Blogs from West Virginia, United States, North America - page 11

The day is cloudy and windy. It took us until noon to repack the truck and clean up the camper. We've spent a week in Virginia! Now, pulling the trailer, the truck is like a dream and Rich is very happily driving up and down the mountains. Around 2:00, as we were getting hungry, we saw a brown highway sign that said Appalachian Arts and Crafts. We thought it would be fun to look at the art and to break for lunch. We pulled into Clifton Forge, a pretty little town in the mountains. Alas, the Arts and Crafts store was closed because it's Sunday. The rest of the town looked closed up, too, but a few doors down, we saw a sign that said lunch. It was open until 3:00. "Heirlooms", the restaurant, was half ... read more

I spent most of the next day in the Land of Canaan. It’s a high mountain plateau surrounded by mountains, the highest east of the Mississippi. It’s also known as the Canaan Valley. The unusual name comes from the earliest white settlers, who thought the area was so beautiful it reminded them of the Land of Milk and Honey from the Bible. The plateau is so high that the weather was more like winter than fall, and the trees no longer had leaves. Unfortunately, the area is slowly being overrun by second homes and vacation condos. Eventually, it will resemble the Pocono Mountains in Pennsylvania more than the rest of West Virginia. My first site for the day had more to do with earthly needs than heavenly ones. My body ached after the raft trips. I ... read more

This day, I awoke before dawn, almost 10 hours after I had gone to sleep the night before. The sky was clear and so cold there was frost on my tent. The landscape was illuminated by an eerie light. The moon was in the part of its orbit where it is closest to Earth, so the moonlight was unusually bright. It was so bright that objects cast clear shadows. It was not bright enough to activate the eye's color receptors, though, so everything was black and white. I can see well in low-light conditions, so this light was bright enough that I could see perfectly well without a flashlight anywhere except heavy forest cover. I spent a few minutes just walking around in this unusual light trying to fully wake up. Finally, I got in my ... read more

The day dawned overcast and definitely cooler than yesterday.Seems the jetstream from Canada had changed overnight and the air was so much cooler.At least there was no rain as we headed out to explore historic Hagerstown.Filled up with gas at a new low price of $3.35gal so its taking less to fill the tank. Downtown wasnt that interesting as many of the historic buildings have been torn down and replaced with a parking building etc etc so didnt spend too much time doing the walking tour. Instead headed west on MD-40 in this narrow little piece of Maryland squeezed between Pennsylvania and West Virginia.Gretchen had plotted a route that would follow the old C&O canal which was constructed in the early 1800's and was quite a feat for its time considering the territory in which the ... read more

the king and his palace. i have finally acted on one of my longtime desires. i have thought of living in a trailer for many years. now it is going to happen. once i return from africa that is. hopefully, i come back with my head attached. just kidding, don't go getting all worried. it is no more dangerous than say 'cabrini green' in chicago or nawlins during hurricane season! maybe i should have waited to make the purchase upon my return? hmmm? naw! it will all be fine.... read more