the quaint roads of West Virginia

We leave PA and head south on 81 toward Winchester.  We travelled through PA and about 10 miles of Maryland.  As we were progressing toward Winchester and the junction with US 50, Phil says "look at the map and see if there is a way to cut across avoiding Winchester to get to  US 50"
Being a Maine Guide experienced with map and compass, I figure I am up to the task.  Well reading a Motor Carriers' atlas is not quite the same.  I see a road that fits the bill on the West Virginia map.  What I did not see was that the very same road become not suitable for our size vehicle when it hit the Virginia border.

We progressed along a narrow and winding but passable road saying things like "well it sure is pretty...."  As we crossed into VA the scenic and quaint barely wide enough road turned into a glorified cow path.  The white line on the shoulder evaporated and the 15mph bends came at an alarming rate- usually accompanied by wildly varying altitudes. For about 10 miles we endured this, Phil affably saying "it's all good babe" and me choking back tears of terror and humiliation at failing my first assigned map reading of the trip. We finally reached US 50 - all four lanes of it.  We almost stopped the rig and hopped out and kissed the ground, but instead kept on.  Basking in the luxury of four lane lasted a short while until we started our ascent into the Allegheny Mountains.  The guy who paints "9% grade" signs has a good gig going.

We chugged up, down and around - winding into the hills.  With the dusk drawing in we started looking for a possible parking spot for the night.  Since we had not seen so much as a hard shoulder, much less a pull out my anxiety level, which had not yet recovered  from the Hell Road episode earlier, began to rise.  Just as I was about to blurt out "we are going to die" we see a sign:  Scenic Turnout 1 mile.

We pull in and find we have the enormous place to ourselves. As we step out of the rig we are nearly blown over the edge by the fierce winds.  Reminds us of Mt Washington.  We feed and walk the dogs and fix some dinner and put on a movie.  The wind is relentless.  After the movie we decide to move the rig around to the rear of the park and there we have protection between rows of trees and have a wonderfully quiet night.

The Workamper mentality is beginning to take hold.  I no longer bolt out of bed at 4:30 am but ease into my mornings.  After a relaxed start to the day we are prepared to tackle the rest of this challenging section of US 50.  We plan a stop at Cathedral State Park home to some enormous and ancient hemlocks.  We approach the park cautiously, as our almost 60 foot long rig does exactly turn on a dime.  We pulled up out side the rangers station who waved us in and pointed to the area where we could turn around.  Well maybe he could turn around in it.  We considered and tried a few strategies for performing a 180.  There was just not enough real estate.  So we parked and went hiking in the forest.  It was beautiful and nice to smell the fresh air and earthy scents of autumn.  The dogs enjoyed romping and drinking fresh water from the stream.

On return to the parking area Phil put on his game face and backed the rig a considerable distance to the main road.  This was really impressive.  Backed out the whole way without a pause or pulling forward.  Did I mention the drive had only inches to spare on each side and all kinds of hazards just waiting to catch him up.  We got the ranger to stop traffic on one side of the blind driveway and I stopped traffic on the other.  I was relieved that none came along since we had seen many fast moving coal trucks on this route. I hopped back in the rig and we were on our way again.  More winding roads and lots of steep grades. Before we left WV for good we had one more task:  to fuel up.  Along this narrow and twisty road there were very few services but we finally came upon a gas station.  It was carved out of the side of a mountain and where there were no natural barriers, the designer added them.  We managed  to pull in and begin fueling.  A local came up and started chatting to us about life on the road et al.  She is puffing away on a cigarette while I am going light headed from the gas fumes.  I think this might not be a good situation.  Happily we don't blow up, I pay for the gas and we find the we won't be able to pull forward out of the station but have to back out.

Again Phil's now legendary backing skills are put into play.  He neatly backed out and around to the cheers of the attendant (well I think that is what he was saying) We pulled back onto US 50 and soon crossed over the Ohio River and said good bye to West Virginia.

Soon into Ohio we see the change in the geography.  Flatter land with neat little farms lining the road.  As the day began to wind down we start looking for  a stopping place.  We find a sad little Kmart in Hillsboro OH with an enormous underutilized parking lot.  We set down there and take the dogs our for a walk/reconnaissance.  We are soon accosted by a woman in an aged town car, yelling at us not to walk our dogs around the Kmart parking lot as she was trying to catch a feral cat and take it to be spayed.  We said we would not be interfering with her trapping plans.  We carry on and see here driving around the parking lot checking on the Hav-a-hart trap.  Like the rumble of her car isn't going to drive this cat into the hills.

From the comfort of the rig we watched crazy cat lady drive back and forth and around,  then she gave up and went home.  Meanwhile next to us is a guy trying to teach parallel parking to a very anxious girl.  Apparently they don't actually have a lot of call for parking in the Kmart parking lot.  Kmart has a fine selection of Christmas decorations- it is October 16th.

Wed Oct 17- Vinny Navigating