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We drove through Maryland. The
leaves were not quite at their peak yet, but we saw it a couple of
years later, backtracking I must admit, which we try to avoid. The
second time around, Maryland was as glorious as New England was now.
Moving into West Virginia, it was a hard trip. But we soon got on the
new high tech corridor now through these mountains. It's hard to
imagine the hardships of the pioneers, traveling here. We camped at
Broken Wheel Campground, and the name seemed appropriate. West
Virginia is a poor state, very rich in natural beauty – and coal.
The old grist mill on a rushing
brook at Babcock State Park, which of course we pictured, is a great
photo attraction. We have seen photos of it, all over the country.
The New River Gorge is actually very old, and the World's longest
single arch steel bridge spans it, 867 feet above the river below.
The coal seam is about three quarters of the way to the top, and it's
easy to mine. Just drop the coal to the valley below, haul it off.
Many sky divers gather at the New River Gorge bridge each year, to
risk killing themselves. I just don't have that urge.
This was a backward, isolated area
for so long, before this high tech corridor we came down. Travel was
hard for these friendly people, who speak so much like the Arkansas
hill people of my youth. The slang is so similar, it's amazing. I
know they never visited back and forth much, over these mountains. The New River is also a top white water
river.
The RV would not start after a
stop at Hawks Nest, the first of a string of automobile troubles. It
had to be towed 40 miles to have a new ignition switch. Thanks for
the tow, Good Sam!
Arriving at Beaver Dam, Kentucky,
we were having battery problems. We spent the night. A large party
seemed to be scheduled for tonight, so we went downtown. We were
walking down the street, surrounded by hundreds of people. The music
started to kick in. Every single person there, and I mean every one,
stopped and started tapping a foot. Everybody except us. Now if
that's not a bit weird. Then, the music really kicked in, and again,
every single person, except us, just literally danced onto the
street! Not together, really, just dancing. We looked around for the
movie cameras. Surely we were on a movie set.
When we got back to the RV park, a
track with small race cars roared to life. Naturally, we had to go
look. These were kids driving these cars. But they were very loud and
very fast! I knew these kids didn't even have a driver's license yet.
On down the road a ways the next
day, what we thought was battery problems turned bad. Alternator
problems. It was Saturday, and new one was hard to find, but I was
determined to do it myself. We pulled into a truck stop, and I got my
tools out. I discovered a guy in the truck stop that used to be a
mechanic, but now he was just working there at odd jobs. He started
supervising me, and kept coming out at intervals to keep me on the
right track, for a good part of the afternoon. He would not take pay,
but we left some for him anyway, when we pulled out the next day. We
have stayed in touch with him over the years. A good man.
We traveled on, crossed the mighty
Mississippi, and before we knew it, we were in Arkansas! Home. But
still a long way from Arkadelphia, so we camped at Newport. A lady
came through the camp, inviting all the campers to a large dinner and
party their church was throwing a mile down the road. We were the
only ones that actually went, we never miss an opportunity to mix
with the locals. They treated us like royals, we had a large meal,
and lots of fun. We finally drug back to our RV, worn out. The
emergency phone rang. My sister Jan's husband, Bill, had just died.
We loaded up and headed out. We normally do not drive that RV at
night. The headlights are dim. But we drove through the night, and
arrived at Little Rock, parked our RV at Barbara's sister Frances'
house, and drove to Fort Worth. I first met Bill Workman when I was a
teenager. He was a weightlifter, an Air Force man, and had just
retired a few years before. His retirement was cut short. Hard to
believe he was gone.
After a couple of weeks of
visiting family, we realized we had new passengers now. Hundreds of
ants. we loaded up at Little Rock and headed east. We stopped at
Selma, Alabama, and learned more about the Civil Rights movement. At
Montgomery, we visited Frontier days. A mountainous Mountain Man
took a shine to Barbara, and physically, I didn't really see much I
could do about it. I did have a gun in the RV, but I held that as a
last resort. Fortunately, I managed to steal her away when he was not
looking, and we moved on to Georgia Quickly.
At Andersonville, we spent some
time at the Civil War POW Camp. That was a nightmare place. Not
enough food, bad water, little cover from the elements. Actually, It
was just a big field with a palisade wall around it, guards all
around, trained to shoot to kill if anyone got within 10 feet of the
wall. Young boys with big guns usually guarded it, the men were
needed in the war. A creek running through it was the only source of
water, and It was quickly contaminated with human waste. Thousands
from the north died there.
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