Today we headed off into West Virginia. We went directly west from where we are in Front Royal (or as directly as is possible when we are in the middle of nowhere) and headed towards Petersburg which is probably about 40 miles or so from the West Virginia border. It was a pretty drive although it became a little more bleak as we headed further into West Virginia. We stopped along the route at a roadside park that was really well kept right on the river, and Tal-y got to run a little. There were some guys there putting up Christmas decorations; they do know it’s only just November right?
Well there’s not a whole lot going on between Front Royal and Petersburg along highway 55, just lots of wide-open space. We ate lunch in Petersburg at a Subway since that was the only ‘restaurant’ for miles in any direction, and then decided to head south down the 220 to take a different route home. As we were leaving Petersburg Mike saw a sign that pointed in the opposite direction from what Nell was telling that said 'Historic Petersburg’, and decided he needed to see it. Turns out that just because there’s a sign doesn’t mean there’s going to be anything to see of historic value (or any other value for that matter). Nell recalculated and took us over a rickety bridge and off up a hill. Mike was going to do a U-turn but I told him it wasn’t necessary so up the hill we headed – we should have done the U-turn! We went up the hill forever, past some houses until the paved road came to an end, then we just kept going; it was like one of those places you see on Criminal Minds where the killer keeps people in his basement and eats them. The road was gravelly and rutted with drives off it, with no houses or people in sight; we didn’t pass a car on the way up or on the way down and the drive was about 25 minutes. Mike was kind and drove slowly for me, but I was very happy when we found civilization again. After heading south for a while longer we then turned east back into Virginia over the Appalachian Mountains. The road over the mountains that we took was super steep and super windy – good job we weren’t pulling the trailer today. The views from them were amazing as we went up the west side of them; unfortunately I didn’t take any pictures as we couldn’t really stop in the middle of the road.
When we got home we took Tal-y for a walk around the campsite and she made a new four legged friend, only this one had horns; she seems to be really taken with a white goat that lives here. She didn’t take too kindly to the horse or the other goat, she only had eyes for the white one.
We are heading south tomorrow to Gloucester, hopefully we’ll be a little closer to some other folks!

Mike:Some people have just lived a sheltered life!