Very nice day today. A normal morning for the most part, the only sour part was the milk.... first time it has never been used up before going bad. But it may also be because of the defrosting that was done two days ago. No big deal, just meant eating cereal with water instead since it had already been poured and banana and blueberries added. It really isn't that much different from the non-fat stuff that usually goes on it, but the milk does have enough of a taste to make me prefer it.

    Took a bit of a road trip this afternoon. Drove north and then east to Babcock State Park. A brochure I had seen had some pictures of a beautiful old grist mill there so it was time to go and take a look. Plenty of other nice reasons to visit the park, including the fact that it is free, but the mill was indeed stunning. Sitting on the edge of a rambunctious creek it looked just like an old grist mill should. A nice metal overshot wheel with power from an old wooden mill race. The building was a combination of lapped wooden siding and board and batten all on top of a laid stone foundation. Spent a bit of time there getting some pictures, the light wasn't great, but maybe a few will come out. They also had a nice gift shop there where I managed to find two nice books on logging railroads in the Appalachians and a couple shot glasses. Total damages to the pocket book were more than was planned for, but no real regrets.

   Continued my little circular drive and ended up in the town of Beckley around 4:00, just in time to go and get some Chinese food and leaf through one of the new books. It was a quick meal because I wanted to make a movie at 5:00 in a nearby theatre. No problem eating quickly enough of course, but when it came to finding the theatre my GPS, Emma, kept pointing me into a parking lot with a bunch of warehouses in it. Was just about to give up when the brand new theatre popped into view in a new strip mall. Being only 10 min's late was no big deal cuz we all know how long it takes to work through all those ads and previews they do these days.

   The movie tonight was called 'Safe' and stars Jason Statham as the main hero. It functioned very well as a 'Guy's Night Out' kind of movie, lots of gratuitous violence and mayhem, not a lot of sex in this one, and it had at least a plausible plot considering the genre. It was entertaining enough and after all, isn't that one of the main reasons for going to a movie?

    Back at the trailer now of course. Going to read my book a bit more this evening, maybe watch an episode or two of the 'Beverly Hillbillies'. Picked up a couple DVDs the other day of old TV shows including one with 40 episodes of the BH's. Watched the 1st two last night. All black and white of course and though the theme song was played by Flatt and Scruggs, it didn't start out as the one we all remember. Same thing goes for 'Pettycoat Junction' by the way. Kind of fun seeing the very first episodes, it introduces you to nearly all of the main characters and it's fun to see how it is going to change as time goes on. Anyway; here are a few photo's from today's excursion.

Everything a Grist Mill should be. The wooden flume, or mill race, evidently got it's water from up river a ways. I liked the cantilevered walkway that was evidently added after the addition on the right side was added. It was also nice to see it 'nestled' in next to that big rock just downstream. Not only does it look nice but in event of high water it would have also helped channel it away from the down river side of the structure.

A view from a little farther away showing how rugged this stream is.

From across the creek you get a view of the whole structure. The bridge on the up river side was built by the CCC's back in the late 30's and takes the road up to a lake and some picnic spots.

This view shows the wooden mill race, the waterwheel and it's protective structure a little better. It always amazes me how little water it actually takes to run one of these. The mill race is maybe 3' wide by 2' deep, but from the staining on the inside it looks like there was never more than 6"-8" of water in it at any one time. Upon further thought I guess 2-6 cfs would be enough to turn it. 

A view of one of the waterfalls just down stream from the mill. This particular one actually extended all the way across the creek in this location. Really a nice place to just sit and watch the water go by for a bit. I'll bet there are fish in there.

A view from the land side of the mill. I think the porch roof must of been a late addition as they had a loft door and a pulley system above it for hoisting grain and such out of wagons. Would of liked to see the inside as the mill is suppose to still run a few days out of the year, so everything needed to do that should still be in there. Alas; not today.