Stephanie and
Stephen used their connections to get us a campsite at the Rocky Branch Marina
on Lake Anna for the past two nights. We had electricity, which allowed us to
run our air conditioner during our stay – whew! Thanks, Stephanie and Stephen!
Due to their
heavy work schedule, they had to head back home early this morning. It’s always
sad to say goodbye, but we all ‘had places to be and people to see’. We had a
great time at this stop.
We took I-64
northwest through Virginia and then into West Virginia. This is a scenic route
that takes you over the Blue Ridge Mountains and into the Appalachian Mountains
of West Virginia (‘Take Me Home Country Roads’) near the New River Gorge area.
The interstate winds through and around the mountainous terrain, and part of it
is a toll way.
At White
Sulphur Springs, WV we stopped for lunch. The famous Greenbrier Resort is a
little too fancy for us scruffy campers, so we opted for Cook’s Country Kitchen
a little ways down the road. We knew it must be a good local spot when we saw
one of the Greenbrier employees wearing his uniform and eating there (maybe
they don’t even let the employees eat at the resort?). They had good homemade
food there and our waitress told us stories of her personal experiences during
the disastrous flood of 2016. It turns out that the vacant lot next door where
we parked was the site of a building that was swept away in the flood.
North and
west from Huntington, WV we got off the interstate onto Highway 52 and started
to follow the Ohio River. We took a series of two-lane country roads that
crossed the river a few times in and out of Kentucky and Ohio. At one point, we
ran into to some thunder and lightening and some rain that was coming down so
hard we could not make the windshield wipers go fast enough to see clearly
ahead. For us Southern Californians, the closest experience to something like
this is when we’ve sat in our cars going through a self-service car wash.
This was a
long day of driving because we’d decided to go all the way to Batavia, OH to stay
with Karen’s sister and brother-in-law, Joni and Dave. We are also going to
visit with Karen’s brother, Mike (who just sold his house and will be moving
soon to NV) and her other sister, Pat. As we got close to Batavia, the skies opened
up again and we were in the middle of a torrential downpour. With the GPS
giving us verbal directions, it was like an airplane making an ‘instrument-only’
landing – we could hardly see the street signs.
We made a
safe landing, parked the car and went in for some hot chicken cacciatore (a
recipe passed down through Dave’s family) and decompressed from the long drive.
We look forward to our visit here.
Next: Batavia
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