May 23-24, 2024 Long Road Back to TX

 Thursday-Friday, May 23, 24

62 this beautiful morning as we say good-bye to Anita, Kevin and Cody and begin the Trek back to Texas.   This is pretty much just driving, gas and sleeping.  Leaving from southern WV makes the trip a bit shorter than usual and we make it the whole way to Mississippi with 12 hours of driving.  We stop at a Walmart in Newton a bit shy of Jackson.

Lots of agriculture across Mississippi and Louisiana and the corn here is already 4' high, while it was just a few inches in PA.

We learn random things from Google as we pass the time.   For example:  Vultures don't circle dead things - when they are circling, they are looking for the next meal.  The red-headed turkey vultures have a great sense of smell and locate things well.  Their black-headed cousins have to hunt by sight (or follow their cousins).  

Edamame is immature green soy beans.  Soy beans are a big crop in the US.

Etc.

We stop at Toup' s Kajun Kitchen in Leesville, Louisiana for our traditional shrimp poor boy.  It was voted #4 of the best restaurants in LA according to America's Best Restaurants.  It has been around since 1947 so must be doing something right!  Poorboys are one thing they got right!

We've taken smaller roads through some of Mississippi and Louisiana which is much more enjoyable than I10 - shorter mileage-wise and just a tad longer time-wise.   

We don't have bad traffic until we are about an hour from home and back on major highway.  Arrive around 4:00.  There have been storms while we were away, but things don't look too bad - except for weeds in the flower beds!  

 Always nice to come home.

Wednesday, May 22 New River Gorge Nat'l Park, WV

 Wednesday, May 22

Anita fixes breakfast - toast topped with avocado, a fried egg and bacon.  Delicious!  

We set out to explore the area a bit.   First the New River Bridge and Visitor's Center.   Completed in 1977, it is 3,030 ft long and quite pretty. The National Park was established to protect 55 miles of the New River, which starts in North Carolina, runs through Virginia then into West Virginia.

It turns out that this park is several areas that are not adjacent, which is why, I guess, there is no entry fee - too many possible entries!   We had read about some things in the area and decide to head a little further north and check out Hawk's Nest State Park.  Some of the roads are pretty crazy - more like 1 1/2 lanes wide and all are full of hills and switchbacks. 

Here are some shots from Hawk's Nest, where the Mountain Laurel is beginning to bloom.

Anita at "Lover's Leap"

Greg

Next is Cathedral Falls near the town of Gauley Bridge.  It drops 60' over shale and sandstone and is quite beautiful!   

           

         

There is another falls, Kanawha, a few miles further, so we head there.  It is quite different - very wide and not very deep as it tumbles over a sandstone ledge.  15' at the highest point.    It is just past where the New and Gauley rivers converge to create the Kanawha River.  A hydropower facility is nearby.

Kevin spies Dixie's Drive-In in the little town of Ansted and stops, looking for some ice cream.  It looks closed, but the owner is there.  He says they open for the season in an hour or so, but since we just want ice cream he'll serve us (Cody too.)  He comes out and sits and chats with us for a while.  He is a local who built and opened this place when he got home from the military.  He thought someone would buy it, but no one did so he runs it seasonally, swearing that each season will be his last, but...... nice guy and good ice cream!

From here we head back to Babcock State Park and its famous Grist Mill.  Beautiful setting!  We walk around a bit, take photos and then head back to our campsite.

There is an old mining town, Thurmond,  and some other waterfalls, but everything seems to be a bit of a drive, so we call it a day.  Probably the biggest draw here is rafting or kayaking on the New River (Greg and I did it once eons ago) but the weather isn't THAT warm.....

Kevin cooks dinner over the fire again.  Tonight we share strawberries with the folks who are camping on the other side of Kevin and Anita.  It has been a good day!

Tuesday, May 21, 2024 Strawberries, Candy and Babcock State Park, WV

 Tuesday, May 21

Breakfast and packing and we head out about 9:30.  A few stops along the way, first for gas and ice.  Gasoline is expensive in PA - around $3.79.  A lot of taxes I think.  The least expensive we've seen is $2.99 in LA, but averages have been around $3.40.  When we stop, Kevin notices some "grass" under his RV and turns out it is a bird's nest - complete with a single blue robin egg. Awwww - poor mama bird....

Next stop in in Meyersville, Maryland.  Kevin's family (Meyers) is from this area and he takes us to "Candyland", a store with just about every kind of candy you can think of, including oldies like Necco Wafers, Turkish Taffy and Tootsie Rolls.  

The next stop is at a roadside stand selling fresh strawberries and other produce where Kevin buys several quarts of strawberries, asparagus and corn. We sample the strawberries on the ride.  They smell great and taste so good! Like REAL strawberries rather than the pathetic things from our grocery stores at home.

Next is a scenic overlook on 195, to let Cody and everyone else stretch legs and potty.  West Virginia is quite mountainous and very green.

Finally arrive at Babcock State Park where we have nice adjoining campsites, with electric.  Greg gets some firewood from the camp host and we check out the bathhouse which isn't very close but is clean and has showers.

Greg starts a nice fire and Kevin cooks pork sausage, asparagus and corn over the fire.  And then we enjoy strawberry short cake.  Great dinner!  We enjoy the fire for a while as the temperature is around 60 degrees.  Perfect.

Monday, May 20 Amish Country to Thomasville, PA

 Monday, May 20

Garden Spot is near Lancaster and right in the middle of Amish country.  The farms are gorgeous and traffic always includes some buggies.

Monday is Laundry Day

We stop for a hug with Mom before continuing on to Beth's sister Anita and her husband Kevin's home near Thomasville, PA - not too far from Hanover/Gettysburg area.  First stop is a bakery called Achenbach's in Leola where Kevin and Anita once took us.  Peanut butter long johns are one of their specialties - delicious - and Anita asks for some orange and cranberry muffins.

Thomasville is about an hour and a half from Garden Spot.  But we take a little detour through Dallastown, where Beth grew up and drive by the farm where she lived till age 10.   Of course it looks quite different and subdivisions and roads have gotten much closer to it, but the basic house and barns are still there - minus the henhouse, which is gone.  

We let GPS take us to Anita's and I suppose it takes the shortest route, through lots of countryside, winding narrow roads and very small towns.   

Last time we saw their house it was in two pieces, as it is a pre-fabricated home and had just been delivered.  Looks much better now, lol, surrounded by grass and trees and flowers.  We get the tour and catch up a bit, and then our niece Vanessa and her 2+ year old son Tanner arrive for a visit.  Anita and Kevin have 5 grandsons (3 different sets of parents), and have turned most of their basement into a play room, complete with bounce house and all sorts of toys, so that's where we head and visit.  Tanner is a hoot!  Vanessa and her husband live on a farm, as do his parents, so Tanner learned his colors from tractors - green, John Deer and other brands of blue and red. And he knows which is which!

He also likes to watch bull-riding on tv instead of cartoons!  Look out!  So glad they stopped by!

A pair of killdeer have made a nest and laid eggs in their gravel parking area.  When we got near he/she pretended to be injured and dragged himself away, hoping to distract us from the eggs. 

  

Anita and Kevin also have an RV, so after a terrific salmon dinner, we spend some time planning a little jaunt down to New River Gorge National Park in West Virginia - about a 5 hour drive.  We reserve campsites in a state park, pack a few things and will take off tomorrow along with their German Shepherd named Cody, who's a sweetie.