Green River Blues (a travelogue)
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"...7 a.m. ... dusty road ... I'm gonna drive until it burns my bones... " M83-"Highway of Endless Dreams" Funny, how a lyric can be a cue to dredge up memories - even those you might want to remain forever submerged. Ever been on Kentucky backroads? They definitley follow the lay of the land, rather than take the crows path. They bend and twist and turn, up and down endless hills surrounded by the fabled "bluegrass". While all that is fine and dandy if you are holding the steering wheel, the adverse is true for most passengers, and car-sickness usually isn't avoidable. That makes everyone a bit irritable and skeptical that the destination is worth the endurance. You see where I'm going? By the time we got to the sign prompting us to turn for the last 6 miles to the ferry, I was getting browbeat from all three females in the car, who had by now sought the minor relief of putting down the windows for the fresh air relief, albeit warm and growing hotter, could provide. I made that turn, thankful that this poorly chosen path was about over, only to find myself on an unpaved, virtually dirt, road. Yep, the last six miles, the dust was flying behind us as the tempers grew hotter and hotter. That uncomfortable silence that consoles the inseperable, trapped together in the middle of nowhere. Finally, we approached my ill-chosen goal - the fabled Green River ferry! Which turned out to be little more than a 2 car platform guided by cables over the 100 foot expanse of the river...
As soon as M83's Morgan Kibby uttered the opening setup to "Highway of Endless Dreams", the dust storm gathered into a flood of information. In the early '90's, our family went on a short vacation to visit some places in western Kentucky. Mammoth Caves was to be the first, and southernmost, stop...then we would work our way back; catching some other highpoints like Lincoln's childhood home. Nice summer drive to get out of town for a little while.
I was always the map-master on such trips, since I have kind of an uncanny sense of direction (to which I credit my many years as a boyscout, learning to navigate with compass and map). On this particular trip, I noticed that - just north of the Mammoth Caves national park - was a little blurb that said "ferry" where the road was cut by the path of the Green River. Now, there aren't many ferries around my neck of the woods, I believe the last one I had been on was a trip a few years earlier when we crossed from Maryland to New Jersey on one of those vessels that holds about 20 cars. We watched our oldest daughter silenced and turn green from the rocking waves, so the memories of that peaceful 30 minutes must have prompted my decision. We would cut across the backroads and enter the park from the north, so we could add the experience of the ferry to the trip.
Check these pictures from the net that shows how little the ferry has changed in 70 years or so.
Bill Wyman' Rhythm Kings takes us out with the CCR classic
Locating MOG account...
Comments (9)
Ha! And they say everything is bigger in America! You could probably clear that stretch of water Dukes Of Hazard style if you took a fast enough run up (10KPH).
Top tune!
So you never told us Scotfree... were you redeemed when the three females in the car saw the ferry and that beautiful view you've posted of it?
These posts you write of memories are a great read by the way.
Good tunage on both counts!
c'mon Flossy! rev 'er up and get 'ol Cooter on the phone...we're takin' 'er in! Boy, that woulda landed me in (a nice quiet) loony bin.
well, redemption's hard to come by, yummy...but shortly we were in the cool underground caverns - so at least all was forgotten (until the family ber-b-cues!) thanks so much!!
Wow! Listening to the song while reading your story was kind of a transformative experience! I grew up in New Jersey, and I remember that Cape May - Lewes ferry that took me to Delaware and back several times. It felt like we were going out to sea in a vessel that wasn't quite sturdy enough! Also, when I moved out west in the 80's, we took the long way that sent us through bluegrass country in Kentucky and visited some of the horse farms. On an overcast dreary Saturday afternoon, a stablehand that I'll always be indebted to asked, "Hey, would y'all like to meet Secretariat?" And he brought him out. It had been 14 years since the triple crown year, yet Secretariat was about as majestic an animal as I'd ever seen. And that horse CLEARLY knew who he was and that he was someone special. From that day, I've been a little more likely to believe in magic, and this song and your story took me back.
Thank you for such a well-written reminiscence.
great post and further proof that men do not need a gps!
glad you enjoyed nordico - thanks for throwin' out the ferry name. meetin Secretariat is a pretty cool event. I used to go to the Kentucky Derby 'bout every year. one of the years was the one that she won. I wrote in my journal on the way down that "since she was the only lady, she was the only one that had anything to run about"...then I did not bet on her!
It takes all the suspense out of travel, eh Rawk??
I think so, when I go if I get lost I feel it is part of the journey. Got to ask, how safe was that ferry you took? It makes me nervous just looking at it
that's a funny story, scot. Reminds me of times when I've taken a wrong turn or two and found myself suddenly in the middle of nowhere.
Me and the wife went to Mammoth Cave when she was pregnant with my first born. Kentucky was absolutely beautiful and then we went south towards Tennessee. I wish we had had more money to spend and time to drive the outer parts of our trip. We ended up in Memphis at Graceland (where Elvis ended his career) and then Sun Studios where Elvis and Johnny Cash and a few others started their careers. Sun Studios, Graceland and Mammoth Cave were the highlights of that trip, not to mention the time spent with my wife. I love traveling backroads, I have family that live down in the sticks in NW Arkansas and I love spending as much time down there as I can (which is not much or very often unfortunately).