Happy Birthday to Kyle! Thank goodness I had some essential oils on me last night, I spritzed scent all over the room and our bed to help with the smoke smell. It helped because we both slept ok in that gross room. The hotel was supposed to have free breakfast too, so I got up and went to grab some for us and found that "breakfast" was a half jug of orange juice, 4 (exactly) gas station pastries and brown water that I think they called coffee? I think that was a sign we needed to get on our way. But first, presents! Kyle opened his final birthday gift from Toby and I, a new bluetooth Bose speaker.
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| - Harpers Cemetery - |
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| - Standing in West Virginia looking at Maryland and Virginia. - |
We wanted to explore Harpers Ferry National Historical Park before we got on the road today. The visitors center is near the front entrance to the park and they have a shuttle bus that will take you down to Lower Town. The Lower Town is a very quaint little town. We walked around for a bit and then wanted to try to find somewhere we could see the rivers from. There were some stairs that lead to a trail and we decided to just hike up until we got to the top. It was worth it! There was this vista spot called Jefferson Rock because Thomas Jefferson wrote about the wonderful views from this rock. While standing in West Virginia you can look left and see The Potomac River in Maryland and look right and see The Shenandoah River in Virginia. Harpers Ferry touches all 3 states. The only other National Park that touches 3 states is Yellowstone. After a quick stop to the bookstore to grab a postcard we headed back to the hotel to hitch up and get on the road.
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| - "On the road again" driving through West Virginia. - |
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| - Driving through Pennsylvania. Someone's house was a full on castle we saw on the drive! Also Toby was making himself comfortable and kept trying to sneak up into the front seat with us. - |
Today we are driving around 370 miles from West Virginia to New York with one planned stop at the Antietam National Battlefield. Our route took us through 4 states, West Virginia —> Maryland —> Pennsylvania —> New York. The drive was supposed to take about 7 hours but it ended up taking close to 11! We left Harpers Ferry around 11:30 AM and made it to our campground at Four Mile Creek State Park around 10:30 PM. Kyle was such the trooper, he did so well on this drive. This is a long drive to do without a trailer, dog, tired wife and a 1/4 of everything we own. But he drove the whole way and we made it there safely. Here is his view of the drive.
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| - Antietam National Battlefield - |
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| - Driving through New York. - |
From Kyle: The drive from West Virginia to New York was one of those drives I will remember for the rest of my life, for good and not-so-good reasons. We started our drive from the Hotel to the Antietam Battlefield in Sharpsburg. We took some winding back roads that were both pretty and exciting to drive, especially with the trailer. After visiting the battlefield, we hit to road and drove through the Allegheny Mountain Range. In terms of drivability, the roads were fairly easy to drive in the beginning, with the exception of the frequent steep grades through the mountains. I could tell it was putting a lot of strain on the transmission, but the 4Runner held up perfectly. We made our way into Pennsylvania, which brought more winding roads and foul weather. It began to rain extremely hard, so we pulled over to the side of the road just to let the storm cell pass. By this time, I was starting to get exhausted. We ended up getting stuck behind two tractors on a one lane highway for about an hour, going no faster than 20 MPH. Seeing the arrival time grow on the GPS and losing daylight was frustrating to say the least. We arrived in New York State just before dusk, and passed through the torrential downpours we experienced earlier. It finally seemed like we were gaining headway, and we both just wanted to get to the campsite. A few miles from the campsite, we crossed over a bridge that had about 10 speed bumps that we couldn't see, due to the poor visibility. We launched over these pretty hard, but everything held up just like it should. When we finally got to the campsite, we quickly backed into our site in pitch dark, surprising Laura and I. We set up the trailer in the rain and mud, and finally collapsed on the bed when we had everything we needed for the night. The following morning after all was settled, we were glad to make it through the drive but also appreciated the natural beauty we saw along the way.
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