For Whom the Bell Tolls, and Rocky Roads....

Thursday daylight revealed heavy overcast skies....of course, as is often the case with cloud cover, you get slightly warmer temps.  Our goal for Thursday was Huntington, WV....about 189 miles distant, so we wanted to get an earlier start than the past couple of days.  As the DD pushed us toward the I-77 access road I saw it was 10:05 am......only five minutes past our desired departure time....not bad!

As I was turning on to the access road I did not notice how big an edge there was from the gravel road to the pavement of the street.....the result was the coach rocked severely from left to right, and then back again ejecting a 1 gallon water bottle like a missile from the pantry to the floor where it exploded sending its entire contents throughout the kitchen area and back into the hall that separates the bathroom from the shower.  Not exactly the way TLE planned to start our drive.  There was no where to pull over so as I crept slowly toward the Interestate on ramp she pulled out towels, quickly mopping up the water.  By the time we were a mile down the Interstate she had things under control.  Of course, apologies were in order....I usually see those bumps.

This was our first time in West Virginia, and while I was mentally prepared for the mountain driving, I was not prepared for how windy the Interestate was.....often the speed limit dropped to 55 mph on some of the very tight turns.....sometimes one after the other.  In some cases there were 1 mile long tunnels just cut through the mountain in front of us. We spent most of our drive in 3rd and 4th gear.  On a continuing positive note the coach continues to perform well on long climbs, running just at 190 degrees, and in most cases I have been able to maintain 40 mph in 3rd gear on 6% grades....something I was not able to do prior to using Howe's diesel conditioner.

When I-77 merged with I-64 the toll road began....$3.25 every 10, or 15 miles.....those narrow isles leading up to the toll booths leave just inches on each side of the coach and trailer.  As we have experienced in other states with toll roads, the road surface is usually horrible making one wonder where all that toll money goes.....it is certainly not being put into road maintenance.  The road surface was concrete, and very uneven.......even if the speed limit had been higher there is no way we could have gone faster....it was just too rough.  

One of the features of this toll road section was that the Rest Areas were called Travel Centers, and included several fast food options as well as fuel.....that wasn't enough to make up for the horrible road.....not by a long shot.  We just used them to get off the "rocky road" and let our nerves calm before proceeding.

Finally we came out of the mountains, leaving the toll road behind and the road surface improved immediately....what a surprise.....thank goodness we had that last 50 miles of decent road into Huntington.

There is a Passport America park just outside Huntington called Robert Newlon Airpark RV Park.....it is right on the edge of a small airport with a grass runway.  They do a lot of sky diving here, so maybe this weekend we'll get to see some jumpers landing near where we are parked.  There is nothing 5 star about this park, but we have strong 50 amp service, good water pressure, and a sewer connection for $15/day, and only a few miles from our friends Richard and Rhonda whom we met through the Newell forum 5 years ago.  They own a 1995 Newell, which is actually stored right here at the park.

Richard and Rhonda's 1995 Newell

As you can see from the above picture taken just minutes ago (Friday morning) it is overcast, and a little foggy here at 1,000' elevation. 

We arrived at the RV park around 3 pm, and Richard, who works just a block from where we are staying stopped by around 4:30 to see how we were doing, and to ferry us to his home for dinner.  We were treated to wonderfully cooked roast beef (locally grown), asparagus, roasted red potatoes, and some pie alamode for dessert.....all of it delicious.......we talked, and ate for a couple of hours.  

Richard delivered us back to our "home" just before 9......a very nice evening....tomorrow I will replace the electric heater that failed, and find a place to get a haircut.....looks like there is a Fantastic Sams in town.

Thanks for stopping by!