lexington, ky

I am on my adventure now!

I decided that I will post one picture each day, so that I will not make my whole trip focused on taking pictures for my blog, but I did take some other delightful pictures today, which will find their way into a facebook album in the near future! I figured I should make an epic sign for my window so that I can feel extra pumped up! I am already pretty pumped up.

This week went by really fast and really slow all at once, so of course I was madly rushing around this morning getting everything packed up. The bad thing about having a grand adventure with lots of time to plan is that most of the things you really can't do until the last minute so you spend a lot of time before that antsily twiddling your thumbs. The good thing about having a grand adventure with plenty of time to plan is that once you do get to pack up, it's really easy. Seriously! I have been dreaming about this adventure since summer, and I don't think I forgot a single thing, and everything fits in my car exactly right.

Nevertheless, I left Athens this morning as planned. And by "this morning," I mean "two p.m." It's ok, though, because in my original plan I was going to hop on over to West Virginia and Virginia to visit my dear friend Sara and my cousin Emily, and continue to Lexington from there, but Sara was busy this weekend and then I realized that Roanoke, Virginia, is not actually on the way to Oregon, or to Kentucky. (Lexington isn't technically on the way to Oregon, either, but who's counting?) Once I removed this detour from my route, I found out that Lexington is only four hours from Athens! That made my life a lot easier. I also won't have to worry about trying to cram everything I'm interested in about Lexington into this visit, because I can totally come back later since it's so close! Hurray for everyone!

The drive is beautiful. I invented my own route of non-major highways. I have a general goal for this trip of not driving on highways I've been on before, as much as I can at least. (I'm waiting for them to build that second interstate in Wyoming....yeah..right.) I took US-32, the Applachian Highway, out of Athens. This is the best way to get to Cincinnati, and it's lovely. Just through Jackson, I cut south on US-23 heading toward Portsmouth and the Ohio River. I followed that great gorgeous river just on the Ohio side on US-52, which curves along with it. It's officially an "Ohio Scenic Byway." It is scenic in its views of: the river; the farmland; the coal factories; the rolling hills; the shacks; the greenery, even in November; the near-lifeless towns.

I found US-68 and crossed over into Kentucky. At this point the sun was getting lower in the sky, infusing everything with glorious magical rays of sunlight. Kentucky is horse country. Kentucky is near the Allegheny Mountains. The rolling hills and vast horse farms did not disappoint, and the evening sun glinted through bare branches and dilapidated barns as I wove my way southwest to Lexington. It was stunning.

I also noted something important, I will probably remember every day around five p.m. the rest of this trip, is that when you are driving due west, or close enough, and trying to mostly drive when it's light, you are going to drive straight into the sun. A lot. Oh well!

I met up with Dave and Rose in Lexington. They were going with friends to a Diwali celebration. Diwali, from my limited knowledge, celebrates the new year in India. It is the celebration of lights. It was a huge celebration at a convention hall, with delicious scents wafting in the air, children playing, men serving samosas and aloo gobi from banquet trays and barking at one another in Hindi. We watched a series of dances in the next room, and they were lively and the costuming was gorgeous. There was a lot of hustle and bustle, but everyone was happy and full of love and light.

We explored a little bit; checked out a dimly-lit bar called Charlie Brown's lined with books, one of which is rumored to have a $100 bill stuffed inside somewhere. Tomorrow morning we're planning to hike around at McConnell Springs, where the first settlers of Lexington camped. Lexington is named after the Lexington in Connecticut, supposedly in honor of the Revolutionary War battle fought there! Hopefully I will learn more fun facts tomorrow.

I apologize that this entry is so long. I can only imagine that they will get longer as I spend more and more hours alone in my car! Tonight the clocks "fall back" and that is extra good news when one is on an adventure because that means more adventuring time! Cheers!

Day 1 mileage: 222. Total mileage: 222.