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On the way to Beckley, we stopped at an overlook near the
New River Bridge - it's the longest single-span steel arch
bridge in the western hemisphere.
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The bridge.
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The walkway down to a lower part of overlook.
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The bridge from the lower overlook.
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The New River. Some of the "specks" in the river are kayakers
who have just been through some of the best white water in North America.
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Informative sign.
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More sign.
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Another view of the bridge. As we continued on our trip south
we crossed the bridge.
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Juliette waited in a patch of shade near the New River Bridge overlook.
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We arrived in Beckley and crashed at an inexpensive motel. We'll
spare you the details and the brand identification of the hotel - you
don't want to know. The next morning we went to the Beckley
Exhibition Mine. Near the mine are several mine-camp structures
that actually are not from Beckley, but from other mining camps in
West Virginia and elsewhere. This was the kitchen from a married
miner's house.
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A corner shelf in the miner's house that reminded Elaine of
a similar one her dad made.
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The miners' chapel.
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A shanty for a miner alone at the camp.
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Informative sign about the shanty.
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The miner's shanty exterior.
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Joe, a retired miner, gave us a tour of a real mine. He started in
the mines when he was 16, and worked there for 40 years, except for
service in the army.
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Water pump display in the mine.
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A side rail in the mine.
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It's hard to see in this picture, but they showed us a one-ton
car. The miner's got paid by the ton. Time spent digging and
blasting didn't matter - what mattered was the tonnage.
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Joe in the mine
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As our little mine train departed, you could see the hole in
the ground whence we came.
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The mountain under which the coal was extracted.
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A one-room schoolhouse from a miner's camp. It happened to be
the schoolhouse that West Virginia Senator Robert Byrd attended as a youth.
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Elaine poses with our tour-guide Joe.
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With a mine supervisor's house is in the background,
Juliette is ready to get going!
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A monument to West Virginia miners.
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On the way to Asheville, we saw this cool guitar building across the
highway from the Tennessee welcome station.
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Cool sculpture at the Tennessee welcome station. Tennessee always has
the best welcome stations!
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