Ghost Holler

This one kind of has a funny story behind it. Where Jackson, Putnam, and Kanawha counties meet, there are 3 towns. Given, Liberty, and Kenna. I was working in this area for about two weeks. I did a lot of work on Jim Ridge Rd and pretty much every road that branched off of it.

The first day, my route started closer to the interstate, but the continuation on the following day was further out on Jim Ridge Rd. In my work truck, I mostly use a Garmin GPS system, but I also switch back and forth between that and Google maps, depending on signal strength.  I used the Garmin to get to my route on the 2nd day and it took me a crazy back way that had me saying to myself "Where the fuck am I?" It ended up taking me on a road called Ghost Hollow Rd. Being a horror fan, I immediately thought the name was cool. Ghost Hollow Rd is a one lane dirt/gravel road that runs through a holler. This first morning driving through it, it was a bleak and dreary day with a slight fog, so it made the road seem super creepy. What added to the creep factor was that, much like a lot of areas in rural West Virginia, there was no signal, so driving on a road like this, in a vehicle that isn't 4WD, and also going around curves with a drop off on one side, it can have you driving with your fingers crossed. Now, there are houses and farms on this road, but they're very spread out. Top that with the fact that while driving on it, I didn't see a single person or vehicle, it almost made the road seem like it was abandoned. This abandoned look was further enhanced by what you'll see in the photos below.

That's the problem with these areas. There are so few customers on the power grid, that these lines will probably remain like this until they end up getting split or disconnected.

I'm sure it'll be fine......


Oh, there was also this, which I apologize for the crappy picture, but I had to document this as well.

Anyway, as I continued down the road, my trip slowly came to a roadblock.

Had I been in a lifted vehicle, I may have attempted crossing, but alas, I was in a 2wd company vehicle, and I didn't want to risk having to walk to wherever there was a signal and call my boss to get my truck towed. At this point I did what most people would do, I turned around and hit the detour option on my GPS. This still turned out to be frustrating as the first detour it gave me was to turn left on a road named Pennington Rd. This was problematic as you can see below.

It's a little tough to tell in this photo, but this dirt road was very muddy, and I wasn't risking driving it, so yet again, I hit the detour option again and it took me back out to Clendenin Creek Rd. I took this to a road called Divide Ridge road where I came across an amusing sight.

A giant cock on the side of the road...

The laughter soon subsided as Divide Ridge Rd ended and I found myself back on Ghost Hollow Rd, only on the other side of the creek.

As you can imagine, this was a bit frustrating, as I had to yet again, hit my detour option. I eventually found my way out but not before seeing this. 

For those who don't know, in a lot of rural areas, a hollow is referred to as a holler, so I give props to this person for putting Ghost Holler Rd on their mailbox rather than Ghost Hollow Rd. What made this whole thing more interesting is that later on that day when I actually had a signal on my phone, I pulled this area up on Google Maps to get an idea of where I had been and learn the area, I find out that while Ghost Hollow Rd shows on a Garmin, it does not register on Google Maps. It is instead listed as a fork of Clendenin Creek Rd. 

Needless to say, this area confused me and it felt as if I had entered some other realm. After working in the area for about two weeks, I got to learn my way around pretty well and grew to like the area. It's quite a nice area and the people I got to talk to were all pretty cool. There were other cool sights I saw as well, including Wolfe Creek Rd, but this was a few weeks ago, and the thought hadn't crossed my mind to start a blog on this stuff yet, so I regretfully have no more photos from the area. I do plan in the future to be better in taking more pictures for entries to come.