June 20, 2012 ~~~  So yesterday we finished up at the courthouse then came on back to our camp trailer at about 2:30 pm.  It had been warm, about 80 degrees, and mostly sunny.  Within 20 minutes black clouds rolled in and a downpour started!  I took this photo about 1 or 2 minutes after it started raining!

This is one of the caves in the area open for tours.... we didn't know if these were musical or anatomical, so we didn't go there.

So... we took off this morning (the 20th) westbound through West Virginia on the backroads again.  Here's a shot of what the Appalachians look like from one of the really high roads we took.  See how "smokey" it looks?  It's all mist... and sometimes it looks like "puffs" of smoke.  That's how the "Smokey Mountains" got their name.  Rain.... then 90 degree weather will do that!

We passed into Kentucky about 12:15 pm.

And driving through the back roads and hills of Kentucky we found about the same views and "hill folk" as in Virginia and West Virginia Appalachians.

Saw a lot of fighting cocks being raised, but we've seen that in Oregon, so didn't bother taking photos.  The MOST appalling thing we saw was hounds (coon hounds) in what appeared to be rabbit cages.  They barely had any room to turn around were 3 feet or more off the ground in slightly oversized RABBIT cages.  No photos of that either.

I don't want to perpetuate the myth that ALL hill folk lived in squalor, so here are a couple photos of nice houses, and we saw a lot of those too.

On the other hand, we did see an inordinate number of single wide mobile homes of various ages.  Apparently if you are less willing or able to "decorate" only have a few cement blocks for a front step.  The really habituated have a large covered porch with a railing, a large Confederate flag draped or nailed over the railing, a clothes line on the front roof line of the porch with the day's laundry hanging on it, a large BBQ grill, a full sized couch (or 2) and a couple old recliners as accoutrements.  All of these (except the laundry) must appear to have been there for several years rain or shine.  No photos though ... the best ones were always on the wrong side of the road.... I could hardly put the camera in front of Darrell's face while he's driving down a narrow twisty road... it makes him all grumpy.

We continued on looking for an RV park and couldn't find one so decided to look for a motel.  We were in Cumberland and Benham, Kentucky and finally had someone tell us about an old school building that had been converted to an "Inn" in Benham.  We were assured by the guy at the service station that it was really nice, so we went there where a cadaverous older guy checked us in. We then went out for dinner to Charlotte's Fine Dining where they had frog legs on the menu.  We chose salad and a sandwich with a side of fried green tomatoes.

 As we finished eating we noticed that the wind had started to blow and black clouds were rolling in pretty fast, so we hurried back to the inn.  The only parking lot at the inn that was big enough for us and our camp trailer was about a half-block away from the main entrance.  That would have been fine except the downpour broke just before we arrived.  We grabbed our overnight stuff and an umbrella and ran for the entrance... but even with the useless umbrella we were both soaked past our knees.  The rain was coming down so hard and furious it made rivers and waterfalls on the parking lot, stairs, and sidewalks, so we were dashing through ankle deep water!  Of course it was getting dark out... which made the old "Inn" kind of a spooky place.  The hallway was kinda dark, and looking down it was like being in an old echoey creaky (vacant) school building... even the old lockers still lined the hallway, and it still has the original flooring.  The school was abandoned in 1961, and was purchased and refurbished in recent years.  Creaky.

Did I mention that we were the only guests there?  Uh huh.

I went out the back door after the rain stopped to smoke a cigarette... and it was too spooky so I didn't go back out for another.  There was also an upstairs.... but fortunately I had asked for a ground floor room.  Just looking up the stairs to the upper floor gave me the willies.