Today was an amazing day. We left Winchester West Virginia and made our first stop at Capone Bridge, West Virginia where we stopped for a restroom break.
There were some interesting things that we found today. The first had to do with full self-driving on our Tesla Model X. If there is a road in the world that can test the abilities of full self-driving better than route 50 as it twists and turns through Maryland, Virginia, and West Virginia. It never faltered and it made the drive so much more comfortable. It gave me the opportunity to look around while we navigated so many crazy twists and turns.
There were steep grades in both directions and turns that had to be navigated at 10 or 15 or 20 miles an hour. And there weren’t just a few, there were hundreds of these terms as we headed through the countryside. I am so thankful that we purchased full self-driving with our Tesla.
The other thing that we found incredible was the beauty of West Virginia. It lends credence to John Denver’s song, Almost Heaven West Virginia. I can’t describe to you how beautiful the countryside was. We were traveling on route 50 which is known as the loneliest road in America. After today we understand why it is called the loneliest road in America. There were times when we didn’t see another car for long periods of time. I don’t know how large trucks navigate this highway.
We crossed the South Branch River on the Romney Bridge and the view of the bridge and from the bridge was incredible. When we crossed the bridge, we saw a small plane landing and it flew into the trees very close to the river and we never saw where it went. It was a site to behold.
We also saw the poverty of West Virginia. It makes us thankful for all that we have, and we also saw the people of West Virginia that cared so much for what they had that their properties were a joy to behold. We saw others where it boggled our mind that people could live where they were living. Some of the driveways to people’s houses were so steep that Ronnie and I can’t imagine how they navigate during the winter. There were piles of firewood in many, many homes and I’m sure that it came in very handy during the winter months. I don’t know how anyone could navigate route 50 through the mountains during the winter.
The other thing that we thought was cool was all the windmills on the tops of the mountains. Sometimes, there were too many to count. What a great place for wind power.
On our way we stopped at Cathedral State Park in Aurora WV. We hadn’t planned on hiking, and we really wanted to use the restrooms which we did. But we saw that in the park there is an old growth forest with trees up to 90 feet tall with circumferences up to 21 feet around. We started hiking and quickly realized that the terrain was more difficult than we really wanted to deal with. I managed to take a few pictures of Ronnie and I photographed running standing next to a large tree but certainly not anything near what we would have found in the old growth forest.
We finished our day in Athens, OH. There is a funny story with this. We stopped for lunch and I went to make a hotel reservation in Athens, OH. Except when I clicked on the town in my app, I clicked on Athens, GA and made a reservation. An hour later after a late lunch, I realized my mistake and tried to cancel in the app., The app told me that it was too late. I was beside myself. I called the hotel in Athens, GA and explained the situation. Luckily, they cancelled my reservation. I then made one in Athens, Ohio where we are now. Tomorrow is day three of our adventure.
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Have a great trip! Can’t wait to see more!