West Virginia

Unplanned Adventures:

April 16-19, 2013 The North American Safari was more than ready to get back out on the road after 6 days of Atlanta Wedding Activities for nephew Scott and his bride Anne and the Big Boston Marathon Experience for our kids Marq and Kris. Our flight from Boston was uneventful; we landed and we picked up Guinness and Corona from the kennel. We then drove back to the Cummings Diesel Repair shop where we had left the MoHo to be repaired while we were away. THERE WAS A VERY SICKENING FEELING when we pulled up outside of the shop. They were already closed and the Safari was supposed to be out for us to stay in; INSTEAD it was locked up inside the garage. Well as you can imagine, this was not a very good sign. What the heck to do? We had 2 dogs in the car, and nowhere to stay for the night!!! &*#@@@@@!! was uttered and much more.  After a couple minutes of fuming we knew we had to find a place to stay until the next morning and we could find out what had happened. Fortunately there was an old Days Inn Motel about ½ mile away from the garage. Mike went in and pleaded our case; they were very understanding and allowed us to have the BOYZ in the room with us. The room left A LOT to be desired (very outdated, grubby and bit of the ewwwwwe factor) but it was a place to sleep and be together.  Being the adaptive people we usually are, we made it work, went to the store, bought a bottle of wine, some cheese and bread and made dinner and hunkered down to sleep. Fortunately we were so tired from the drama and trauma of the past few days we both slept relatively well. In the morning we returned to garage to find out that they had indeed try to contact us, but that because of the cell service being disrupted in Boston we had missed their call. Problems with the repair, the MoHo could not be moved from the shop because basically the engine was dis-assembled and laying all around. YIKES!!!! This did not look or sound good. Lots of muttering went on, and we knew we were probably not going anywhere for a few days. With much frustration we understood that we would just have to wait it out and hope that the repairs could be done and that we would be back on the road sooner than later. The next few days were kept busy with tasks such as doing laundry, finding new places to eat (Karen’s new favorite was chicken & waffles for breakfast), looking for places to walk the dogs and we spent a fair amount of time reading, and resting. Finally on Friday afternoon we got the good news that the MoHo was back together and we would be heading out very shortly. A quick run to the grocery store to restock the refrigerator that had spoiled because it wasn’t keeping cool while the repairs were underway.  After selling a few pints of blood and hocking a few valuables (just kidding) we bailed the MoHo out and were back on the road! THANK GOODNESS – our bed never felt so good!

Chicken and Waffles

April 20-21, 2013 saw us driving (Ahhhh to be on the road again!!) in the Appalachians, it really was a very pretty area, green and rolling hills. We were just sure we would run across some moonshiners, looked like the areas that they could be working their “magic”. We did make a milestone on this trip we had finally visited West Virginia – can now put it our “map”. A very curious event happened while trying to find a camp the GPS went crazier than ever, not sure if it was happenstance or what?  After some very crafty driving Mike was able to get us back on the road and out the W.V. triangle.

One of several (narrow) tunnels we passed through

April 22-23, 2013 – Harper’s Ferry, West Virginia was our next stop; this was a very interesting place to visit. We spent the better part of Monday visiting Lower Town, which the National Parks have restored, to their 1795 or so appearances. This is where John Brown the abolitionist over took the armory and attempted to free the local slaves. Unfortunately, his plan did not go well and he was hung nearby.  We visited a couple of battlefields from 1850’s that were part of the Civil War.  We hiked a little ways on the Appalachian Trail to stand on Jefferson’s Rock. From this vantage point one could see both the Potomac and Shenandoah Rivers and where the states of Virginia, West Virginia and Maryland all meet.  The weather was beautiful and our mental health restored J by these interesting sights.

High Street in Harper's Ferry

Jefferson's Rock with the Potomac and Shenandoah rivers