U.S. Road Trip 2013
Part Nineteen
Due to a necessary change in plans which prevented us from driving a little north through northern Ohio, we spent the last two days of our trip driving through Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky, and West Virginia.
Sidenote: A chose a pioneer hat from the gift shop in Nauvoo as her souvenir and wore it for two days. Everyone at every rest stop, gas stations, restaurant and grocery store commented on how adorable she was. I'm especially fond of the pairing of the bonnet and her pink Keens.
Though the details of the three-week trip had been planned, it felt good to be spontaneous as we ended. We threw in one more hotel stay outside of Louisville because it (1) was inexpensive, (2) didn't require a tent set-up in the dark which I was starting to feel guilty about, and (3) had a pool to provide our kids' favorite kind of exercise.
The next day we added a short detour trip to the New River Gorge Bridge. It's America's longest single span steel arch bridge. We made the short walk to see it from the viewing platform.
I marvel at how a river can cut through terrain and (slowly) create something so gracefully curved. Having recently been in the Grand Canyon I remarked to the kids that both the Gorge and the Canyon were formed in the same way. We watched the people running the New River below us in rafts. It didn't look that scary to the kids, so we drove down a little farther to the bridge below for a good look. Someday we'll go back to this area of West Virginia to learn more about the cole mining that was once so common throughout this now-protected area. Thurmond looks like an interesting old town to explore.
We pulled up to our house that evening around 8 p.m. I don't think anyone was really eager to get home before that point, but the kids popped right out and wanted to run through the house immediately. I snapped a photo of the GPS before I returned to my normal, non-nomadic life.
One more post. Just documenting this trip has seemed like its own long journey. It will feel good to know I've recorded all of it.
1 comment:
Just for the record, I'm sure we never reached 118 mph. The Kia doesn't have it in her (although she performed admirably throughout the trip). However, the total mileage was within a few miles of the car's trip odometer so I think the mileage is right.
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