As a longtime motorist upon I-64, especially those portions found in Kentucky, Indiana and Illinois (and the recent addition of Highway 40 in St Louis) I feel reasonably confident that the exit to which I live closest is also the most oddly named.

Yes friends, it's Kentucky's Exit 43, it's the one, the only Waddy/Peytona Exit! The names just trip off the tongue -- Waddy-Peytona, Waddy-Peytona, Waddy-Peytona. Has a certain rhythm, a certain rural poetry, doesn't it?

Get off on Exit 43 and you'll be turning onto Kentucky Highway 395, known locally as Elmburg Road. Waddy's to the south, Peytona's north. There's a big ol' Flying J truck stop (ahem, excuse me, travel center) on the north side of the intersection and an older, seedier truck stop to the south.

The town of Waddy is about a mile south. It features a bank, two general stores (one with an attached small engine repair shop!) a couple of churches and, most prominently, the railroad tracks.

Peytona is about a mile north along US 60 and the knee-slappingly named "Peytona Beach Road". Peytona's pretty much just a wide place in the road, but there is a junk shop and the headquarters of the guy who works on my furnace when I forget to change the filter often enough.

I sometimes think that it would be more logical to name the exit for my hometown, making it Waddy-Bagdad, because Bagdad is virtually identical in size to Waddy and because it's right on KY 395 (not off on US 60 like Peytona). But I generally come to my senses quickly, because I wouldn't want to sacrifice the euphonious effect of the Waddy-Peytona name and the quiet pride that comes from living near most oddly named exit on Interstate 64.