COAL MINING COUNTRY.
Day 83 – We’d been looking forward to listening to the rushing stream during the night, but it was noisy at the campground. We shut the windows & slept quite well, in fact we slept later than we’d intended. At 8:15 a.m. it was 44 degrees, sunny. For the time being, the campground was quiet.
144 miles, (3:45), 36923-37070
We didn’t know what route we were taking. We didn’t know where we’d be spending the night. We just got on the road we came in on, the Bert T. Combs Mountain Parkway, and headed east. We knew we’d have to go generally northeast towards home. And we knew there was a lot of new territory to cover. We were really looking forward to seeing some new places. Rob has a plane ticket to CA to visit his mom & I have a dental appointment. After he returns from CA, we have other doctor’s appointments – follow up on my knee, annual physicals for both of us & for the kitties, that sort of thing. It’s almost that time of year again.
Eastern Kentucky just got prettier & prettier the farther we drove. Rolling hills, you could almost call them mountains, lined both sides of the road. The highway cut through the hills & was curvy. There wasn’t much traffic. Around every corner was another view. The hills that the road ran through were terraced from where they had to blast through the granite. Trees were growing on each level of terraced rock, almost like they’d been landscaped that way. Because we’d gone south some yesterday, the temperatures were warmer & more spring green was showing up on the trees & bushes. One day it’s winter; the next day it’s spring. We left the Mountain Parkway and got on Route 119, heading northeast. We stopped for a lunch break & a break for the girls.
Click on any picture below to see a slideshow.
As we approached the border to West Virginia, we began seeing billboards for lawyers for the coal miners, signs for Black Lung Disease specialists, and we passed by the Coal Miner’s Healthy & Safety Bureau of Eastern Kentucky. We saw lots more evidence of coal mining in West Virginia and realized it was (and is) an entirely different kind of life here. We’d never been to WV in the RV, (just traveled through once in 1989 on our way from California when we were moving to NY. We remembered how beautiful it was.) The hills were even rockier in WV than they’d been in KY; the hills even taller; the roads more winding. As we climbed into the hills we could look down in between one hill & the one next to it, and small communities were nestled at the bottom of these hills in tight valleys, completely surrounded by this scenery everywhere they looked. Streams ran down the mountains to creeks below. Bucolic.
We decided to stop at the Chief Logan State Park near Logan, WV. We arrived at 2:30 p.m. We were afraid they might be full since the weekend was approaching. No, there was plenty of room for a one-night stay. We drove through and chose a wonderful campsite, #11, and set up camp. Hardly anyone is here, it is quiet, and very beautiful. The narrow road leading into the campground was gorgeous but it made us wonder if we’d be too big to fit in the campsites. No problem at all, but larger RV’s might have an issue. The campsites are full hook-ups & with the senior discount it was only $29.70. We are in one of those valleys surrounded by the wooded hills. There is a stream right out front & we hear the water rushing by. The birds were singing beautiful songs and flitting about. It’s courting time in wonderland.
The high today was 79 degrees, mostly sunny, a little haze. When we were eating dinner, we heard rustling in the woods. Right outside the RV, on the other side of the stream, four deer clamored down the mountain, stopped to eat some fresh greenery, crossed the stream, and meandered across the campground road. Java said. “Those are some BIG cats!”, as she stood at the screened door & looked out while Rob took some pictures.
White-tailed Deer, Chief Logan State Park, Logan, WV
White-tailed Deer, Chief Logan State Park, Logan, WV
Chief Logan State Park: 376 Little Buffalo Creek Road, Logan, WV 25601; (304) 792-7125; https://wvstateparks.com/park/chief-logan-state-park/. Chief Logan State Park is located on 3,988 acres about 4 miles north of Logan, WV. The Park, the town, and the county were all named after Chief Logan, a Mingo Native American leader who lived in the region before the American Revolutionary War. The Park was established in 1969. We were so lucky to have found this small campground. The scenery is great. Full hook-ups for a decent price. Nothing fancy, just peace & quiet. We recommend this Park to those who aren’t camping in an RV too large; you might have some difficulty on the narrow road & possibly couldn’t fit in the campsites. They recommend reservations, we had no problem getting in without them, but it isn’t peak season by a long shot. $29.70 per night with senior discount. We will definitely stay here again.