Down the Wilderness Road

I was on the jobsite of the residential job that I am currently working on near Big Stone Gap, Virginia and decided to stop at the Wilderness Road Park just out of Middlesboro , Kentucky across Cumberland Gap, near Rose Hill ,Virginia. The significance of this location is that it was the last civilized settlement in Virginia before the settlers traversed the Cumberland Gap into Kentucky. This was the site of Martin's Station, a frontier fortress that protected the pioneers from the ravages of the savage Indians and nature. The state of Virginia has reconstructed the old log fort from historical accounts and documents, and it serves as probably one of the best reminders of how rough life on the frontier truly was in the 1770s. This Fort is of some interest to modern day Stanford where I live because plans are to reconstruct Ft. Logan in Stanford, much as it was when the town was established by Benjamin Logan in the spring of 1775. In Kentucky history the three earliest settlements in order of establishment were Harrodsburg by James Harrod, Ft. Logan by Ben Logan, and Boonesborough by Daniel Boone. Ft. Logan was called St. Asaphs after a Welsh Saint because the Longhunters first camped there on the holiday of St. Asaphs. Later tradition says that the name was changed to Stanford after the attacking Indians called it "Standing_Fort " when they were unable to capture it in 1777 after fifty some days of seige.This seige is officially considered a battle of the American Revolution due to the British Governments aid in trying to run the settlers out of territory claimed by the King of England.It is interesting that I take a similar path across the Wilderness Road that our ancestors took over 200 years ago. The difference is that I travel the 150 miles or so in about three hours, whereas their journey took weeks, without McDonalds ,I might add. The same road was taken back through Middlesboro to Tennessee by the defeated Confederate army after the Battle Of Perryville in October of 1862. Of interest to Lincoln County is that along their retreat the Confederate Army took some 12 Gentlemen from Crab Orchard that were known Union sympathizers and hanged them on the river bank from a big sycamore tree in Pineville in sight of where the Pineville Hospital now sits. The leader of the hanged men was a Mr. King.The seige of Ft. Logan lasted over fifty days and two men were killed by the savages who camped on the bluff overlooking the creek, the present location of Buffalo Springs Cemetary. History doesn't tell how many savages were killed, but the settlers were notably better shots than the Shawnees with their smooth bore muskets. The description and size of FT. Logan was told to Lyman Draper by a Captain Briggs who was a resident of the fort. Draper wrote probably the best history of the frontier that has ever been achieved. He wrote thousands of pages of history from many direct interviews with actual pioneers in the mid 1800s, including the last son of Daniel Boone that he talked with in 1851. Draper wrote the definitive history and biography of Daniel Boone. His manuscripts are held by the University of Wisconsin. As I sit here tonight I am within earshot of where the Indians attacked the Fort in 1777. I often woder of what courage these pioneers had as they crossed the mountains, and how far we have come. Not content to cross over Cumberland Gap, we blasted under the mountain and now go through the tunnel, knocking off about 30 minutes of travel time. All along the route are buffalos serenely grazing in the park areas. I found that they are on loan from a man named Estes who has a whole herd on a hillside between Jonesville and Pennington Gap. They are huge ,formidable beasts that provided a lot of food to the pioneers.I wish the modern pioneers success with the fort reconstruction, but I am happy with modern Stanford with our red caboose and renovated downtown. Just let Ben Logan stay in Shelbyville.

Don't call me a turkey.......turkey!

Today I was coming from a job site in Campbellsville when I decided to cut adross from highway 68 to Gravel Switch and Bradsfordsville, and bypass Danville and Boyle County. These roads are always quite scenic and not crowded with any traffic but farmers and lost travellers. Most of the road runs along side little streams and creeks and wildlife is always abundant. Today seemed to be hawk day as there were countless of these badboys sitting along the trees and utility poles waiting for the next meal, but never seeming to be in a hurry. AS Steve Earl said in his song you don't have to hurry when you're at the top of the food chain. It seems there has been a steady increase in red tail hawk numbers since they have become federally protected. I've noticed several on the side of the road eating roadkill like their trashy cousins the vultures. It seems numbers increasing coorelates to lazy hawks, much like game playing American youth. I often see shiny black crows eating dead animals on the black top as well. I wonder if the birds have warning labels about cholesterol and recommended daily allowances?Do you think Mr. Hawk worries about the fat grams in that big old fat possum? I think he's more worried about that old F-150 bearing down on him with the redneck sophomores from Hustonville trying to run over his regal ass. As I was almost in Bradsforville I came upon this flock of wild turkeys foraging next to the road. There were about 20 of these odd creatures in this flock ,eating everything in their path, much like the locusts of Biblical days. Now this has become a billion dollar business as hunters have forsaken traditional game like the deer to pursue turkeys. My nephew only hunts them with a bow. One would think a bird with a brain the size of a small nut would be easy to snare, but not so ! These wily creatures are so difficult to shoot that hunters buy several thousand dollars worth of gear to camoflage themselves for the kill. I stopped to snap a picture and the birds that were content to graze while My car was moving suddenly took flight across the front of my car.Now these awkward looking birds took flight rapidly and quite efficiently, and flew quite a distance to land atop the tree covered knob to the right of my car, and promptly disappeared. Old Ben Franklin wanted to make the wild turkey our national bird, but got out-voted for the Bald Eagle by cooler heads in the early beginnings of our nation. Turkeys don't have teeth and swallow acorns whole. This rough food is pulverized in their gizzards by ingested rocks and minerals.All in all the turkey is a gross and remarkable creature. I can only testify that the legs taste mighty good at Disney World.The creatures certainly bested me today, but they didn't have chili for supper like I did. FRom the looks of me maybe I should be eating acorns and nuts.

Delta isn't ready when you are

This past December we were ready for our Christmas trip to New York City. On December 14th the crew was on its way to fly out the next morning to the Big Apple out of Louisville. I don't know why Lexington cannot be competitive, but we have to drive 100 miles to SDF to save several hundred dollars on flights. Somehow this trip was destined to never be as we were sitting on I-64 waiting to enter the Watterson Expressway when Crash!!. This over- intoxicated bimbo runs into the back of our car! She sits in the drivers seat of her Explorer for perhaps 10 minutes before she decides to join Dave and me outside in the crisp Jefferson County evening air. It takes this woman this long to get out and what does she say? Not "Are You Hurt", or "Is Everyone Okay?" No, she asks,"What are you going to do?"Her exact words. When I tell her I had called 911 she just said"Oh". Well to make a simple story end , she subsequently blew a.135 on the breathlizer(sp?). Well the Impala was drivable, so we went on to the motel in hopes of flying out the next morning; while the silent maiden accompanied the Metro policeman to her own Gray-bar hotel for the night. Somehow I feel that well dressed 48 year old women should have better things to do than be drunk at 6:30 pm on a Friday Evening. Maybe it's a husband issue.The next morning we thankfully boarded our Delta sponsored commuter Chatauqua jet for Cincinnati, or so we thought. Our young Skyking Pilot had us pushed off from the gate and said due to icy weather we were number 2 to be de-iced for take-off. Wrong . Four hours later we had watched every big Delta jet in Louisville roll up and be de-iced and depart on schedule. Our little Chatauqua just sat there like a ship of the damned. He finally rolled up to the gate , and one half of the plane jumped off. We had endured no food, lies, and extreme heat to no avail. Delta reluctantly refunded our tickets but gave no apologies. The Delta manager in charge was a perfect jerk, even saying Delta had no guarantee over the Chatauqua commuter. I wonder who he thought sold us the tickets. I do know that seven in our party will never fly Delta again, or Chatauqua, not that it matters to either. I wrote to both airlines and Chatauqua didn't even bother to respond. Delta came back with a syrupy, whiny-assed reply telling of conditions beyond their control. All I can say is Delta's entire crew at SDF was at wit's end on how to help us, and incapable of the simplest social graces. Did they not have mamas's who taught them how to say"We're Sorry"? And as for the manager at the ticket counter named Don, I hope you feel like you did your job. Maybe you should try a vocvation where you don't have to have contact with people. I realize you probably don't have much education, do you? We drove home in a cold rain while others visited Rockefeller Center or sat next to our non-refundable empty seats for Spamalot. Thanks to the drunken wench I have met a slew of new people in the form of insurance agents and insurance adjusters. It's amazing how little your car is worth when a drunken person plows into the back. Plus we all got subpoened to traffic court from the offices of Mr. Irv Mize in Jefferson County. A nice lady called the Victim's Advocate called for my account and excused us from court unless the lady pleads innocent. In that case we have to drive 100 miles to Louisville and testify she hit my car. I hope if we have to go that the Delta crews , the insurance adjuster, the pilot, and all of the people involved have to testify., but that's not going to happen , is it?As I traveled to the site of one of my jobs this week I thought of this mixed up adventure. The Impala still travels along at 80 MPH with its broken taillight and dented rear but its growing on me, kinda like the Rat Rods , you know. Scars add interest to western heroes' faces, so maybe the dented ass-end adds class to the Impala.I stopped to use the restroom at Pall Mall, Tennessee and checked out the old mill at Sgt. York's park. A long way from Louisville Airport and Delta, but one of life's simpler pleasures. I'm listening to Fergie and Natasha Bedingfield on the cd player and it seems right going through Fentress County, Tennessee. Tomorrow its I-75 and Knoxville. 85 MPH and the Foo Fighters. I'm saving Fergie for the trip down Jellico Mountain.