After leaving Charleston I headed north towards Pittsburgh. While on my drive I didn't touch the radio for the first several hours of my trek up the interstate. I was just allowing thoughts to run through my mind and have my famous conversations with myself. I guess that all comes from being an only child. This time of thought was a precursor to the next day of thought while driving.
I made it to the top of a pass of the Appalachians at the I-77and I-82 junction near the border of West Virginia. I decided to bed down for the night after only about 5 hours of driving as I wanted to see "them there hills," of the hillbilly in the daylight. I made a curtain using my sun visor, different jackets, and sweat shirts.
Next morning I woke up in the parking lot of a Wendy's next to a Flying J truck stop. It was about 10 hours after I had fallen asleep. Apparently I was in no rush. I mozied into the Wendy's bathroom washed my face and did my thing. I bought myself a hardy $2.56 breakfast consisting of a cup of Chili and a Double Stack. Didn't feel much like grubbing on my PPJ sandwiches. Then I was off.
I had some preconceived notions about the mountains down south. Me being from the great state of Colorado being spoiled by the splendor of the Rockies, I wasn't expecting much and was taken back by the beauty I ended up finding. The first part of my trek, heading north coming from the south, the vegetation was only trees without their leaves. To the imagination that might seem dead and bleak. However the amount of trees where numerous and all pasted along huge rolling hills as far as your eye could see. It was a clear blue sky with a slight breeze, a gorgeous day. The hills made deep valley's that were neat to drive buy. I found a tunnel that I self proclaimed the "Appalachian Divide Tunnel" or basically the Eisenhower Tunnel of the South. As I moved to the North the trees went from being of the deciduous family and became that of the coniferous family. It was a neat transition to see.
I noticed some signs for a "Gorge Overlook" so I wanted to check it out. I pulled into the little Visitor/Information center that was right off the interstate and walked inside. The name of this scenic view is "New River Gorge." It is a lot like the Royal Gorge I am assuming as I don't remember going to the Royal Gorge, but whatever. A Gorge is a Gorge right? Any case its biggest claim to fame is the bridge that goes over the Gorge. The picture above shows that the Washington monument and two of the statues of liberty stacked on top of each other is how high the bridge is. It is the Biggest arched bridge in the world. Also the area is a haven for falcons. There was a viewing point I got to stand over and watch the birds fly about 100 ft from me at eye level and lower. My dad would of loved it. My camera was dead so all I had was my cell phone to take a couple pictures. I did however help a few couples out with getting shots of themselves. The easiest way to start a convo while traveling alone I have found is by saying this..."You guys want me to get a picture of both of you?"
After this it was back to the road and my thinking....
No comments:
Post a Comment