With road trips ramping up once again, we set out to visit Julia and Frank once again in Athens, Ohio. We hadn't been to see them since February 2020 just before the world fell apart. We planned to take a measured trip this time. No driving straight through from Northern Virginia to Athens (or Logan, rather). Instead we would break the outward trip with an overnight in Morgantown, West Virginia. At Hancock, Maryland, Interstate I-68 diverges from I-70. I-68 routes directly westbound, though Cumberland, Maryland, and on to Morgantown. It's called the National Freeway, after the old 19th Century National Road, which I-68 parallels between Hancock and Keysers Ridge. Not far west of Hancock is a dramatic roadcut through Sideling Hill. The cut was excavated in 1983-1985 and is 340 feet (104 m) deep with about
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