoy getting on US-50.  It runs from Ocean City, Maryland to San Francisco, California.  It passes about 7 miles north of my home in Virginia, so anytime I’m on it, from anywhere in the country, I feel like I’m close to home.  I’ve ridden it from Ocean City to St. Louis, Missouri and then various parts of it west of St. Louis in Kansas and Colorado.

I keep thinking I’ll do a cross country ride across US-50 one of these days.  I really want to do the stretch in Nevada that’s called “The Loneliest Road in America”.  Plus, the stretch in central and western Colorado travels through some of the most scenic areas in the country including Royal Gorge, Monarch Pass (over the Continental Divide) and Gunnison, just to name a few.

I made a stop in Lamar to top off the gas tank.  While I was there I wanted to check out a building made of petrified wood.  I snapped a couple of pictures of that building and then rode a few more blocks to the Lamar Train Depot.  The Depot sits in a picturesque park called “Enchanted Forest” and serves as home to the Colorado Welcome Center and Lamar Chamber of Commerce as well as the station for Amtrak's Southwest Chief passenger train.

Lamar's petrified wood building was built by lumber dealer W. G. Brown in 1932.  The building walls and floors are constructed of large pieces of petrified wood thought to be more than 175 million years old.  Based on the sign out front, Ripley's Believe it or Not calls it the only such structure in the world.

Lamar's restored 1907 Train Depot and Amtrak Station.

The park is also home to several interesting items that represent the history and future of Lamar.  There’s a historic steam locomotive sitting beside a water tank and windmill paying tribute to the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe (AT&SF) Railway.  There’s also a wind turbine blade that gives you an up close feel as to how large the wind turbines are as well as shows how Lamar is making use of what has always been considered the bane of existence here: the wind.  Added to all of that were two sculptures that again gave me a feel for the territory I was riding.

The AT&SF train display.  AT&SF was one of the larger railroads in the US and was chartered in 1859. The railroad ceased operations in 1996 when it merged with the Burlington Northern Railroad to form the Burlington Northern and Santa Fe Railway (BNSF).

Locomotive #1819 was manufactured by Baldwin Locomotive Works out of Philadelphia, PA in 1906 and hauled freight and passengers nearly a million miles before being retired in 1953.

111-foot long General Electric wind turbine blade.  When you think of three of these mounted on the windmills in the wind farms, it's kind of amazing how huge they are.

This bronze sculpture is titled "Short Fuse on a Slack Rope" and was created by sculptor Justin I. Young, Jr.  A plaque on the memorial reads: "Perseverance is the virtue of the West, symbolized by this determined cowboy, roping an equally determined bull. Like a fractious bull, land may be owned, but it cannot always be controlled. Therefore, this monument is dedicated to the pioneers of Prowers County who lassoed an untamed country, then held on tight."

The Madonna of the Trail honors the pioneer mothers of covered wagon days on the Santa Fe Trail.  This monument is one of only 12 in the world.  Lamar was chosen for one of the statues because it was located on the Old Santa Fe Trail highway.

From Lamar, I continued east on US-50 headed toward Garden City, Kansas. I crossed back into Kansas 32 miles later and then re-entered the Central Time Zone just east of Kendall, Kansas.  That's the biggest problem with traveling east, when you lose that hour each time you cross a time zone. 

About 7 miles west of Garden City is a small town called Holcomb.  Holcomb is the town made famous in Truman Capote's true story book, In Cold Blood, where Richard Hickock and Perry Smith brutally murdered a local farmer, Herbert Clutter, his wife and two of their four children in 1959.  Capote spent six years writing the book that became one of the best selling books of the true crime genre.

I couldn't get close enough to the house to get a decent picture because it sits across a field.  I fried my camera at the beach a couple of weeks before, so I was taking pictures on this trip using my phone.  Rather than try my luck trespassing, I decided to just move along.  But, it was interesting to ride by just the same.

I missed my turn out of Holcomb that would have taken me to Garden City along the Arkansas River, but I made it just the same albeit a couple of extra miles.  Dodge City is only about 50 miles from Garden City and US-50 basically follows the river between the two cities.  The only real problem I could see was that there appeared to be some serious rain both north and south of US-50.  The question was, can I sneak between the storms or was I going to get wet again.  I got lucky and split the storms and rode into Dodge City mid-afternoon.

The Dodge City welcome sign on US-50. Another biker had parked and walked up to the sign, so I had to wait for him to walk around to the back side of the sign so I could take this picture.

I was really excited about visiting Dodge City.  Besides being the location for the show Gunsmoke, the real history of the town was my main attraction.  It all started when the US government built Fort Dodge in 1865 as a means of improving the protection for travelers and settlers using the Santa Fe Trail.  The town was laid out in 1872, but consisted of one saloon in a tent to service the soldiers from Fort Dodge.  The railroad also arrived that year and soon brought the cattle business with it.

This picture of James Arness and Amanda Blake (Matt Dillon and Miss Kitty) hangs in one of the shops that serves as a self-guided museum along Front Street in Dodge City.

The way Dodge City became the "Queen of the Cow Towns" is interesting in and of itself.  Texas Longhorns carried a tick that caused a disease called Texas Fever among other breeds of cattle.  So, when Texas ranchers wanted to drive their cattle to the railheads in Kansas they used what was known as the Shawnee Trail to go to southeastern Kansas.  Kansas ranchers persuaded their legislators to set up a quarantine that would keep the Texas cattle in the central part of the state.  This route used the Chisholm Trail toward Abilene, Kansas.  Once central Kansas started getting settled, they persuaded their lawmakers to move the quarantine line further west.

El Capitan is a life-sized bronze sculpture of a Texas longhorn steer.  From 1875 to 1885, over four million longhorn cattle were shipped to eastern markets from the railhead in Dodge City.

The movement of the quarantine west meant cattle would branch off the Chisholm Trail to what was called the Great Western Cattle Trail or Western Trail.  The Western Trail led the cattle into Dodge City.  Dodge City's peak cattle years were 1883 to 1884.  Dodge City was a true wild west frontier town and had more gunfighters working at one time or another than any other town in the West.  It also had more than its fair share of saloons, gambling halls and brothels.  Dodge City also had some of the West's more famous lawmen.  Men like Wyatt Earp, Bat Masterson and Charlie Bassett all worked in Dodge City in some law enforcement capacity.

Front Street in Dodge City. While it's a tourist trap, the Boot Hill Museum was still fun to wander through the various shops that are basically a self-guided tour through the history of the town and area.

The Boot Hill section of the museum where eventually 30 graves were dug, including one female, Alice Chambers.  It's believed that 15 men were killed in Dodge City in 1873.

I paid my admission fee ($15, I think) to get into the Boot Hill Museum area and walked through the various displays.  There were period shops where costumed staff would explain what that particular shop might have done like the print shop and the bank.  I eventually made my way to Beatty and Kelley’s Restaurant.  From 1872 to 1879 this restaurant was a saloon.  Now it serves lunch and treats to guests at Boot Hill Museum during the summer months.  The attraction for me was the delightful selection of hand dipped ice cream treats.  I had the girl behind the counter load up a triple cone of Butter Pecan for me and wandered outside to enjoy my "lunch".

The singer and piano player in the Longbranch Saloon.  You gotta love the sign that says, "Don't shoot the piano player...I'm doing the best I can."

Buffalo displayed in the Boot Hill Museum.

I learned more about the Great Buffalo Massacre in the Boot Hill Museum.  The U.S. began to expand westward after the Civil War.  The white men began to infringe more and more on the Indians' lands.  Part of the strategy for driving the Indians off the plains was to kill the buffalo because wherever the buffalo flourished, the Indians flourished.  As a result, the buffalo were slaughtered in unbelievable numbers.  The buffalo population is estimated to be between 20 and 30 million buffalo in the mid-1800's.  By 1889, only 549 buffalo remained.  Luckily, we wised up before we completely terminated the entire species and now there are a few hundred thousand buffalo in the U.S.

There were light showers all around Dodge City during the afternoon, but none that prevented me from my sightseeing.  After wandering around Front Street and the Boot Hill Museum, I made my way across the street toward the Dodge City Depot.

My main reason for checking out the depot was the two large sundials they have in the courtyard next to the depot.  There are two of them set up to show the time in Central Time as well as Mountain Time.  When the original time zones were set by the railroads in 1883 the line between Central and Mountain time ran between the two sundials.

Dodge City Depot and Amtrak Station.

The two sundials sitting east of the Dodge City Depot.  The sundial in the foreground represents the time in Central Standard Time while the one in the background shows Mountain Standard Time.  The dials are about 42 feet in diameter.

One interesting thing about the Amtrak schedule is that it's always dark when the Amtrak train is at the station, so the huge sundials on the east lawn of the depot cannot be seen in use by those passengers.

It was getting later in the day and I decided to try out a local bar called, Kate's, that I saw on the Internet.  Unfortunately, Kate's isn't opened on Sundays, so I made my way back to my motel with a light sprinkling of rain splashing off my glasses and windshield.  They don't have a Motel 6 in Dodge City, so I was staying at Americas Best Value Inn and as luck would have it, Bad Habits Sports Bar was right across the street.  I decided to park the bike for the day and walk over to Bad Habits.  It sounded like my kind of place.

Dinner at Bad Habits started with a healthy salad.  Renee would be proud of me.

She would be proud right up until they brought this plate of mm, mm, good.

A good dinner and a few Coors Lights later, I was ready to cross back over Wyatt Earp Blvd and call it a day.  I enjoyed my visit to Dodge City.  It was a little hokey at Boot Hill Museum, but still fun.  If I would have hung out a little longer, I later learned that they have a gunfight at 7PM.  But, I missed it.  Oh well, maybe next time.

The next post will cover my ride from Dodge City to Bristow, Oklahoma to visit my in-laws and then I finally make it to Texas to meet Miss Kayla Renee Riddle.  Until then, ride/drive safe and get out there and explore.

Miss Kayla...the best reason of all to ride across the country!

Wedding Ride - Summer of 2013 - First Stop Denver

I knew my brother from the motorcycle club, Josh (or "Stretch" as we call him), was planning a wedding this summer in Denver, so as soon as I heard that, I started plotting and scheming to make sure I got a good long ride out of the deal.  Before too long, I got another wedding invite for Stephanie's (my niece) wedding in Texas and it was scheduled for a week after Stretch's.  Then, as if I needed another excuse, my first granddaughter, Kayla Renee, was born on May 21st and gave me the best reason of all to hit the road.  All of these events combined into a great summer motorcycle adventure.

4,740 miles, 14 states over 8 days of riding.

Stretch's wedding was scheduled for Saturday, 7/13, and I wanted to get to Denver on Friday so I could hang out with him and see some of the other club members the night before.  I decided I'd give myself a couple of days to get to Denver and left midday on Wednesday, 7/10.

Day One of the ride was a short hop to Lexington, Kentucky (about 475 miles).  I've ridden this stretch of road several times and it includes passing through West Virginia.  A lot of this leg of the trip is interstate highway, but I always enjoy the ride from Strasburg, Virginia to Elkins, West Virginia.  It passes through the Appalachian Mountains and crosses the Eastern Continental Divide, so there's some nice twists and turns through the pass.

It was overcast and a little dreary looking when I rolled out of the driveway, but other than some minor sprinkles here and there, I managed to avoid any heavy rain for most of the day.  But, a complete day without rain was not to be.  I made it to within 100 miles of Lexington before the bottom dropped out of the skies.  It started with those big rain drops you see from time to time.  The ones that seem like they're big enough to knock you off the bike.  About the same time the big drops started, I passed a sign telling me a Kentucky rest area was just a mile ahead.  Maybe I could make it there before it got really bad...no such luck.

This wasn't actually in Lexington, but Johnson City, TN.  Still you get the idea.  Wet is wet.

I stopped at the rest area, but only because it was raining so hard I couldn't see and the road was covered with water.  After a few minutes break and determining that the rain had slacked off to "monsoon" levels, I climbed back on the bike and rode on through the storm.  It stopped raining about 30 miles east of Lexington and I arrived safe, sound, and soaked at my Motel 6 for the night.  A quick call to Domino's for some pizza delivery and I was done for the night.  (I love it when my motel key has the Domino's delivery service right there on it!)

The ride to Lexington was uneventful, but I did see this one guy on I-79 headed south toward Charleston, WV.  He was in a Honda Civic and apparently had been watching too much NASCAR.  He was running about the same speed as me, 80-85 mph, but he would change lanes on every curve so that he was in the inside lane.  Mind you these are big sweeping curves built on a interstate for high speed limits.  You really don't need a lane change on each one, but it was fun to watch him drive that little bitty Honda like he was Dale Jr doing 200 mph.  I laughed every time he made his "move".

Since I knew I would be spending a large part of the next day on I-70 headed west, I pinged my cousin Dee via Facebook to see if there were any delays or construction that might make me want to go the back roads.  Dee and her husband, Kevin, are in the trucking business and I was hoping she'd give me a reason to jump off the interstate.  Unfortunately, the trucker reports didn't show any issues, so I-70 was going to be my lot in life on Day Two.

This was breakfast on most mornings...biscuits and gravy with a side of hash browns...mmm, mmm, good.

Day Two was the longest leg (880 miles) I had planned on the entire ride.  I was mostly concerned with making good time out to Denver, so this leg consisted of all interstate (I-64 and I-70) with a few choice stops along the way.  I rode out of Lexington in a light fog, but no rain.  It was foggy most of the way to Louisville where I'd be crossing the Ohio River.  I expected the fog to really be tough when I got to the river, but actually, it was pretty clear and the ride to, and through, Louisville was uneventful.

I had some interesting stops planned for the day, but once I hit the road, I decided I wanted to make time versus enjoy the potential curiosities along the way.  It was the wrong choice because I skipped a stop at Colonel Sanders' grave (the founder of Kentucky Fried Chicken) as well as a house in southern Indiana that has large model planes hanging in the yard.  I was able to see the yard from I-64 since the house sits right along the interstate.  In hindsight, I wish I would have taken a picture.  It was pretty cool.

I made a gas stop in Haubstadt, Indiana.  After filling up the gas tank, I grabbed a Mountain Dew and a Snickers bar (my usual road snack) and was sitting out front relaxing.  A another rider, Neil, on a Screaming Eagle Road Glide walked over and asked if I wanted to ride together to O'Fallon, Illinois.  I said sure and we rode off together with him taking the lead.

Neil had an interesting way of riding.  We were on I-64 and running about 80 mph.  Every time he passed an eighteen-wheeler, he would accelerate to around 90 and blow past the truck.  Of course, the first time he did this I was caught off guard and had to crank my throttle to catch up.  As we continued to pass trucks, I figured out his riding style and was able to stay with him.  It wasn't until we stopped to top off the tanks in Mount Vernon, Illinois that he explained to me that he had experienced a truck shredding a tire once when he was passing and ever since then he made a point to get by them as quick as he could.  I've had a couple of similar experiences, so even though I don't ride that way on my own, I could respect his thought process.

On the upside, we made good time!  On the downside, I skipped several more of my planned sightseeing stops.  So, I can't bring you pictures of the Martini Drinking Elephant, Washington Monument Replica, or the Tiny Church.  Maybe next time.  I'm sure I'll be making this trek across Indiana and Illinois again sometime in the future.

My riding partner peeled off the interstate in O'Fallon and I continued on my way through St. Louis.  I wasn't sure of the best way to get through St. Louis, but when I saw signs indicating that road work had lanes on I-255 (a potential bypass) closed, I decided I-64 right through the heart of the city was as good a bet as any.  It turned out to be a good choice and there were no real traffic problems.  Plus, I love crossing the Mississippi River there and seeing the Gateway Arch standing watch over the river and the city.

This shot is from one of my many Mississippi River crossings in St. Louis.  It's still one of my favorite reasons to cross there.  The Arch is cool!

I merged from I-64 to I-70 west on the northwest side of St. Louis and started my way through Missouri.  Other than gas, there were no planned stops in Missouri.  Actually, I had planned to stop at Hooters in Columbia for lunch, but as usual, I was making good time and didn't want to take that long.  So, Mountain Dew and Snickers stepped up as the understudy for lunch and performed marvelously.

I passed through Kansas City, again uneventful, and headed into Kansas.  It was a hot day with temperatures on the plains creeping up into the low 100s.  I finally decided to do a little sightseeing and stopped to see the Atomic Annie that sits in Freedom Park near Junction City, KS and overlooks Fort Riley.  The gun sits at the top of a big hill.  There's a path and stairs leading up to it, but my tired butt didn't feel like climbing them.  So, I got a picture from below.

Atomic Annie is actually the gun you see at the top of the hill.  The lower gun is a WWII-era howitzer.

The Atomic Annie is an M65 Atomic Cannon that was an artillery piece built back in the early 1950's and was capable of firing a nuclear device.  About twenty of them were produced and this is one of eight that are on display around the U.S.

Freedom Park also featured an obsolete command track vehicle.

From Junction City, it was only about 150 miles to my destination for the day, Hays, KS.  On the way I passed one of many wind farms I would see along the way.  Smoky Hills Wind Farm is located about 20 miles west of Salina and is the largest wind farm in Kansas.  It's home to 155 wind turbines that cover approximately 20,000 acres and produce enough electricity to power 37,000 average Kansas homes annually.  The horizon is dotted with wind turbines for miles.

I actually arrived in Hays about 7 that evening and could have got another hour or so of riding in, but I was tired and stopping seemed like a good idea.  Plus, I have to cancel my Motel 6 by 6PM local time or I get charged for it and since I hadn't done that, my cheap butt pulled in and cranked up the A/C to cool the room and me down.  As a added attraction, I had already scoped out Thirsty's Brew Pub, so after a quick sponge bath to wash some of the road grime off, I headed down the street to check out Thirsty's.

The welcome sign as I walked into Thirsty's. $7 pitchers...my kind of place.

A not so healthy appetizer of pork strips with cream gravy.

Followed up with a rib-eye and hey, there's corn on the plate! Who put that there?

My bartender, Patrick, took good care of me and after a very satisfying and filling meal, I headed back to the motel to call it a day.  880 miles, give or take a couple, and 14 hours on the road.  I was ready for a nap.

Hays is only 335 miles from Denver and I would gain another hour when I passed from the Central to Mountain timezone near Brewster, KS.  Still, I was up and on the road again by 6 the next morning and back on I-70 continuing my trek west.  I could see the sun sneaking up in my rear view mirrors, so I pulled over at a high point (an overpass on I-70 being the high point in western Kansas) and waited for the sun to peak over the horizon.  I welcomed in the day sitting on the side of the road. 

Sunrise over the Kansas plains.  The picture doesn't do it justice, but it was a beautiful sunrise.

My first stop was at the Buffalo Bill Cultural Center (BBCC).  I got there before 7AM, so it wasn't open, but the main reason for my stop sits outside the building, so it being closed wasn't a problem.

The Buffalo Bill Cultural Center in Oakley, KS.  I arrived before 7AM to an empty parking lot and locked doors.  Ah, but no worries.  What I came for was sitting right outside.

What enticed me to go 4 miles south of the interstate, you might ask.  Particularly when you've read about me skipping one stop after another for the sake of making better time.  Well, in this instance there were two reasons.  1) I had plenty of time to get to Denver by early afternoon and 2) there is a sculpture at the BBCC that caught my attention while planning the ride.  I can't explain why, but seeing this sculpture became one of the more important stops on this trip.  I was not disappointed.

This is going to fall into the category of "you had to be there to understand", but I'm going to try to explain to you how incredible this sculpture is.  You'll either get a tingly feeling reading it or the next few paragraphs and pictures are going to be awfully boring.  I hope it's the tingly feeling, but here goes.

The sculpture commemorates the 1868 contest between William F. Cody, Fort Hays buffalo hunter for local railroad workers, and William Comstock, who hunted buffalo to feed soldiers at nearby Fort Wallace.  The contest happened just 10 miles west of Oakley.  William Cody won by shooting 69 buffalo to Comstock's 46, earning Cody the life-long title of "Buffalo Bill."

The Buffalo Bill sculpture at BBCC is, in a word, AWESOME!  Buffalo Bill on his horse and the Buffalo weigh approximately 5,000 lbs and 4,000 lbs respectively.

Buffalo Bill riding his favorite horse "Brigham" stands 16 feet tall.  About twice life-sized.

Note the detail on the sculpture as I stare into the barrel of the Model 1866 Springfield rifle that Buffalo Bill named "Lucretia Borgia".  And to answer your question; no, I don't know why he named his gun after a 15th century "femme fatale" who is described as having heavy blonde hair which fell past her knees, a beautiful complexion, hazel eyes which changed color, a full, high bosom, and a natural grace which made her appear to "walk on air".

From the beginning of the Buffalo Bill project until the sculpture was put in place took 6 years. It had its beginning as a sketch on a napkin at a restaurant in Garden City, KS.

Once the monumental piece was started, it took about 3 years to complete.

The sculpture was first created in clay. After it was completely sculpted it had to be broken down in over 100 smaller pieces to be cast separately. After being cast, they were bronze welded together, chased, and then the final patina was applied. It cost approximately $450,000 to build.

As I stood in the middle of the sculpture, it was as if I was transported back 150 years to the days of the buffalo hunters.  I could feel the ground trembling as the herd thundered across the plains.  I could hear the snorts from the flared nostrils of the buffalo and Brigham, the horse.  The wind shifted and swirled around as the buffalo and the rider passed by me.  Actually, it was me walking through the middle of the sculpture, but I swear it was as if I was simply a part of the prairie.  I was piece of grass sticking up and caught in the middle of a life or death struggle between man and beast.

It's difficult to find the words to describe how connected I felt with the sculpture.  I must have walked around it 10 times finding something new to look at each time.  I have a friend, Bridget, who tweeted, "The arts are what define our humanity."  I got exactly what she meant while I was standing beside this sculpture.  It was a magnificent experience and one that I will never forget.  I remember getting back on the motorcycle and riding down I-70 shouting out loud, "That was AWESOME!!! Man!!! That was AWESOME!!!" for the next 5 miles or so.

I borrowed this picture from the BBCC website because it gives you more perspective of the size of the sculpture.  The man standing in the picture is Charlie Norton, the amazing artist who built the sculpture.  Did I mention it was AWESOME!

I could have turned around and gone home after experiencing the Buffalo Bill sculpture and felt like I had a successful trip, but there were still two weddings and a new granddaughter to be experienced so the trip was just getting interesting.  The remaining ride to Colorado on I-70 was uneventful.  There was construction the last 15 miles or so in Kansas that had it down to single lanes with east and west bound traffic using the west bound side of the road, but even that didn't really cause any delays.  A hundred miles of I-70 in Colorado and I was taking the exit to roll across the plains of eastern Colorado on state highway 86.

I get that CO-86 is straight as an arrow here, but at least I was off the interstate and rolling through the hills.

I made a stop in Kiowa, CO to check out the Elbert County Court House.  I am named after both of my grandfathers and my middle name is Elbert after my maternal grandfather.  So, it's not everyday that I get the chance to take a picture of anything with the name Elbert associated with it.  The county was named for Samuel Hitt Elbert, the Governor of the Territory of Colorado when the county was formed in 1874.

The Elbert County Court House in Kiowa, CO.

After taking a quick picture of the Court House, I looked across the street and saw the Kiowa Creek Cafe.  The sign said, "Open" so I decided to go in and have a late breakfast.  The owner of the place was the host, waiter, cook, busser, and cashier.  There was one other patron eating his breakfast when I walked in and we struck up a conversation.  Most of the talk centered on the fires they were having in the area.  So far, he had avoided any damage to his property, but was able to see the fire from his home when it was close to him.

The owner asked me if I was a veteran.  I told him yes, but from many years ago.  He said he gave meals to veteran's half price and active duty military got to eat free.  That's one of the many things I love about getting off the interstate and visiting these small towns.  He was a patriot as far as I was concerned.  I told him I appreciated the offer, but I would go ahead and pay full price, no worries.  I had coffee, two eggs, sunny side up, hash browns and toast for less than $5 and that was without the discount.  I love America and places like Kiowa Creek Cafe.

The Kiowa Creek Cafe with the $3.99 Breakfast Special sign hanging out front.

The bar next door to Kiowa Creek Cafe was closed, but I did like the Welcome Bikers sign hanging on the wall.  It looked like they might have just had, or were planning, some type of rally in town.

From Kiowa, I made my way into the suburbs of Denver and realized that since it wasn't even noon yet, it was too early to go to my Motel 6.  Instead, I parked myself in a booth at Twin Peaks and waited for my MC buddies to get into town.  We spent the afternoon hanging out, drinking some beer and telling lies.  After a short break, we hooked up again for more shenanigans in the evening, then hit the hay in anticipation of Stretch's nuptials the next day.  All in all, it was a good ending to the first leg of my trip.

Best wishes to Mr. and Mrs. Joshua "Stretch" Fehringer. May you enjoy a long life of love and happiness.

I'll work to get the rest of this ride story posted over the next few days.

A New Ride Story on the Way

My Uncle Danny very graciously and unintentionally reminded me that I owe the blog a new entry very soon related to my most recent ride.  I arrived home this past Saturday after 4700-plus miles and 14 states over an 8 day ride.  I saw my usual sights as well as the usual unusual sights that I really need to tell you about.

Now, you might ask yourself, "Well, what the hell Riddle?  Get it together and get'r done."  I promise, I'll get it done this weekend and let you know when to take a look.  But, you have to first understand that my Uncle Danny's name is Daniel Boone and when Daniel Boone says "Get'r Done" well that takes on a different connotation than when the average person says "Get'r Done".  So, I'll work on getting all the pictures and editorial done this weekend. 

It was a great trip and I can't wait to share it with you.  Here are some highlights...Atomic Gun, Buffalo Bill Cultural Center (and one of the most awesome sculptures I have ever seen), petrified wood buildings, Boot Hill, Bonnie and Clyde, civil war battlefields, Duck Dynasty, more civil war sites, etc.

It really was a great trip and I'll pull it together this weekend to share it with you.

Road Music

Music has been a part of my life from my earliest memories.  The radio or record player was usually on and Sunday mornings in particular included listening to gospel music.  So, needless to say, music remains a motivating and mood changing force in my life today.

One of the things I missed most when I climbed back on a motorcycle ten or twelve years ago was not having music to listen to.  I tried the Sony Walkman radios and CD players, but they never seemed to be much good on a bike.  Finally, I settled in on an iPod and it worked great.  I wasn't a big fan of having to stick ear-buds in my head, but at least I had my music back on the road with me.

Trust me.  I need the music because too much quiet time to think and my brain starts coming up with weird ideas that are only going to get me in trouble.

My first Harley was a 2004 Fatboy that I rode for about 5 years and put over 95,000 miles on it.  Most of those miles came without music :(

Now, I've moved up to the penultimate old man's bike, a 2011 Harley-Davidson Road Glide Ultra.  It's the most comfortable bike I've ridden and I love it, but one of the best features is that it has a radio, CD player and I can plug my iPod into the auxiliary port and, PRESTO!, I have my own eclectic play list singing back to me.  It's great!

My Road Glide - I'm usually grinning anyway when I'm riding, but access to my tunes keeps a smile on my face

There's not much in the way of music that I don't like.  I can listen to country, alternate rock, classic rock, classical; heck, I don't care as long as it has a melody and rhythm to it.  So, being able to set up a playlist and have it roll through a variety of artists and genres works perfectly for me.  I have a playlist of road favorites that I know will keep me cruising in harmony.  Here's what it looks like from the random scrambled state it was in when I printed it:

Rebel Soul - Kid Rock
The Highest Pass - Michael Mollura
Imagine - Train
Home - Phillip Phillips
Karn Evil 9 - Emerson, Lake & Palmer
Highway Don't Care - Tim McGraw
Save Me, San Francisco - Train
Imagine - John Lennon
Good to Be Me - Uncle Kracker
Take a Back Road - Rodney Atkins
Knockin' On Heaven's Door - Guns N' Roses
Sincerely, Your Gypsy Soul - Sierra Noble
Southern Comfort Zone - Brad Paisley
Wanted Dead or Alive - Bon Jovi
Born to Be Wild - Steppenwolf
Ho Hey - The Lumineers
Midnight Ferry - Kid Rock
Turn the Page - Metallica
It's Been Awhile - Staind
She's Got Something - Greg Holden
Bullets In the Gun - Toby Keith
Sympathy for the Devil - The Rolling Stones
Let's Ride - Kid Rock
Nickel Size Hail - Sunny Ledfurd
Knee Deep - Zac Brown Band
Cowboys Like Us - George Strait
Angel - Sarah McLachlan
Rockstar - Nickelback
Gimme Shelter - The Rolling Stones

That's right, Imagine is on the list twice.  Once as performed in the incredible manner that only John Lennon could perform it.  But, also in a version recorded by Train that rivals even John's version.  Pat Monahan brings his soothing and soulful voice to make it a very special rendition.  I couldn't choose one over the other, so I put them both on the list.  Plus, it never hurts to spend an extra three minutes imagining what the world could be like if we could figure out a way to live as one.

Train and Kid Rock are all over my iPod.  You can never go wrong with any of their songs.  You only see a couple of Train songs on this list, but I have another list of songs I rated as five stars.  Of the 26 songs on that list, six of them are Train.  I think I have bought one album on iTunes and that was Kid Rock's Rebel Soul.  Needless to say, I'm a fan of both.

There are songs in the list that mellow me out like Knee Deep, She's Got Something and Home.  Then there are others that require me to pay particularly close attention to my speedometer while they're playing, like anything by Guns N' Roses and Turn the Page by Metallica.  They tend to crank my throttle, so to speak.

Anyway, I needed to post something, but the weather's still too cold for a ride.  So I decided to take a virtual ride this morning and listen to my road favorites playlist and, hopefully, entertain you for a few minutes.  If you don't know all of the songs listed above, I encourage you to look them up and give them a listen.  And, remember, Train...Kid Rock...you can't go wrong!

I will be back on the road soon to bring you more adventures but in the meantime, sing like nobody else can hear you.

Pleased to meet you...hope you guessed my name

Coming Back Home - The Rest of the Story

Ok, we're picking up the ride where I left off about a month ago.  Heck, that's about average for me.  It seems a lot harder to find the time to write than it should be.  But, let's get on with the good stuff.

I left Paragould, Arkansas and continued my trek east on US-412.  It took me across the southeastern portion of Missouri, known as the boot heel of Missouri.  I crossed back over the Mississippi River and again got a view of how low the river was running.  US-412 becomes I-155 where it crosses the river and there are two bends in the river on either side of the bridge.  Both bends had sand bars that stretched across at least half of the river.

My first stop of the day was at the Parks Cemetery Ridge Confederate Memorial Plaza in Trimble, Tennessee.  I had read about a giant Confederate Battle Flag flying along US-51 which is also referred to as the I-69 corridor where a new interstate will ultimately be built linking New Orleans to
Chicago.  The flag is 20 foot by 30 foot and sits on top of an 85 foot flagpole.

The Road Glide below the hill that serves as the home to the Parks Cemetery Ridge Confederate Memorial Plaza.

The memorial was developed by the the Sons of Confederate Veterans (SCV) which is a fraternal
organization dedicated to honoring the Confederate soldiers who served the Confederacy in the war between the states.  The park is near the Pierce Cemetery which is the final resting place of eleven Confederate soldiers.

Another beautiful day for riding and the hill where the memorial stands was particularly pretty and peaceful.

The SCV Camp 176 is the organization that developed and maintains the memorial.  Their Mission Statement from their Facebook page reads:

The Sons of Confederate Veterans is preserving the history and legacy of these heroes, so future generations can understand the motives that animated the Southern Cause.  The citizen-soldiers who fought for the Confederacy personified the best qualities of America.  The preservation of liberty and freedom was the motivating factor in the South's decision to fight the Second American Revolution.  The tenacity with which Confederate soldiers fought underscored their belief in the rights guaranteed by the Constitution.  These attributes are the underpinning of our democratic society and represent the foundation on which this nation was built.  Membership in the Sons of Confederate Veterans is open to all male descendants of any veteran who served honorably in the Confederate armed forces.

The state flags of the eleven states of the Confederacy fly around the memorial, in the order of secession.

I have spent most of my life living in the deep south.  My time in Alabama, Georgia, and Texas alone represent over 40 years of my life and the last six and a half years have been in Virginia, the capital of the Confederacy.  So, I think I fully understand the south and the respect for the men who died fighting for the south.  But I have to admit, I was slightly uncomfortable at this memorial and I can't really explain why.

I don't consider myself a "cracker" or a redneck, but I do consider myself a southerner.  I am proud of my southern roots and have no issue letting people know I'm from the south (just in case my nasally accent doesn't already give that away.)  Still, the memorial seemed to have a feel of not letting go of the Civil War and the issues that drove our country to take up arms against each other.  I don't necessarily think that's the intent of the memorial, but that sense was there for me just the same.

By most accounts, the southern soldiers did fight with a tenacity that amazed their Union opponents.  I think most of my discomfort arises when we try to use "states rights" as the honorable reason for going to war when in reality the right that was being infringed upon was slavery. That feeling makes it difficult to be a southerner who is proud of their southern roots without feeling like you condoned slavery in some way.

Then there's the other side of the coin (and we see it all the time nowadays) that if you allow the government to whittle away at your rights, where does it stop (think about how ridiculous it would have sounded 10 or 15 years ago if someone in government had proposed limited the amount of soda you were allowed to purchase at a theater or convenience store).  So, I can understand how 150 years ago the southern states felt like their rights were being deeply violated.  Cotton was the only real industry the south had and slave labor was the primary mechanism that drove cotton.  So, without slavery, the south's livelihood was threatened.

I get all of that and am certain that had I been a young man in 1861 that I too would have took up arms in support of the Confederacy.  But, with hindsight and the understanding of the past 150 years, I realize I would have really been fighting to allow one of the worst aspects of American history to continue and I think that's where the conflicted feelings come into it.  Still, I was really glad I stopped at this memorial.  I took something away from the visit that is as hard to explain as most of this whole section of the blog has been.  Don't worry if you are confused reading it, because I was confused writing it.

On a lighter note, I grabbed a breakfast burrito and a small coffee (having learned my lesson in Elkins, WV about large coffees a few days before) at McDonalds in Fulton, Kentucky.  I made another quick gas stop in Murray, Kentucky, home of the Murray State Racers.  Then, I headed for another of my planned stops, Land Between The Lakes (LBL) National Recreation Area (NRA).

The bridge over Kentucky Lake on US-68/KY-80 that passes through the Land Between The Lakes NRA.

When the Cumberland and Tennessee Rivers were dammed to create Kentucky Lake and Lake Barkley, an inland peninsula was formed.  In 1963, President John F. Kennedy designated the peninsula Land Between The Lakes National Recreation Area in an effort to demonstrate how an area with limited timber, agricultural, and industrial resources could be converted into a recreation asset that would stimulate economic growth in the region.  The LBL is the centerpiece of the region's tourism industry.  LBL is nestled in western Kentucky and Tennessee and covers more than 170,000 acres and 300 miles of undeveloped shoreline.

This is pure speculation on my part, but if I had to guess, JFK must have owed a senator from Tennessee or Kentucky a favor.

Prepare yourself for a slight tangent here.  I'm going off in a new educational direction that will have you wondering, "What in the hell is he talking about?"  But, bear with me and maybe it will make sense at the end.

Most of you have heard of the Continental Divide (a.k.a the Great Divide) that splits the North America and runs through the Rocky Mountains.  In the U.S. this represents the divide between the flow of water with everything west of the Great Divide running to the Pacific Ocean and everything east of that divide flowing to the Gulf of Mexico, with much of it running through the Ohio and Mississippi Rivers.

But, there's a lesser known divide called the Eastern Continental Divide that runs through the Appalachian Mountains and divides the flow of water for much of the eastern U.S.  The Eastern Continental Divide runs southwest from about the New York/Pennsylvania state line in central PA, to northern Georgia where it makes a hard turn to the south and more or less splits the Florida peninsula right down the middle.  Everything west of the Eastern Continental Divide flows west to the Gulf of Mexico, again much of it through the Ohio and Mississippi Rivers, while everything east flows toward the Atlantic Ocean through various watersheds like the Potomac River and Chesapeake Bay. 

Sorry for the hydrological divide lesson, but my point was (assuming I had one) that the Tennessee and Cumberland Rivers flow from east to west and eventually turn north into Kentucky, where they flow into the Ohio River.  It's on this northern stretch that these rivers are used to form Kentucky Lake and Lake Barkley and give us the Land Between the Lakes.  Having grown up in south Alabama, rivers flowing north just kind of freak me out.  It's my problem, not yours.

On with the ride story and sorry for the tangent...I'll try to stay on point for the remainder of this post.

I made an attempt to go see King Arthur's Round Table at the Literary Park in Hopkinsville, Kentucky.  It looked like it would be a cool stop with a big round stone table in the park as well as a sword stuck in a stone off to the side.  I did see it, but strangely enough, there didn't seem to be any parking nearby.  As best as I could tell, the nearest parking was in the lots at the Hopkinsville Community College and I assumed that would probably require a permit.  Plus, there were workers around the table, so I decided it wasn't worth the long walk only to find out the best picture I could take would include the city work truck in the background.  I kept riding instead.  If you really need to see a picture of it, you can go to the Roadside America site at: http://www.roadsideamerica.com/story/12607

About 10 miles east of Hopkinsville sits another monument associated with the Civil War.  The Jefferson Davis Monument State Historic Site is a Kentucky State Park at the birthplace of Jefferson Davis in Elkton, KY.  Davis was the president of the Confederate States of America.  The park is located along US-68 and includes a 351-foot tall concrete obelisk. 

The base of the Jefferson Davis Monument was constructed of limestone quarried from the site.  The concrete walls are 8.5 feet thick at the base and taper to 2.5 feet thick at the top.

The monument is the tallest unreinforced concrete structure in the world meaning no steel or rebar was used to reinforce the concrete.  As one pour was completed, large chunks of limestone were left projecting up to connect it to the next pour above.  It is also the tallest concrete obelisk in the world since all of the taller obelisks are constructed with blocks of stone.  It is the third tallest obelisk in the world (behind the San Jacinto Monument, 567 feet 3 3/4 inches, and the Washington Monument, 555 feet 5 1/8 inches).

I passed through Bowling Green, Kentucky on my way to Oklahoma and decided then that I needed to make a point to pass back through on my way home.  I knew the National Corvette Museum was in town, but one of the things that caught my eye the first time through was the Historic Railpark and Train Museum.  What caught my eye was the historic train sitting alongside the museum.

The train includes a 1953 796 E-8 locomotive, a 1921 Railroad Post Office car, a 1921 Diner car,  a 1953 Pullman sleeper, a 1911 Presidential Office Car, as well as the typical red caboose. 

The 1953 796 E-8 locomotive painted in the Louisville and Nashville colors at the Historic Railpark and Train Museum in Bowling Green, Kentucky.

I took a couple of pictures at the Historic Railpark and Train Museum and then headed for the National Corvette Museum.  I had to visit the Corvette Museum in honor of my buddy Tim Huggins who owns a Corvette.  The National Corvette Museum is located pretty close to the Corvette assembly plant in Bowling Green.  In hindsight I should have taken time to visit both museums, but at the time, I thought I needed to keep riding to make the most of my daylight.

The National Corvette Museum on the northeast side of Bowling Green.

As it turned out, I was less than 140 miles from where I would spend the night when I was sitting in the parking lot of the Corvette Museum.  I didn't know it at the time and was planning to go farther, but as usual, my plans changed on the fly.

I left Bowling Green and made my way east across southern Kentucky on the Louie B. Nunn Cumberland Parkway.  This is another one of those great parkways across Kentucky.  This one was named for the 52nd governor of Kentucky.

I continued on KY-80 until I reached London.  Here I made a stop at the Old Town Grill and helped myself to a couple of cold Bud Lights.  While sitting at the bar at Old Town Grill I decided to take a look at the map and determine how much farther I wanted to ride before dark.  I was guessing I had another hour and a half, but when I looked at the map, things didn't look that promising for motels down the road.  I did a couple of searches on the phone to see what I could find and ultimately came to the conclusion that I should just park it and call it a day in London.

The Budget Host Westgate Inn and R.V. Camp was right across the street and had a vacancy, so that's where I decided to spend the night.  After checking in, I made a marvelous discovery.  They had one of those massaging beds. 15 minutes for 25 cents. I actually didn't try it out, but it was a surprise to see the little slot for your quarters on the side of the bed.

I slept in a little the next morning and it turned out to be a good thing.  The day started out cool and the fog was pretty thick as a I rode through the hills and mountains of eastern Kentucky.  My ride out of London was on the Hal Rogers Parkway.  As best as I can tell, this one is named for a U.S. Representative from Kentucky who played a prominent role in getting the tolls lifted off the Kentucky parkways.  I think he is still in Congress (another one of those career politicians that I can't stand).  The Hal Rogers Parkway is the only parkway in the state of Kentucky that is almost exclusively two-lanes.  However, they do have truck lanes on the hills that allow you plenty of opportunities to get around slower traffic.

I had breakfast at a Bob Evans Restaurant (biscuits and gravy, baby!!!) near Pikeville, Kentucky.  My primary destination today was Matewan, West Virginia.  I've been trying to find an excuse to visit Matewan for a while.  It's home to a couple of significant events in history.  First, it's the area where the Hatfields and McCoys carried out their family feud for almost 30 years (1863–1891).  Second, it was the site of the Matewan Massacre in 1920 during the West Virginia Coal Wars that centered around a dispute between coal companies and miners.


I had a keen interest in both events and decided I had to make a stop in Matewan this time around.  Matewan is a town in far southwestern West Virginia on the Kentucky border.  The state border is defined by the Tug Fork River that runs along the edge of town from the northwest to the southeast.  The most prominent feature in town, if you don't count the railroad, is the flood wall that runs the entire length of town with huge flood doors that cross over the roads and railroad.

The white area you see to the left of town is the flood wall that runs the length of town.  The river side of the wall contains etchings that depict the regions cultural and industrial history.

One of the huge flood doors that stretches across the railroad tracks to protect the town of Matewan.

There was even a mini Statue of Liberty at the end of Main Street in Matewan right across from the Blue Goose Saloon and Inn.  It was too early in the day to make a stop at the saloon, but maybe next time.

I passed Randolph McCoy's homestead on the Kentucky side of the river as I approached Matewan.  That got my history juices flowing.  Unfortunately, most of the roads in the area are two-lane and don't have a shoulder, so unless you know exactly where you are going, there's no pulling off real quick and getting a picture.  I had to settle for knowing I'd be dismounting in Matewan and get my picture opportunities there.

The Welcome to Matewan, WV etching on the flood wall as you enter town.

Obviously, coal is a major industry in the area as is the railroad and timber.

Matewan came to stop shortly after I arrived as a coal laden train made its way through town.

Actually, Anse Hatfield (of the feud fame) made his living in timber and was one of the more well off familes in the area.

One set of flood doors where pedestrians can access the river from town.

I know you are probably more interested in the Hatfields and McCoys, but bear with me again while I tell you a little bit about the Matewan Massacre.  In 1920, the coal miners in the area were organizing a union.  Of course the coal companies didn't want unions and they were trying everything they could to intimidate the miners.  One of their tactics was to evict families of coal miners who were living at the mountain coal camp, just outside of Matewan.

The Stone Mountain Coal Corporation hired their own enforcers, the Baldwin-Felts Detective Agency, to evict the miners and their families from the company owned houses.  Baldwin-Felts had a reputation for being ruthless and brutal.  The sheriff in town was Sid Hatfield (a decent of the feuding Hatfields).  Long story short, the sheriff, his deputy and the mayor of Matewan met the Baldwin-Felts detectives at the train station and tried to negotiate a peaceful settlement that would prevent the eviction of the miners.  Instead, the lead detective, Albert Felts, served Hatfield with a warrant and tried to arrest Hatfield (the warrant turned out to be fraudulent).

It is still unknown who fired the first shot that hit the mayor, but Hatfield shot Felts next.  After the detective and mayor fell wounded, Hatfield kept firing, but Felts' brother, Lee escaped.  Lee Felts took shelter in the Matewan Post Office, and Hatfield eventually found him there and shot him. When the shooting finally stopped, the townspeople came out, many were wounded.  There were casualties on both sides.  Seven Baldwin-Felts Detectives were killed, including brothers Albert and Lee Felts. One more detective had been wounded.  Two miners were killed.  The wounded mayor was dying, and four other bystanders had been wounded.  The date was May 19, 1920.
The Governor of West Virginia ordered the state police force to take control of Matewan.  Hatfield and his men cooperated.  When the miners' union went on another strike on July 1st widespread violence erupted.  Railroad cars were blown up, and strikers were beaten and left to die by the side of the road.  Tom Felts, the last remaining Felts brother, had revenge on his mind.  When the charges against Hatfield, and 22 other people, for the murder of Albert Felts were dismissed, Baldwin-Felts detectives assassinated Hatfield and his deputy Ed Chambers on August 1, 1921, on the steps of the McDowell County Courthouse.

Less than a month later, miners from the state gathered in Charleston, WV.  They were even more determined to organize the southern coal fields, and began the march to Logan County.  Thousands of miners joined them along the way, culminating in what was to become known as the Battle of Blair Mountain.

This panel along the flood wall in Matewan represents the Battle of Matewan, a.k.a. the Matewan Massacre.

Now on to the more interesting tale of the Hatfields and McCoys.  Matewan is basically in the center of the Hatfield and McCoy territory.  Many of the resulting casualties of the feud occurred in the area surrounding Matewan and Matewan is home to the trail heads for the Hatfield-McCoy Trails for ATV and dirt bike riders.

I'm not going to give you all of the nitty-gritty details on the feud, but suffice it to say that the Hatfields and McCoys didn't like each other much.  If you want the details in an entertaining fashion, I recommend you watch the recent mini-series on the History Channel that starred Kevin Costner and Bill Paxton as Anse Hatfield and Randolph McCoy, respectively.

The section of the flood wall for the Hatfields.

I did pass the site of the PawPaw Tree Incident where the Hatfields killed three of the McCoy brothers, Tolbert, Pharmer, and Bud, in what they deemed as justice for the killing of Ellison Hatfield in 1882.  Ellison was stabbed 26 times and finished off with a shot during an election day fight that took place in Kentucky.  The McCoy brothers were initially arrested and were taken to Pikeville for trial.  However, Anse Hatfield organized a posse and intercepted the constables and their McCoy prisoners before they reached Pikeville.  The McCoys were taken by force to West Virginia to await the fate of mortally wounded Ellison Hatfield, and when Ellison finally died from his injuries, the McCoys brothers were themselves murdered in turn.  They were tied to pawpaw bushes and each was shot numerous times.

The feud reached its peak during the 1888 New Year's Night Massacre.  Several members of the Hatfield clan surrounded the McCoy cabin and opened fire on the sleeping family.  The cabin was set on fire in an effort to drive Randolph McCoy into the open.  He escaped by making a break for it, but two of his children were murdered, and his wife was beaten and left for dead.

I also passed by the Hatfield Cemetery where Anse Hatfield is buried.  It was another of those locations on a two-lane road that popped up before I could prepare for a stop, so I missed it.

The McCoys flood wall panel.

The corner of McCoy Alley and Hatfield Street in Matewan, WV.

I missed just enough of the Hatfield-McCoy sites that I need to make a trip back and spend a weekend in Matewan.  At least, that's what I keep telling myself anyway.

After my visit to Matewan, I had a 100 miles or so of West Virginia roads that ran along rivers and streams and made for a nice ride.  Once I got to Beckley, West Virginia, it was interstates all the way home.  I did sneak in one last stop to see the sign for the Greenbrier Ghost.  In case you can't read the writing on the sign, here's the story:

Zona Hester Shue died in 1987.  Her death was thought to be of natural causes until her mother began to be visited by Zona's ghost.  Zona described to her mother how she was killed by her husband Edward.  They ultimately exhumed Zona's body and an autopsy confirmed that she was indeed murdered.  As a result, Edward was found guilty of murder and sentenced to the state prison.  This is the only known case where testimony from a ghost helped convict a murderer.

The Greenbrier Ghost sign near the Sam Black United Methodist Church in Smoot, WV.

The rest of the way was a mixture of interstates 64, 81 and 66.  I got home in time to join the neighborhood gang for a beer or two on Joe's back porch.  It was a great trip.  Here's the summary:

• 724 miles day 1
• 650 miles day 2
• 469 miles day 3
• 425 miles day 4
• 540 miles day 5
• 2808 total miles

When do we leave for the next one?