Filed under: Ohio, Pennsylvania, West Virginia | Tags: autumn, ivy, world's largest teapot
Ohio, West Virginia, Pennsylvania
ivy
chester, wv
negley, oh
the house on the (haunted?) hill
company store and herbs
unveiling beard season
Filed under: West Virginia | Tags: glen jean, new river gorge, redhead, self portraits, West Virginia
One of our stops before home was in the New River Gorge. Years ago, I was traveling back from North Carolina and found Thurmond, WV, former coal town now ghost town, and the set for the film Matewan; I put it on my list of places to return. It’s tucked six miles into the gorge, and six miles feels like forever when you’re going only 20 miles an hour and it’s about to storm.
Jeff trusted me that the town was worth seeing, so we made our way through winding, one-car lanes. But the bridge we had to cross was closed for repairs, so we couldn’t get to it. Disappointed, we walked around the woods a bit. There was rushing water, a tent city tucked behind trees and the smell of green, reminding me of how much I used to love summer and all its possibilities.
We drove home in rain so bad, we had to keep pulling over to wait it out. Between that and the December snowstorm, West Virginia was totally wearing us out. I still love its beauty and its isolation. We’ll go back sooner than we care to admit.
glen jean, wv
exhausted
suspicion
about to rain
I love mountains
Filed under: South Carolina, Virginia, West Virginia | Tags: flatwoods, giant elephants, papa joe's fireworks, summer vacation, wytheville
Jeff and I took off for 10 days to visit his parents in Florida. This is the trip we tried to do in December, but never made it because of the snow. We did two days’ worth of driving, stopping in Virginia on our first night and Georgia the second. I’m proud to say that after thousands of miles of being in the car, I think I’m getting over my fears of highway travel – at least as a passenger.
The beginning of a journey is much like the beginning of dating – every little thing is exciting. The first junk shop in West Virginia where the two of you find a Flatwoods monster statue for your living room desk. Lunch in Bulk Foods, sharing a bottle of ramp wine. The green, crisp smell of Wytheville’s mountain air as you lounge Motel 6-pool side, thinking about all the awesome sex you’ll have with your loved one when you go back to your room, and holy shit – cable TV!
This was the first two days. Even the idea of living out of our car for the next twenty years held romantic possibilities.
road out of Flatwoods, WV
car hood = tripod substitution
kicking it in South Carolina
Counts Drugs - Wytheville, VA
ephelants
we were looking for breakfast, but nothing was yet open
just like Christmas during 4th of July weekend
doggie in the motel 6 window
contemplating the long drive south
can I have it?
we waited for the green monster. no dice.
Filed under: West Virginia | Tags: cabin fever, christmas vacation, ghent, knights inn, snowstorm 2009, US Route 77, West Virginia
Ghent, WV
We tried to drive to Ocala, Florida this past Christmas to visit Jeff’s family. We never made it.
I woke up December 18th and there was all this buzz on the TV about a giant snowstorm. No worries, I thought, we can beat this thing, it wouldn’t get to the Carolinas until after midnight.
So we packed everything into the car within an hour, along with a blanket and a bag full of Christmas treats and booked like hell through West Virginia.
The drive was going well until we got to Beckley. It was around 3:30 pm and the sky was gray, almost mauve, it was so swollen with precipitation. The snow was coming down in large, wet flakes. We stopped at a rest area and watched the news in the gift shop.
US Route 77, WV
“You shouldn’t keep driving,” the cashier said to us.
“It isn’t so bad, we’re from Pittsburgh, we’re used to this!” We said.
No really, we weren’t used to it. But we didn’t know this until 3 days later.
Ghent, WV, behind the Knight's Inn
We get back on Route 77 and drive about 15 miles. The snow is coming down even harder and the roads covered in snow. Where did it come from so fast? It was mind-boggling. We couldn’t see anything on either side of us, it was snowing so hard. Our life line was Bill, who I kept calling at work back in Pittsburgh so that he could update us on the weather. “You’re right in the heart of the storm,” he said.
hallway crashers
And then traffic stopped. We waited. And waited. For 7 hours, surrounded bumper-to-bumper by semis and SUVs on Route 77, nothing happened. The turns of boredom and fear were mind crushing. I didn’t know at times if we should laugh, cry or piss ourselves, we were so scared.
vending machine dreams
We stopped in traffic around 4 pm with only half a tank of gas. it takes 4 hours to burn through a quarter tank of gas (now you know), so we figured by 8 pm, we had until midnight to figure out what we should do next. Abandon our car on the road? Where would we go? It was pitch dark, and the next large town was Princeton, 20 miles away.
knee-deep
When we finally did move in the 5th hour, it was .3 miles to the middle of a bridge. All of this, to the soundtrack of Alice Cooper’s “Radio GaGa” (thank you, Alice, for getting us through).
napping grannies at the Knight's Inn
Bill had loaned us his trusty GPS for the trip. I was resistant to use it (because I am technologically challenged), but it is what saved us. It guided us to the Knight’s Inn in Ghent, WV, by way of the Adult Store sign we could see through the storm, our beacon of light.
designated smoking area at 2 am
When we got there, it was 11 pm and there were 30 people waiting in the lobby for a room. The owners passed around blankets, and travelers slept in the hallways, underneath the stairwells. I was too wired to sleep, so I read and took photos. We finally got a room around 6 am and stayed for the next two nights.
parking lot beneath our motel window
That was Friday. It didn’t stop snowing until Sunday evening, 28 inches.
a meal fit for a king at the Knight's Inn
Ghent is a ski resort town, but there isn’t much there. Both gas stations were out of power. Domino’s wouldn’t deliver, and Subway was closed. On day two, we took a walk to the Marathon station and made a meal out of microwave soup, Beanee Weenees, and the famed WV pepperoni roll. The Lion’s Den was open the entire weekend.
partner in crime
losing my mind
Jeff and I tried to make the best of the situation. We watched a lot of horrible television and took a lot of photos, and a lovely walk in the snow. It wasn’t too cold, and because most of the cars on Route 77 were abandoned, the roads were so quiet. It was like having a free pass for stopping our lives for a few days with no obligation to anyone but ourselves. We put the stress of the holidays aside and walked to the gas station, holding hands, talking about what we’d tell everyone when we made it home.
the only business open
taking in the quietness of it all
US Route 19
cabin fever
making the most of a depressing situation
