Wednesday 9th September 2009 - Chalking up Another State

          I start with a shower, in the "Drivers' Suite, provided for the truckers.  I cost $10, but it was clean and private, and everything was provided.  And the two-snooze day seems to have worked.  I'm near Catlettsburg, right on the corner of Kentucky, Ohio, and West Virginia.  So I can skate right across WV by lunchtime.  It is very misty, so I decide to use the last of my WiFi time to catch up on mail and things.  I check up on Dulcie, to see what route she's chosen, see if I can avoid the Interstates.

          I notice that the next part of the interstate,which is the way she wants to go, is a toll road, so I opt for the US highway on the other side of the river.  And, blow me down, there is Glasgow, WV.  The saucy cow was only going to slip by it on the other side of the river without so much as a mention.  I can't have that.  I instruct her to take me through Glasgow WV.  Will that be a destination or a via point, she asks, trying to maintain her dignity.

          I have to stop and think.  The festival doesn't start for two days.  Could I?  I tell her tentatively it's a 'via', but I think that I'll rush there for breakfast and see what comes out. 

          I look it over, and then have breakfast.  Actually, it's one of the 'proper' Glasgows, incorporated, with a mayor, and police, etc.  So I can't posssibly do it justice in two days.  I will have to come back.

          Then I have another tussle with Dulcie, who wants to turn back and get on the Interstate.  I decide to igore her and press on along US 60.  She 'recalculates at me for ages, until all other options are cut off.  US 60 is reminiscent of 101 in Oregon, and CA 1.  It's a switchback throught the wonderful wooded hills of WV.  Actually some of the smaller hills near Glasgow are made of coal.  One of the signs says this mine has the finest metalurgical coal in the world: I wonder what that means?

          Finally, both me and Dulcie get our way.  The Americans are capable of abstracting the notion of a 'route' as opposed to a 'road'.  We enter a stretch of road which is both US 60 and I 64.  I drive happily along OS 60, and she insists on telling me it's I 64.

          The US route numbering system is quite logical: North to south highways are odd-numbered, with lowest numbers in the east and highest numbers in the west. Similarly, west to east highways are even-numbered, with the lowest numbers in the north and highest numbers in the south.  So US 2 runs along the Canadian border, and US 1 runs down the east coast.  The interstates are the same, but mirrored, so I 5 is on the west coast, and I 95 on the east, and I 10 is in the south, I 90 in the north.  Of course, it doesn't work out as neatly as that in practice, and it is not uncommon to see a road with both an odd and an even route running along it.

 

          Later that night, having got to the Festival site, I find the spot I have chosen is where the musicians hang out, and some have arrived early, to book the best spots.  There are a number of practice sessions going on.  I am even invited to join in one.  It's a terrible thing, the drink.