Virginia and West Virgina Oct 14-16

VIRGINIA

14 October

Before hitting the road we had a good look at the road atlases (we have 3--all of them 2 years old!) and decided that the freeways would be the best route in order to avoid the DC traffic. This resulted in a bit of a round-about route which would take us through a corner of West Virginia first:

I-70 west and a bit north to I-81 south and west to the I-66 and southeast to our destination.

We got away from the RV Park about 11 o"clock and stopped just down the road for another 30 minutes of grocery shopping. 45 minutes more on the road and we crossed the West Virginia State Line and pulling into the Visitor Center for our lunch break and to see what the info center had to offer.

After our short detour through West Virginia we crossed the state line into Virginia and at 3:00 PM arrived at North Fork Resort near the town of Front Royal VA. The park was quite expensive but it did offer wireless internet--at an extra charge of $3.00 a day and we were able to access the Starchoice satellite.

Trekker was happy—he at least got a swim in the river though there was no ball throwing or off leash play.

With the dogs bed converted once again to the dinette Art got the laptop up and running and connected to the wireless. Or rather tried to connect. Again and again. Eventually he was successful and managed to check e-mail and decided to work on the blog. After finding that it took at least 15 minutes to upload one photo--if it worked at all--he gave up after a hour of fruitless effort and poured himself another whisky.

Meanwhile, once the dogs had been walked, Gillian went off to the laundry with her roll of quarters and a bag of dirty clothes. None of her quarters would work in the machines! Another camper offered his coins, which worked fine, taking Gillian's in return. A true Southern Gentleman!

Next morning the internet was usable for e-mail but very slow. A complaint at security when leaving met with no sympathy: “We have had trouble connecting for our own stuff.” A suggestion for a refund of the three dollars was met with silence as she turned away to greet an incoming client.

15 October.

We left the campground at 11:00, complaint ignored and laundry hanging from the cupboard handles to complete drying. Why are RV Park dryers so inefficient?

Having enough of freeways yesterday and Art feeling that he could manage without depending too much on the cruise control, we decided to take the scenic route today.

Shortly after pulling out of the campground we stopped in town for fuel then set off for Shenandoah National Park and Skyline Drive, a very scenic highway on our way to Wainsboro Virginia where we hoped to meet up with our friend Nancy. 109 miles long, a 35 mph speed limit and 70 plus scenic overlooks--even though math has never been my strong suit we were pretty sure today's drive would take us something more than three hours. Fortunately the scenery made it worth it.

Pics pics and more pics.

And still more pics. Along the way we were overtaken by more than a dozen minis. The last had a very cool license plate, unfortunately blurred in the photo, it read ITLN JOB.

We stopped at the visitor's centre for a break and a look around and when we set off we noticed that the front air gauge had stopped working.

At 1:30 we made our lunch stop at Jenkins Gap. The air pressure gauge working fine again when we started up after lunch. Gremlins?

At about 4:45 we arrived at Waynesboro North 340 RV Park in Virginia. Not exactly an original name: the park was situated on highway 340 North. Quite a nice park with wifi available from the site we had been assigned and the shot to the Starchoice satellites just cleared the large pine!

It didn't take long to find Nancy and her friends, who were cycling Coast to Coast across the United States from Oregon to Virginia! They were parked close by.

We first met Nancy and her husband Steve in Mexico several years ago and usually see them there every year. We enjoyed our short visit with her and meeting her friends. Nancy assured us that we will see her and Steve again in Zihuatanejo in February and we also plan to visit them at their home in Oregon on our return up the west coast in April.

WEST VIRGINIA

16 October

This morning Art ate all but the last few slices of the bread for his breakfast. There wasn't really anything else that we needed grocery wise and really didn't want to stop just for that so once the breakfast remains were cleared away the bread maker came out.

The plug for the microwave oven was pulled and the bread maker was plugged in in its place. Gillian added the required ingredients to the machine, it was placed in its usual travelling location, the kitchen sink, in which it fits perfectly—no rattling around and no chance of falling on the floor.

The inverter was energised, the bread maker switched on; the mobile bakery was ready to roll though it was 12:45 before we finally left the RV park.

An hour into an enjoyable drive we pulled off at a Rest Area on the I-64/81 for our lunch stop, the aroma of baking bread almost overpowering.

This was turning into a day of short runs and several stops. Crossing into West Virginia at 4:15 we took a 30 minute break at the Welcome Centre.

Moving on we continued enjoying the drive; nice weather, pretty views and good roads for the next hour and a quarter. Our host tonight? A Walmart parking lot in Beckley W.V. No wireless internet but the satellite TV worked fine. And the price was right.