The ups and the downs.......

7:35 am - Sunday - October 14th - Fairmont, WV - 44º F, 83% humidity, wind 1 mph out of the west by northwest......heavy cloud cover, but no rain in the forecast....at least during the day.  High for today in Fairmont will be 59º F.  We roll our wheels in 2 hours!

Having only 156 miles to cover on Saturday we were in no hurry to depart the Walmart Supercenter in Hagerstown, and TLE wanted to get a pedicure.  The 'nail' place opened at 10 am, and TLE was there at 10....she was back at the coach a little after 11 am, and we were rolling our wheels shortly thereafter.

We have driven the Newell through northwestern Maryland, and northeastern West Virginia before, and I was not looking forward to doing it again.  Why?  Well, it is very mountainous, and for the 156 miles we traveled Saturday it was continuously up 5-6% grades and then down 5-6% grades, one after the other, all day long.  It is mentally exhausting as one is having to watch downhill speeds, shifting down one gear after another to climb each 1-3 mile grade, remembering to turn on one's hazard lights when the speed dips below 50 mph.....remembering to turn them off again when you get back over 50 mph....continually having to move into the truck lane on the long climbs, and then moving back to the left when the lane disappears after the latest climb.....all the while monitoring the temps of the coolant, oil and transmission.  Repeat this process about 60 times and you kind of get what I am trying to convey.  You can never just hold onto the steering wheel and let the cruise control push you down the highway.  It is, simply put, a 'knock down drag out' experience.

While I was busy keeping us on the road, and safe TLE was taking a plethora of pictures.....

 A little to add a little something extra to the mix

 A much needed Rest Area

 The Maryland sign at the West Virginia border.....first one of these I've see in 7 years

......for most of the drive we were traversing northeastern Maryland, only dipping into West Virginia without about 14 miles to at the end of the day.  We made two rest stops, one being at a regular Rest Area, and the second at at Pilot Truck Stop as there were no rest areas on the horizon.  We took about a 30 minute break at each.  Our highest elevation was just over 2,700', and we now sit at just over 1,000' elevation in Fairmont, WV.

We began our day with a brief stint in I-81, then back to I-70, eventually hitting I-68, and finishing on I-78 in Fairmont, WV.  Why Fairmont, WV?  Well, there happens to be a Cracker Barrel there right off the Interstate with RV parking.  We haven't visited a Cracker Barrel in a long time....

....we arrived at the Cracker Barrel around 3:30 pm, found a suitable spot in which to park our 62', and then just relaxed for about a hour and a half before venturing inside to have dinner around 5 pm.  It was nice to just sit drinking a few cups of coffee and enjoying a great dinner.  We finally paid our check around 6:30 and headed back to the Newell for the evening.  

My L.A. Dodgers were playing the Milwaukee Brewers in the NLCS (National Leage Championship Series) for the chance to get to the World Series again.  They lost their first game in Milwaukee on Friday night, but were successful Saturday night coming from behind to win 4-3 on a 2 run Justin Turner homerun.  A nice way to finish the evening.   

We were in bed by 10 pm, not looking forward to another 140+ miles of West Virginia mountain driving!  By the way, a good friend commented on Facebook I should be taking my zinc tablets at the first sign of a scratchy throat....doh!  I started taking them Saturday morning, and I feel much, much better......thank you  Lee Lisman, and thanks for stopping by!

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Road to Campbellsville.......

8:29 am - Saturday - October 13th - Hagerstown, MD - 48º F, 86% humidity, wind 9 mph out of the west by northwest......heavy overcast.....rained all night, and is still raining as I write.  The forecast high for today here in Hagerstown will be 58º F.

After 3 days in New Castle, DE it was time to begin our westward trek to Campbellsville, KY and our next seasonal job.  It has been one month since we left Southwest Harbor, ME, but it seems much longer.  We have covered over 1,100 miles since then, and seen our 43rd, 44th, 45th, 46th, 47th, and 48th states during that time.  Maybe that's why it seems much longer than one month?

Our goal was to drive 150+ miles to Hagerstown, MD where we would spend the night in a Walmart Supercenter.  Essentially, from New Castle to Campbellsville, KY it is just under 700 miles, and we could cover that distance in two, or three days, but we've got 8, so why rush it?

After 3 days of overwhelming humidity, we woke up Friday to temps in the high 50's, and humidity in the mid 60 percentile......big, big changes!  In addition, we had sunny skies for the first time in almost a week.....a perfect day for driving!

We were on the road by 10:30 am, and merging onto I-95 southbound once again.  Within 30 minutes we were rolling through a toll area using our new E-ZPass transponder, and 5 minutes later we entered Maryland.......

Within 30 minutes we were skirting around Baltimore, and entering the tunnel which would take us under the Patapsco River......

.....shortly after passing through the tunnel we passed M&T Bank Stadium, the home of the NFL Baltimore Ravens.....

.....finally we escaped the gravitational pull of urban Maryland, and spent the last part of our trip to Hagerstown driving through rolling Maryland countryside......

.....when we began our day we passed numerous Service Areas (Rest Areas), but it was too soon for me to stop and take a break.  I figured I would take a break sometime after Baltimore after we transitioned to I-70 westbound, but there were no more rest areas until 13 miles before our destination!  What's up with that?  In spite of how close we were I decided to pull off and take a break, and a short nap....you see, that little tickle in my throat was turning into a head cold, and I needed a short nap.

We ultimately arrived at the Walmart off I-81 in Hagerstown around 2:45 pm, found a nice spot to park for the night, and then took a long walk around the large shopping complex in which Walmart is but one of the many national chain stores (Bed, Bath and Beyond; Home Depot; Marshalls; Game Stop; etc.).  In all I thin we covered a little over a mile before making our way into Walmart to do a small shopping.  We always try to patronize the business in whose parking lot we are staying.

It looks like the rain has stopped (9 am) this morning (Saturday), and we'll probably be back on the road in about 2 hours heading for Morgantown, WV (actually just past)......about 156 miles.  Thanks for stopping by!

When you shop Amazon, please use our link (below) to access their website.......we will appreciate every purchase you make using our Amazon Affiliate link, and  remember, using our link will not add one penny to your purchase, plus we will receive a small commission which helps defray our travel expenses to a small degree.