Kentucky Travels.

2007.03.27 at 23:34

Mom and I arrived in Grand Rivers (St. Louis shown for scale) around 4-ish, and we went straight to Lake Realty to see Brenda and Margaret. We sat and talked for awhile, then went to Patti's Restaurant where they cook bread in flower pots, and they taught me how to!
After that we went on a walk through the town, which took a few minutes, and my uncle Roy let me ride his 400cc scooter. I think he said 400. Anyhoot, he said tomorrow I can try and ride it!
I wish I could live the life they do here, really. It's so beautiful out here, and simple. While we were walking through the town, random people's cats would just come up and I would caqrry them a few blocks, then they'd follow me around. My Aunt Anne owns pet goats, and you know I'm a sucker for farm animals.
I love boating and lakes, and down here the water is about a thousand times cleaner than the Lakes of the Ozarks (Osage Beach water show for reference.)
I just which I could simplify my life and enjoy it here. Maybe instead of a big city, I need to trysomething small-scale for my writing. Something small, but preferably still in California. I need sunshine in my life.

More tomorrow night, Mom is complaining that the glow of my laptop is keping her awake.



2007.03.28 at 20:58

Today was exhausting.
Got up at 8:30 and headed to Grand Rivers. Aunt Margaret, Mom and I went to visit Dycusburg to see Aunt Janie, who after her stroke says everything out loud. Some gems from today included "Megan used to be skinny" and "What's that thing in her nose?"
Then we went down the road, past Grandma's old property and to visit Aunt Anne. But she wasn't there, so I visited the chickens and goats and cats and dogs. Anyhoot, after that, we went to the Land Between the Lakes, where my family settled and my grandma and everyone was raised until the Tennessee Valley Authority abused their rights of eminent domain and forced everyone to relocate in the 1960s. All the houses and stores were bulldozed in the 1980s.
It's heartbreaking to think I will never see these homes that my family came from. Margaret, who was born in one of the log cabins, and her husband Roy have known each other their whole lives. Their past together has been pushed down and grown over. It's where the first settlers in Kentucky went, because the land was so fertile due to the rivers. When the rivers were damed and turned into lakes, the rivers flooded, and it makes sense to relocate the homes on the river banks. But it was abusive to move out everyone so we could have a park. IT wasn't a metropolis. These homes weren't a threat to nature. This was a crime in my eyes.
After that, we went and had dinner at the Iron Kettle with Anne, Janie, Margaret, Sarah and Susan, then went and saw Roy at home.
Tomorrow we're going to see the goats again, so I'll have goat pictures.


2007.03.29 at 23:46

Left Kentucky around noon today, after the second goat-visit. Trip was great, but the closest Taco Bell to Grand Rivers is 20 miles away. I think I'd like to retire there, but I probably won't be able to afford it!

GOATS!



this one in my favourite.


baby and momma goat!




this is mary. she likes how i taste.


this one's name is dipstick!




i almost took it.


mary started chewing my hand while i was holding the camera.


this little white one's mom doesn't have horns, but her brother does.


this is mary's daughter. if you look close on her back, you can see a burn mark from when she fell onto the heater that anne put out for her baby (the next picture.)

and this is mary's grandchild!


i believe little guy's name is Lucky. If not, there is a goat named Lucky, and his twin sister died because they were born in the cold of winter.


cows.



This is all that is left of my grandma's childhood home. The Tennessee Valley Authority started clearing people out of the Land Between the Lakes after they dammed a river and the land started to flood. Then they got a little power-crazed and made everyone move out and bulldozed all the houses. Now it's just woods, where there was once over a 1000 families, and stores, baseball diamonds, a community. All gone now.