4. Tennessee, Kentucky, and West Virginia

Day 8 - Sunday, June 25, 2000

A mostly great day, with a few disappointments mixed in.

Woke up at 6 AM and it was already quite warm and very humid. Slept some more, enjoyed a great shower, fixed breakfast, and used the pay phone line by the office to connect to Prodigy, upload journal updates and additions, and get my e-mail. Went back to the van to watch the Sunday morning talk shows and to answer mail. Then uploaded again, packed up, and hit the road at 11:45 AM - cloudy sky, 75F, and 95% humidity.

Pretty much stuck to US 64 westbound - a very scenic road that follows the Ocoee River through the Ocoee and Cherokee National Forests. The river is whitewater country and one gets good views of people on rafts, floats, and in kayaks coming down the river. The 1996 Olympic whitewater canoe and kayak slalom races were held here.

Ultimately connected with I-75 southbound to Chattanooga and made it to the city after passing through enormous traffic jams due to construction work that has been going on for at least two years (got caught here in 1998).

Had planned to take the incline railway to the top of Lookout Mountain, but decided against it because of the clouds and haze. Was delighted that I could get Sprint digital service, so pulled into a parking lot and used up some of my free minutes calling home and downloading e-mail.

There is a well marked auto tour through the city which took me to all the interesting sights. Especially liked the pedestrian Walnut Street bridge and the Bluff View art district. However, somehow I missed the restored railroad station and the 175' model railroad layout that is supposedly to be found there. Well, I'll try again when I make my next attempt to enjoy Lookout Mountain.

Then north on US 60 and I 75 to I 40 west, exit 360 and the Soaring Eagle Campground and RV Resort. The guide books don't tell that the campground is located immediately adjacent to the very busy I 40. Don't go there, if you want a quiet night's sleep.

$18.16 bought me a site with water, electricity, and a picnic table. Parking is on grass, not very level. Still hot and humid in the evening, five minutes after taking a shower I was sweaty again.

Was on the road for 6 hours and traveled 200 miles. Bought gasoline in TN at $1.499/gal. Averaged 16.1 mpg on the last tank.

Day 9 - Monday, June 26, 2000

I must have caught a slight dose of travel weariness, because this morning I just couldn't get my a--- in gear. The traffic noise woke me at 5 AM and I dozed off again for another two hours. Nice hot shower in the somewhat decrepit bathhouse - a converted trailer with dirty floors. A leisurely breakfast while watching TV, then unhooked because there was so much thunder that I expected a cloudburst any time. Made some phone calls and visited the internet to download mail. Finally hit the road at 10:00 AM. Took I 80 west to US 27 north and enjoyed a moderately scenic road. Crossed the Kentucky state line and jumped off at SR 90 east - a scenic treat. It's a very narrow road that winds through the Daniel Boone National Forest. At one point encountered a "Wide Load" tractor-trailer transporting an extra wide manufactured home. No shoulders to move out on, guardrail on his side. He took up at least 80% of the road and certainly wasn't going to back up. I had to back up for about 1/4 mile to find a shoulder that didn't look soft. I guess we would still be there on that narrow road facing each other, had I been driving anything wider than my van.

But SR 90 definitely was worth it - probably the best stretch of road today, especially through the Cumberland Falls State Park area. The road merges into 25W, which took me to the fairly scenic I 75 north. Jumped off at London to take the Daniel Boone Parkway (tolls). I had thought this would be a "parkway" like the Blue Ridge, but it turned out to be a rather poorly maintained road used mainly by huge coal transporters. The parkway becomes SR 80 - also not a particularly attractive road. It didn't help my mood that I had to pass through one thunderstorm after another.

SR 80 joins up with US 23 - and the only positive thing I can say about this particular stretch of US 23 in Kentucky is that it is slightly better than the next road I took, US 119.

However, when I crossed into West Virginia, US 119 became a Robert C. Byrd Highway (there seem to be several highways named after him), and the superannuated senior senator from the State of West Virginia knows how to bring home the pork. "His" highways make for a beautiful drives, and the sun finally came out.

My destination for the day was the Kanawha State Forest, Davis Creek Camping Area. DeLorme's Map 'n Go routed me there via US 119, SR 94 (very narrow and winding) and then county roads 44 and 42. Found CR 44, but it quickly turned into a very narrow gravel road, then a dirt road. A gully to my right, a steep drop on my left - there was no way to turn around. Climbed up, navigated numerous switchbacks, but saw enough roadside litter to know that others had traveled here. After what seemed like an eternity, came to the campground entrance and a beautifully paved road. Asked the ranger whether they get any visitors at all, seeing how frightening the climb had been. He deadpanned "well, most folks don't take the backroad, they take the paved road from Charleston."

The setting here is beautiful. I'm camped in a level site with water and electricity for $14.40, next to a babbling brook - I guess it is the Davis Creek. It's comfortably cool after sundown, and I'm writing this while sitting outdoors at the picnic table. I guess I'll sleep well in this peaceful and quiet spot.

Drove 370 miles today - the most miles per day on this trip. Was on the road for 8 1/4 hours.

Day 10 - Tuesday, June 27, 2000

The sound of rain awoke me at 6 AM. One look out of the window at the leaden sky convinced me that this would not be a good day to pursue scenic routes. Crawled back into the sleeping bag and didn't get up again until 9 AM. Enjoyed a pleasant shower, fixed a good breakfast, and got out the computer to do some revised route planning.

Packed up in the rain, then took the "good" road to Charleston. Bought some gas along the way, $1.759 per gallon - highway robbery! Only averaged 15.5 mpg on the last tank - those mountain roads really bring down the average.

Didn't do much sightseeing in Charleston - cities don't attract me much unless there is a neat historic district. The golden dome of the capitol glistened in the rain and I admired it from a distance while parked in some motel parking lot and using up my prepaid minutes with Sprint PCS.

I'm "sorta" satisfied with Sprint PCS. When I'm in one of their service areas, I get excellent call quality and connecting to the internet is a breeze, without dropped calls. E-mail works well at 14.4 KBPS, but it's much too slow for uploading photos or browsing. The main drawback is that Sprint service areas are far and in between.

Headed north on I 77/I 79 to exit 67 - US 19 and SR 4. Then SR 15 east to the Gerald R. Freeman campground, a Corps of Engineers facility. This is a "full service" campground with many activities and recreation possibilities. $14 ($7 with Golden Age passport) gets you a level site with electricity (no water hook-ups), picnic table, and fire ring. The bathhouse is OK.

It's raining again. I'll spend the rest of the evening in the camper, dining on snacks and strawberries. Drove 195 miles today and was on the road for all of 6 hours.

Day 11 - Wednesday, June 28, 2000

Do you know the kind of day where you say to yourself in the evening "I should have stayed in bed" - this was one of those days.

Rain woke me at 5 AM, went back to sleep and half slept/half dozed until 9:30 AM. After a long shower in the OK bathhouse, fixed breakfast and hit the road at 11:30 AM.

DeLorme's idea of scenically routing me through this part of West Virginia was to put me on county roads, mostly dirt, occasionally gravel. Drove through such memorable towns as Diana and Pickens - memorable mainly because the road through town was paved. Finally had enough and picked yet another dirt road to take me to the Holly River State Park area and SR 20 - well paved and mostly scenic.

On to Buckhannon, where I stopped to buy groceries.

Took US 33 east to Elgin. Just outside town the van's front end started shaking badly, flat right front tire. No cell phone service, no state trouper, no choice but a do-it-yourself job.

Many years ago, when I was buzzing around Europe in a Porsche, I prided myself on being able able to change a tire in under 10 minutes. Well, those days are long gone. Getting the spare out from under the van requires careful study of the manual. Next, placing the jack under the front axle - pretty difficult when parked on a slanted shoulder and the front axle isn't exactly accessible. Then the arduous task of raising the front end - believe me, the van is a lot heavier than a Porsche. I could do max 15 cranks on the handle at a time, then a 5 min rest. Took me about an hour. Found the culprit - a sharp stone deeply embedded in the tire.

What a bummer. The tire only has about 5,000 miles on it, but since I had to drive a short distance to get off the road, it's beyond repair. Also, of course, I'm worried about damage to the aluminum wheel.

Finally made it to Harman and moved on to Canaan Valley Resort State Park to settle in for the night.

Got a site (water, electricity, sewer) for $16.60. It's a very slanted but paved pull-through. Took a very long hot shower in the comfortable bathhouse, got most of the dirt off. Changing a tire and crawling under the van to place the jack was not easy on me and my clothing - especially after having driven mostly on dirt roads.

Was on the road for 6 1/4 hours, with less than three hours of scenic touring.

Day 12 - Thursday, June 29, 2000

Got up at 7 AM as the sun was trying to burn off the morning fog. During the night the temperature had dropped to 57F - so it had been a comfortably cool night. Had decided last night that I wouldn't be comfortable driving without a spare tire aboard, so headed for the nearest bigger towns, Elkin (no luck) and Buckhannon on SR 33 to find a replacement.

The Tire Center in Buckhannon was able to come up with a compatible six ply widetrack with a tread pattern that is somewhat similar to the remaining three Baja Widetracks. Tried to crank down the damaged tire from the spare storage area in front of the rear bumper, but the tire lifter didn't work anymore. Had to unbolt the whole tire lifting/storage assembly just to get at the tire. Good news: the aluminum wheel was undamaged. Bad news: need a new tire lifter assembly and in the meantime have to carry the spare inside the van.

Continued to Clarksburg on SR 20, Fairmont on I 79, and Morgantown on I 79/I 68, hoping to find a Ford dealer who had the tire lifter assembly in stock. No luck. Tried in vain one more time in Cumberland, MD and gave up. Headed south to drive along the B&O canal (nice scenic road), crossed back into WV at Paw Paw, a very pretty scenic back road (SR 9) to Berkeley Springs, and then on to Martinsburg, I 81 north to Falling Waters, and on to the Falling Waters Campsite, where $17.49 (after a $1.50 "over 60" discount) got me a fairly private, very level site with water, electricity, picnic table, and fire ring. You may want to remember this place - it's just a few miles off I 81, yet little if any traffic noise to bother you at night.

Spent much of the evening cleaning myself and the van. The bathhouse is very clean and comfortable. Enjoyed showing the Westy to a couple camped nearby - they are traveling in a 1990 VW van with a 4 cylinder engine, which they had bought new. I think they'll move up to a GTRV Westy before long.

Am in a Sprint PCS service area, so will be able to download e-mail later this evening. The campground is modem friendly.

Drove 333 miles today, of which about 100 were on very scenic byways. Was under way for 9 1/2 hours. Bought gasoline at $1.699/gal and averaged 17 mpg.

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