On the crooked road

We had slept about 9 hours last night but managed to struggle to the breakfast room for some Raisin Bran Crunch. We liked it. We then packed everything and set out for Clintwood, VA. We went though Norton so we checked in to our motel for the night but pressed on to Clintwood. We took the mountain road route to get there and found the Ralph Stanley museum. It was in an old 3 story Victorian mansion built in 1902. The inside was an extensive display of the career of Dr. Stanley. Nearly every display featured an oral commentary on the career of him and his brother, Carter who died in 1966. He almost quit but many fans and friends encouraged him to continue. He did and is 82 but still performing. We heard later in the day that he and some friends had been rear ended, knocking them down a 40 foot embankment. I don’t know if that is true but he escaped injury while his grandson had 2 broken legs. Perhaps it will be in the news if true. We returned to the motel and rested before going to an Italian restaurant for supper. We can’t remember being in a restaurant the had such fantastic acoustics! Everything was intensely magnified. We talked with the manager enough to learn that he had attended the University of Texas. We drove back to Coeburn, VA to hear bluegrass. We were able to dance a bit too, although many of the dancers did clogging. The people danced the same step to all the songs. We danced a waltz but looked out of place. We told the ticket seller that we were from Texas and were rewarded with a pencil sketch of some of the people who had played there. It is one of the stops on the “Crooked Road Music Tour” through western Virginia. It has been hot and dry although rain and storms have been predicted. Tomorrow it is off to Bristol and Hiltons for more museum tours.