"Patches" the painted pony

Every other weekend, I have a day completely to my own. I try to explore more of South Central Kentucky every chance I get, especially since fall has set in and the leaves have begun to fall.

Yesterday, I worked for about half a day at Mammoth Cave and decided to take a different way back to Glasgow, over the river and through the woods. One of the routes out of the park is road that leads to a ferry that takes you across the Green River. The ferry has been slated for a bottom inspection and paint job but the river has been to low to even pull the ferry out.

Before you get to the river a one way gravel travels along the ridge of the foothills of the park.

Turn left and upwards I went on the road less traveled. The hardwood trees are shedding their leaves with wild abandon with every little breeze that blows by and moves their spiney limbs. Leaves of gold, red, and orange are everywhere tempting me to jump out and make leaf angels on the ground. But, you have to be careful because some of these leaves can be poison ivy.

I continued further until I once again hit pavement and headed to another park attraction, Cedar Sink. Located about 3/4 of a mile off the road, Cedar Sink is where one of the underground rivers that flows through the cave actually surfaces in an area that has sunk. A crushed stone walkway leads to a set of stairs down to the sink. The lack of rain this summer made the sink a little disapointing but still a nice walk in the woods. On the way back I made a stack of stones and will always wonder how long that stack will last.

Now, I'm sure you are starting to wonder what the title of this blog has to do with my nature musings about leaves and walks through the woods. For the last few weeks I have been passing by a barn on Highway 31E with an interesting painting above the entrance. 31E is also known as Dixie highway and was first built as the Louisville and Nashville Turnpike in the 1830's. Many barns along this road have some type of emblem or symbol painted above the entrance. Sometimes they are quilt type patterns of triangles and squares, or stars, or a logo representing the farm. I assume these paintings are for good luck or to ward off bad luck.

This one particular painting has been the objective of my day and I decided to make a pilgramage to the barn.  Therefore the title of today's blog.