A Day on the Road

Pictures are not uploading tonight -- so will catch up tomorrow, if possible.

Today started wonderfully. We both got a good night's sleep and woke up refreshed and ready for a day in the hills of Ohio and West Virginia.

We had breakfast at the hotel. They had a nice variety of things and we settled on yogurt and bagels with peanut butter and, of course, coffee. No food can match the wonderful home made breakfasts we've enjoyed, but it started us out OK.

When we walked out of the hotel, the sun kissed our faces. It was so pretty outside, we knew it would be a terrific day of driving.

On the first leg of the journey, we saw a few horse and buggy signs and a few horse and buggies. It is always fun to see them, and the horses are beautiful and well groomed.

The road began to twist and turn and was hilly almost immediately. Again, there were a few missing leaves but the colors were amazing, especially with the sun shining on them.

By noon, we were missing seeing any farms, or even fields, and were feeling a little like we'd like a change of scenery. At the same time, we realized that this probably would not happen today. We were going through one of many little towns when we spotted a sign the said "Linda's Hometown Diner,' which seemed like it might be a good place for lunch. By this time our conversation had turned to what we ate and did not eat as children, what was served and how it was served. The diner fit into our conversation as it was very much like one my family had frequented when I was a child. We were treated well. The food was home made and good. Earla had the special --- grilled cheese and chili (comfort food) and I had the grilled chicken sandwich with mozzarella and tomato sauce. After the diner, we stopped in a feed and seed. That was fun, but we found nothing we needed, so headed back on the road.

By this time we were in West Virginia and the song "Take Me Home, West Virginia," kept going through our heads.

About mid afternoon, we were weary and in need of a necessity room, so we stopped at McDonald's, used the facilities and had an ice cream cone which we ate outside. That's how nice the weather was this afternoon.

Not much later, we wondered if one could get too much of a good thing? We really yearned for fields and farms.

We were, also, dealing with truck drivers who showed their impatience either by blinking their lights or following very close. After a while, we were certain that the airwaves were busy with truckers warning, "Watch out for the crazy lady driver with Florida plates. At the first opportunity, get around her quickly."

About the time we were exceedingly tired of the scenery, we saw a sing that said "view point - one mile." We were hopeful, but had no idea how thrilled we would be. We came around a corner, looked to our right and saw a panorama the nearly took our breath away. Now, we understand "Blue Ridge mountains, Shenandoah Valley" from the song. The mountains rolled in shades of blue and purple and the valley below was quilted with every shade of fall imaginable." Amazing is a very small word in describing the scene and we were actually glad that we'd stuck out the roads leading to this sight. As we traveled further up the road, we even saw some fields, white fences, barns and a clothesline!!! All was redeemed.

Today, we started in Ohio, drove into West Virginia, traveled a few miles through the arm of Maryland and ended up back in West Virginia.

We did decide to call it a day when we got to Keyser, West Virginia.

We decided to stop for the night when we got to Keyser and saw the Keyser Inn. We checked in and asked for suggestions for dinner. The desk clerk suggested an Italian restaurant about a mile down. We found it and it was closed --- Monday. So we drove back looking for something interesting and found a bar. We walked in and decided we could deal with the smoke. It was a little dingy, but we'd deal with that, too. When we were ignored, however, we decided it was time to leave. We had our snack packs from the airplane. They would do and they did. Actually they were quite good and the cake Maria sent with us was very very good and topped them off nicely.

Of course, we had to play a game of Scrabble... my turn to come from behind.

Tomorrow we head into PA.