Daniel

 3/23- Ace Handle Distilling, Pennington Gap VA

   Meanwhile it cold and rainy when we departed this morning so the scenery lacked a little pizzazz. Actually this one road we went down could be classified as the anti-scenic route. It wound down this long hollow and was lined with single wides ramshackle huts and just generally dilapidated buildings. The ditch on the side of the road was literally overflowing with trash. I was glad to see the end of that road.

   We stopped at Cumberland Gap National Park and then went through the tunnel to the town of Cumberland Gap, TN. There we took a hike and climbed up to the top of the actual gap. Daniel Boone walked here along this same path.

  Daniel Boone was a childhood hero of mine. Of course I idolized the Fess Parker version as I watched the tv series Daniel Boone. It turns out the real version didn’t quite live up to the hype. 

   Our next stop was Axe Handle Distilling which was a Harvest Host site. We had originally picked this spot as we said we couldn’t leave Kentucky without having some bourbon but it turns out this place is in Virginia. We still managed to partake of some bourbon.