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Wednesday: Grundy VA to Fulton KY

Today we swing west, leaving the Appalachians, passing thru Nashville, and ending in western KY:


Our first destination was Cumberland Gap. 

On the way we saw abandoned coal mines, big and small








On the top of one mountain we crossed the future path of the Coalfields Expressway, which is yet another WV improvement project. Due to the narrow, twisting nature of the river valleys, these expressways travel the tops of the mountains.



Eventually we arrived at the Cumberland Gap.
This was one of the first passages thru the Appalachians used by white settlers to get from Virginia to the "west" - the Ohio River valley.


There's a lookout point high above the gap

Panoramic view. VA to the left, KY to the right



Bee spanning the two states:


On the way up, Bee saw this and thought I had tricked her into visiting a battlefield


Lunch at an A&W! The root beer was great.


Then on to Nashville. We passed into Central time along the way, and in planning the trip I got the time offset wrong, so we arrived at 3pm instead of 5pm, so we visited the Hermitage, Andrew Jackson's home just east of Nashville. The Chambers family were cousins of Jackson; he gave them some land near here when they arrived in the US in the 1830s. They apperantly didn't stay long as they crossed the Oregon Train in 1843.
Bee and I only spent time in the visitors' center. Visiting the house (which I did in 1988) was kind of expensive, and it was VERY hot and VERY humid, so we decided this picture was enough and returned to the A/C of the car.


After the 15 minute drive to Nashville it was still too early for dinner, so we just checked out lower Broadway, which is crazy like New Orleans' Bourbon street. Bars & live music everywhere.
Traffic in Nashville is HORRIBLE so we just pushed on west.


We stopped for dinner in Dover, TN, about 2 hrs west of Nashville.
This town is in "the land between the lakes", which is a long peninsula between the lakes formed by dams on the Cumberland and Tennessee rivers just before they enter the Ohio river.


We finally arrived in Fulton KY at about 8:30 PM.
We're staying that the Meadows Hotel, which is FANTASTIC, especially because the hotel options are pretty poor in these parts :)
This place honestly has the most comfortable bed in any hotel, ever. We might never leave!

Looking forward to a good night's sleep before crossing the Mississippi tomorrow and heading thru MO and into KS.

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