Day 6: Lessons on the side of the road

Begin:       650 am The Breaks Interstate Park, VA

End:          115 pm Pippa Passes, KY

Miles:        ? miles 

Took pictures at the VA/KY State line, then didn't break until Bypro, KY.

In those 45 miles, we went over some huge hills and back some country roads that showed some of the poorest parts of KY imaginable.  Shacks of wood, sheet metal, rusted out trailers and mobile homes.

It really got to me how horrible it would be to live like that.

Had my first coke during a ride - A 1 liter coke!

I didn't get sick. Thank god.

Met a guy in Bypro (He never turned off his car) that told us he was a hillbilly.

Gave us the story of eastern Kentucky along with his life story. 

Talked about the feuds after the Civil War.

How returning prisoners/soldiers all had to pass through these parts.

I guess the Hatfields/McCoys lived within 30 miles of where we were talking.

He talked about the first settlers who took Indian wives, because there were not any white women.

"Hillbillys have color to their skin because of this"

Of how they destroyed the area with pollution from sewage and removing coal.

Of how everyone is connected to the coal industry and how poor and poorly educated the KY men were because the "politics are western" (western KY gets coal money, but spends little of it in eastern KY).

Got to Pippa Passes.

There's a community college here and we will be staying in a hostel.

The room is pretty rundown, but it has tons of beds and HOT SHOWERS.

Not sure how many people are staying here.

P.S.  After checking in, the hostess admitted to us that it is no longer AYH and charged us $7.25