We left Charlottesville, VA and drove south on I-64/81. The Shenandoah Valley flattened out a bit and narrowed as we went south. I-64 turns west directly into West Virginia, so that was a planned route. However, I must have drifted off. Derrille mentioned that Virginia Tech calls Blacksburg home. I checked the map. Blacksburg is beyond Roanoke. Roanoke wasn't part of our intended route. Oh, oh! Somehow we missed the I-64 turn off and passed the point of no return. Stuff happens! 
We drove north through West Virginia . One small town looked very poor from our highway view, which may or may not be accurate. Other towns built next to the river. They looked like homes of people with modest means. Charlotte, the capitol city, bustled with activity. Their beautiful capitol dome stands proudly above the city skyline. We only saw 2-3 tall buildings as we passed through.
RV Parks in this part of the state are scarce. I chose a site in Milton. When I called for a reservation I was told the park expected 30 RV rigs to come that evening, but there was room for us. As with most parks the sounds of a major highway lull you to sleep. Often planes and trains use this part of town too. Although we never found the tracks, a train barreled by Milton, a few times during our stay. The engines sounded so close, I had to check out the windows to make sure we weren't parked on the tracks! 
When we entered Kentucky the next day we made a diesel stop and filled the tank at $2.99/gal. At Lexington outer edge, we turned south and found our RV Park in Renfro Valley. Two rigs occupied the park. A few more came and went during our stay. Obviously no one else cared to come here in November. Our first thought was "why did I select Renfro Valley as a destination". Later I discovered two magazine articles in my files, raving about Renfro Entertainment Center. However, not much happens in November. Weekend events appeared on the schedule, but we would not be here then.My Internet search showed that Berea claimed a Laundromat. After driving through town several times we located the Sno-White Laundromat. As usual, we did a walk through to check it out. Oh, my! The building was dark, dingy and dirty. A singular light cast eerie shadows. Ceiling tiles dangled from the ceiling. Odd bits of metal poked out of dark places. Most machines have Out of Order signs stuck to them. We didn't even open the few working washing machines for fear that something might pop out. We have used many Laundromats across the U.S. and Canada. Never have we seen one like this. It looked like a set for Nightmare on Elm Street! Our laundry could wait for another day.
The 7-11 clerk informed us that another Laundromat was just down the street. We drove to investigate. Beth's looked like a usable place, except she was closed on Wednesday, and today was Wednesday.
Berea College fills the town. We figured with college students, there must be a food store close. Wrong.
We later discovered that this accredited college is free to poverty kids. Everything is provided. The students learn some of the folk crafts and sell their wares at the gift store to make money for the school and themselves. We did explore some of the artisan shops on the main street.
We still hadn't seen a grocery store. We were informed there were two stores in town: the Saves a Lot next to the dollar store, and Wal-Mart out by the freeway. Saves a lot, which wasn't quite as dingy as the laundromat, didn't make me want to go in. So we headed for Wal-Mart. The Kentucky Artisan Center makes it home at this interstate junction. The center offered pieces of beautiful work from the affordable to art treasures for the wealthy. 650 artisans are represented. Large metal and wood sculptures with pricey tags filled display areas or hung from the walls. More moderately priced items were also available in wood, pottery, jewelry, books, beeswax and metal. A large variety of items made interesting perusing. They even had hot sauces and rum balls. Much of the art focused on equestrian themes. One of the workers told us of another laundry and how to get there. She also told us of Kroger's in Richmond.
We followed her directions and found ourselves at Beth's, just from a different direction, and Beth's was still closed on Wednesday. So we headed for Richmond. Derrille spotted a terrific Laundromat as we entered Richmond, so we stopped there. Next we went to Kroger's, which for you in the NW is a parent company to Fred Meyer's. Very nice store! I will never take the availability of a clean well stocked grocery store for granted again! This section of Richmond looks only a few years old. Anything you want is probably here. Seeing Great Clips we stopped for haircuts. The cost for both of us, even with tips, didn't equal my cut in D.C. Rain started to beat down as we took to the highway for our 38 mile drive home.
After taking care of some chores the next day we left for my cousin Patrick's home just SW of Somerset. The 35 minutes drive showed us some interesting country. Along the highway terraced rock walls had trees growing out of each level. A few trees still displayed colors while the rolling farm lands went on for miles. Patrick and his wife Debbie live above one of the finger inlets of Lake Cumberland in a lovely home they helped to build. Debbie prepared a wonderful gourmet meal that made us feel very special. We truly enjoyed visiting with them. What a fun visit!
Our next destination moved us to Park City, KY the site of Mammoth Caves. A cave tour that interested Derrille isn't offered in November. We did take the New Entrance Tour. Derrille expressed great confidence in me so I agreed. Ranger Joe made the tour interesting even if the cave itself wasn't. 
The tour only went 3/4 of a mile in two hours, but it involved climbing over 500 steps, another personal best for me! 
Derrille chose to take the two hour Heritage Tour that went two miles in a different part of the cave. Early visitors scratched their names in the walls. The tall metal stairway was the way out. A couple of longer tours that involved actually spelunking were available but only if none of your body measures more than 42 inches around.
Mammoth caves extend for 392 miles according to what has been explored so far. Only a small fraction of that is open for public tours and use. The limestone caves are capped with sandstone. Sandstone absorbs water and keeps the Mammoth Caves dry. Carlsbad Caverns are also dry caves. So basically we spent two hours underground walking through a big dry dirt hole. The only cave formations came in the last few minutes of the tour. Derrille and I were greatly disappointed. Also dry caves can accommodate larger groups. Our tour had 110 people! Ranger Joe was informative and humorous, but it still was a lot of people. Our group included some cub scouts on an outing, and a college class on a field trip. They were camping in the park, in tents. Bless them! The thermometer dropped to 24 degrees two of the nights we were there. BRRRRR. 
We took some additional measures in the RV and stayed nice and cozy. Again we were off by ourselves, even though this park has quite a few guests.We drove beyond Cave City toward Glasgow. Once out of the tawdry tourist trap environment the hills continued to roll. Modest brick home and some elegant ones dotted the landscape. References to the horsey world popped up in signs as we traveled along the lovely countryside.
The Diamond Caverns across the street from our campgrounds were more to our liking. Without a sandstone cap, these limestone caves drip with water. Colorful formations surround you. A nice walkway leads from chamber to chamber. Several stagmites had been cut and polished so the rings of growth were visible. It was our first time to see a cross section like this. Apparently before there were laws protecting cave, this one had lots of damage. People would cut off the formations and sell them. Our young guide Brian set a slow pace and gave us time to look and appreciate the miracles around us. This tour included 10 people, 3 of which were little girls under 6 years old. What we did learn was the difference between wet and dry caves. We definitely prefer the color and formations made in wet caves.Next: Tennessee
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