Tree Peeking in Southwest VA and Southeast KY - October

We took a one day trip up US 23 into Virginia. Somewhere past Big Stone Gap we headed over into Kentucky.  The road cut below impressed Ben more than the trees.  

In Pikeville KY we searched on Virtual Tourist for a good restaurant and came up with a BBQ restaurant.  I had the "sliders" so I could try the beef, pork, and chicken.  All were pretty good. 

There were "Friends of Coal" signs and stickers everywhere!  We were there near the end of October and political signs were also on display.  We saw a few 

" United Mine Workers for Grimes" but very few.  Quite a number of signs for Mitch McConnell.

Nearly every business had the Friends of Coal sign somewhere in their advertising or on a window.

We did see a number of coal mines still operating and quite a number of trains operating filled with coal.  This was on a Saturday.

The trees were brightly colored but the sunshine was not out so the trees were not as brilliant as they could have been.

We continued back into Virginia from Pikeville through Grundy to Lebanon and back down US 11 and I 81 to Tri Cities.

Found this did not ever get written and posted when I posted the December trip.  Ben was going to write and give a good description of the geology but I see he forgot!