Blogs from West Virginia, United States, North America

DAY 5 Rest day Arriving into State College yesterday afternoon, Bryan, Keith & Brenton all bought tyres which getting up today we fitted to the bikes. All finished by 10.30am before it got too hot. Ubered to Walmart to buy a few odds & ends we needed, did our laundry and generally cruised for the day before walking up the road for a Japanese meal. Day 6 Leaving our comfortable digs we were soon on back country roads through farming areas mainly run by Menonites or Amish people. We saw Amish children walking to school and a few horse drawn carriages on the road. The black wagons typically seen in photos always appear to be immaculate. We also saw carriages delivering crops from their farms to shops and warehouses. An unusual lifestyle only using horse drawn ... read more

Rather than drive straight through to Athens, Ohio, Susan and I had decided to break the trip into two days. We checked in to the Hampton Inn in the midst of the University of West Virginia (WVU) campus. The hotel was across the street form the university's medical school and hospital. Morgantown is named for Zackquill Morgan, a frontiersman who plotted the town in 1783. It is the seat of the University f West Virginia. An interesting item I discovered about Morgantown is that it has a monorail, the Morgantown Personal Rapid Transit. Built in 1975-1978, the 3.6 mile (5.8 km) system connects downtown Morgantown to the university and university medical campuses. It is used principally by WVU students, faculty and staff. By chance, our hotel room looked right out towards the beamway and we could ... read more

Mount Olivet is a common name for Methodist churches. I followed Mount Olive road for maybe 10 miles today, past the church building and cemetary arriving eventually at the door of the Horn Camp school house, which I had visited last year. Once in you are treated to a vision of the "good" old days of the one room for 8 grades schoolhouse, active between the 1880's and 1952, now filled with collections of farm tools and memorabilia. The neighbors are proud of their museum, and one can visit with the curator for as long as one wishes. Crossing the C & O Canal was like meeting an old friend. With a lock and a towpath and a Lock Keeper's House, it was like being in Carderock MD once again. There were even a couple of ... read more

Marshall has a storied football program, and even if you don’t know anything about them, you’ve probably heard of the film We Are Marshall. It starred Matthew McConaughey and is about 13 years old. It was pretty popular, had lots of famous people in it. The gist is that the university recovered from a terrible plane crash and went on to represent the spirit of college football. After visiting the university for a football game, I kind of wonder whether they should’ve just let the program fold. A football game at Marshall University has all the feel of a high school game. Take that for what you will. The people in the stands are primarily from the town of Huntington, where Marshall University is located. People can leave the game and come back in, ... read more

Can’t believe this is the last stop on our river cruise. Mind you we have been on the American Queen for three weeks now. Tomorrow, Sunday is a cruise day all the way back to Cincinnati. It will also be a washing and packing day as luggage have to be outside our cabin door at 11pm. An interesting stop was at Marshall University to have a look in their archives, old photos of steamboats, early days on the river, the Civil War and the Underground Railroad as well as the real railroad. Unusually, the archivist played rugby and was a huge fan of the All Blacks. She even went to see them play in Chicago a few years ago. We made the most of our last day just enjoying the river as it went by or ... read more