David
Heiller
Our
family spent a few days in Kentucky two weeks ago. It was an interesting experience.
It’s hard to come to any conclusions about a state after only four days, so
call these impressions very preliminary.
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| Roger, Maria, David, Cindy and Noah walking in Kentucky. |
A land of tobacco. A
lot of people smoke in Kentucky. I saw more smokers in four days than I have in
the last year, and that is not an exaggeration. In Somerset, where we stayed,
there was a drive-through store for discount cigarettes.
I can only imagine using that. A tinny voice mumbles
through a speaker, “May I take your order, please?”
The man says, “Yeah, I’d like a carton of Winston, a pack
of Red Man Chaw, and two Swisher Sweets for dessert.”
“Honey,” his wife says in a reminding tone.
“Oh yeah, a pack of Virginia Slims for the missus.”
“Daddy!” comes a voice from the back seat.
“All
right,” the old man sighs. Then he says into the microphone, “And a tin of
Copenhagen, mint flavored.”
“Would you like to super-size that?” the speaker voice
squawks.
“No thanks,” the man answers.
“Drive up
to the second window, please.”
One
reason a lot of people smoke could be that many folks raise tobacco. We saw
hundreds of fields of tobacco while driving the back roads. Some were big, like
fields of corn around here. Others were as small as your potato patch.
I asked a
local guy if people raised their own tobacco to smoke. He said no, the tobacco
we saw was planted by people who had licenses to grow and sell it, to help
supplement their income.
My theory
is that if you or your neighbors grow tobacco, you might be more likely
to use tobacco. People in Minnesota eat a lot of dairy products partly
because their friends and neighbors are dairy farmers. We live in a culture
that encourages people to “get milk.” Kentucky has a tobacco culture. I always
look for the Real Seal on dairy products. I didn’t see any equivalent to the
Real Seal for tobacco, unless it was the one that warned about cancer and heart
disease.
Lots
of religion. There were churches everywhere. The radio
was full of religious programming, gospel music, and earnest preachers. I didn’t
listen to it much, but one man caught my attention when he told of the “eels of
the world.” I thought he was giving an ad about an aquarium until I realized he
meant the “ills” of the world.
Related
to that was the sale of alcohol, or lack of it. The county we stayed in,
Pulaski, was a dry county. You could not buy an alcoholic beverage in the
entire county, at least not legally. I wouldn’t bet against someone having a
still in the hills. We went to a music festival, and the announcers would
periodically remind us, almost with a wink, that we were in a dry county. It
was obvious that some of the people at the festival had crossed the county
line.
Cheap gas and lots of logging. We saw gasoline as low as $1.12 per gallon. Minnesota could learn something from Kentucky in that department. Why is gas 20 cents more per gallon a thousand miles to the north?
The timber industry is big. We saw a lot of lumber yards, sawmills, and many trucks hauling logs. The hills and mountains are thick with hardwood trees.
There are many horse farms and horses. We drove past numerous homes with huge fields bordered by split rail fences and sprinkled with beautiful horses.
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| The natural bridge in Natural bridge state park, Kentucky. |
The mountains were impressive. We spent a day and a night
at Natural Bridge State Park. It is named after a place where wind and water
have worn a hole in the mountain big enough to dive a train through. It’s a
huge span that gives the park its name. People can walk across it. We rode up
to it in a ski lift, which really offered some spectacular views. I got up
earlier that morning and walked up to it, 3/4 of a mile. The trail was steep
but very well maintained. It was foggy and damp, and I kept expecting to meet a
grizzled mountain man at every corner, guarding his aforementioned moonshine
factory.
When I got to the natural bridge, I couldn’t see much.
Then the mist slowly lifted, revealing mountains and valleys as far as my eyes
could strain. It looked so dense and wild. I thought how it must be an isolated
life in the mountains, at least in the old days before modern roads and
transportation. I bet people that grow up in those mountains have a hard time
leaving them. They hold so much power and pull.
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| Maria and Malika at Natural Bridge State Park. |
The award for most catchy cafe name in
Kentucky
went to the “Chat and Chew.” That prompted a catchy name contest in the car. My
favorite: “Gag and Gossip.”
We only saw a small slice of Kentucky, and only for a
short period. But it was an interesting visit, smoke and all.
