Hatfield McCoy

10/2 Thursday

Big Earls was a loud place to sleep yet we all managed to sleep well. Nobody ever showed up for us to pay,, so we slid a $25 ($8/person rounded up to the bills we had) under the garage door. After paying for our campsite we hung out waiting for the tents to dry. They never fully dried but we headed out anyway.

The morning path was now from the campground, so we jumped over a section of Nate's currated route. Once back on route, things went really well for most of the day. One of the best roads of this trip was Beech Creek Road in Matawan WV. Amazing corners stiched together perfectly, and nobody on the road. In Matewan, WV we stopped at the Trailhead Bar & Grill. Excellent food.

After lunch, we hit the first no-go road of Nate's currated route. In McVeigh, WV we started down Dinky Road, only to find it was not suitable for our bikes. While traveling Rt199 south we reached a sign directing 199 down Dinky Rd. The road went between houses and looked like someone's driveway. It traveled behind the house and started up the side of a cliff. We stopped when the switchback flipped back steeply up the hill on solid rock. Nate negotiated the turn and stopped short. According to Nate, he saw ledge, baby heads, and vegitation growing into the roads from both sides. Bruce and I stopped before we could see around the corner. Turning around on a steep corner was not easy, but far better than continuing. The backtracking out and finding a way around was significant and cut out another section of Nate's currated route.

Kudzu covers many sections of WV, KY, and VA. As sad is it is to see this invasive vine choke out the indigenous plans and manmade structures, it's also extremely beautiful when it covers huge areas of landscape. At times it covers almost everything you can see, but the road. Imagine and entire cliffside, the trees, power lines, gaurd rails, vehicles and buildings. All lush leafy green lumps.

Enjoyed our route, nearing the Tennessee border, I looked ahead for a campground. The best option was deeper into Kentucky. We stopped for a dinner snack and found a closer campground at Natural Tunnel State Park. We passed through two campground sections. Stopping at the closed office and the missing camp hosts. We continued looking for a spot with less people and found the Primitive camping area: five campsites in a secluded area, with no other campers. We selected a spot and setup our tents. I then returned to the camp host to register us for $18.

Back at the campsite we all ate something and talked awhile before going into our tents. No traffic noise or street lights, only the sounds of nature.