Starting out on a 65 day road trip in the Winter of 2008 with my friend Diana, I didn't realize that we actually had "Three" personalities in the car! (Myself, Diana, and Gertie GPS) ! Determined to take secondary roads from Michigan to Florida and back, dear Gertie rebelled! This is the second in a series of tales from that trip!
I left you all last time with the "three" of us in Cincinnati, Ohio. We had stayed at a Comfort Suite in West Chester- who had the best breakfasts, by the way! With all the kids that were staying there, I knew the "Breakfast Lady" had her hands full! When I mentioned this to her she smiled and said "No-Just like at home"!
We visited the Underground Freedom Center. It was Black History month, which made it all the more meaningful! I learned a few facts, including the first slaves were brought to Virginia Colony in 1619! In 1777 Vermont was the first to ban slavery, and in 1787 the Northwest Ordinance and Northwest Territory banned slavery- which included Ohio. I sat and wept as a movie was on, showing slaves trying to flee slavery by crossing a river into Ohio to the underground railroad. It was heartbreaking and uplifting at the same time. The people who participated in the Underground Railroad were heroes!
A second stop was to the Union Station Museum. Beautiful building! There are several museums inside the station!
On to Kentucky- where a sign said "The Home Of The Unbridled Spirit"!
When possible, we took the back roads and passed beautiful horse farms, with homes to match! Stone fences lined the road that was more like a lane-- barely two lanes wide. At one point we were on the Blue Grass Parkway! The sun's rays shining through the clouds gave Kentucky a hushed, majestic quality. And the earth on the mountainsides seemed to weep onto the rocks, small waterfalls cascading down the hills! We thought the scenery awe inspiring!
Now things got interesting! I'd say the real adventure began! Diana missed a turn! (Up to this point Gertie GPS had done pretty well- though once in a while words were exchanged between Diana and Gertie! Diana would scold while Gertie stubbornly chanted.)
This, however was a real test! After chanting "Recalculating" (yet again), she put us onto a road (and the term is being used very, very loosely here) up a mountain that started out as a lane- paved, then went to gravel, and finally down to dirt and mud!
Up, up we went! We finally leveled out at the top of this mountain! There we were in a farmer's pasture! To boot, we were met by a huge bull! The horns alone were something to behold! Oh MY! This guy had a large tag in one ear and looked about the size of my SUV! Yikes! (In my imagination I saw our car laying on it's side while this giant bull speared us over and over with his overgrown horns!) What happened was somewhat different!
He did a double-take!
Yep- the looks said "You've got to be kidding me! What the Hell are you doing here??!!" The look on his face was hysterical. He had the same look on his face as Diana and I must have had! Both Diana and I burst out laughing- as much from relief as from the humor! Needless to say, we kept moving!
We laughed so hard we had tears running down our faces! Diana kept repeating "Gertie!! Secondary roads are one thing-- Blazing our own trail is quite another!!"
Now we were heading down a single path, down a steep cliff, winding back and forth, and praying no one was coming in the opposite direction! That would not have been good! This was a single lane path, with mountain on one side and a very steep drop off on the other!!
Finally we were at the bottom! There was a metal fence I had to hop out and open so we could pass through- and onto a real road! When I got back into the car I heard Diana call Gertie GPS an idiot! I felt compelled to mention (As gently as I could) that Gertie wasn't the one that missed the turn, so we shouldn't throw her out the window just yet. After a moment of silence Diana gave Gertie a 24 hour reprieve from execution!
It was one of those things that you had to have been there to appreciate the absurdity of the situation! That was a first for me! I wish I had somehow taken a picture of the bull! Lol!!
Until Next Time, Dear Readers!
Life Is Indeed AnAdventure, And Going Off The Beaten Path Can Be An Adventure Indeed!!
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