2014-07-07: Day 12 Kentucky Coal Country, Melvin to Hazard, KY
Post date: Jul 7, 2014 9:57:58 PM
Mileage Today: 50 Total Mileage: 634
I saved a turtle today. Came right up over a little hill and there he was halfway across my lane moving at... well...turtle speed. If I had been in a car, he could have been a turtle pancake. But I was on my bike, so I picked him up and helped him across the road. Tonight he is home with his turtle wife and turtle kids. It's a beautiful thing. Just another example of how biking is good for your soul.
Jon and I rode through Kentucky coal country today. The Appalachian mountains of Kentucky and West Virginia provide 21% of the coal consumed in the US. The active mines seemed to be off the main roads but evidence of coal is everywhere. Even in the road embankments you can see veins of coal (See pic).
There are memorials for workers who mine coal. There are signs marking the roads leading to active mines. And there are the coal trucks. Lots of them. The TransAmerican route has been beautiful and remote for nearly the entire 600+ miles we have ridden. Even today most of the route today looked like the beautiful remote road pictured. But then there was the last 6 miles along US 80 which is also pictured. US 80 seems to be a major transportation route for the coal industry. That's a coal truck. They blew by every couple of minutes or so. Fortunately, we get off this road first thing tomorrow. We are in a hotel for the second night in a row as this area of the state has few campgrounds.
One final story for today. We had lunch at the Appalachian Gallery and Cafe in Hindman, KY, a little town deep in the mountains. The director of the gallery also ran the cafe. He sat down and talked with us during lunch. He was a former teacher at the K through 8 school (600 total students). I asked how big of an area the school covered. He said that they covered both directions up the valleys that merged at Hindman. The locals call one valley "Right Troublesome" and the other "Left Troublesome". I of course asked the back ground on those names. It seems that the original settlers in the area came into the mountains and got stuck close to the present side of Hindman. Not finding a safe way through either of the right of left adjoining valleys, they told everyone that came behind them that travel was troublesome either way. The names of Right Troublesome and Left Troublesome have stuck ever since.