8/20 - US250

The van that was there last night was gone when I drove out. I'm not a terribly early riser anymore now that I don't have to. That came as a surprise to me after so many years of rising at 4:30 am to get to work. No one bothered me at all in my parking spot. There were 2 cars in the lot behind me. One had a person in the driver's seat who looked like he was napping. It appeared the park had only a single porta-pottie for nature's call.

My dog only got a little run in the fenced ball field as I wanted to get going. I made my coffee and started the generator for 3 minutes to heat up a bit of the hamburger I made a couple nights ago. I ate that for breakfast and left the dishes piled in the sink for later.

The Ohio run was as much of a SE direction as I could to get to Wheeling, WV. That meant US20 to US250. At Mt. Eton, a rise in the landscape pretty much in the center of OH, I stopped for a homemade ice cream sign. There were several buggies with Amish/Mennonite people in them. One man with 3 sons trailing him carried a gas can and propane tank to his horse buggy. A bit of an oxymoron but extremists usually do have some serious inconsistencies. The youngest boy looked longingly at my dog but he made no move to pet her or broke step in the line formed by his family.

Mt Eaton, OH

Van at Mt. Eaton, OH

The store with the ice cream also had the Amish/Mennonite look to it as the female clerks wore the dress and cap that they favor and most of the people in there were the same. The clerk operated a modern cash register. The ice cream was excellent. I had fresh peach and blueberry cheesecake. Yum. One lady dressed like that told me the ice cream was very good. Nice of her to tell me, an obvious stranger and outsider.

The drive was pretty thru OH. I took US250 from Wheeling, WV to Fairmont, WV where it meets up with I79. That took an extra hour over the time it takes by freeway but it was very pretty. A very twisty-windy road. It is always surprising how densely populated the roads in WV are. There's little wild roadside and houses line the roads a lot more than one would expect. It might be more sparsely populated further away from highways. The road was less tortuous once it intersected with WV7. I got to Fairmont around 6pm.

It would be a 3 ½ hour drive home from I79. I got to the 1^st MD rest area/Welcome Center at about 6:30. Feeling hungry, I decided to not make the push to get home and leave it for the morning. My house has essentially been abandoned for 7 weeks so I didn't really want to arrive in the dark, tired and sleepy. It is probably hot and who knows if there are any issues with it. Tomorrow is soon enough and better to see it in the daylight. I thought the return trip the long way would be 2 weeks and it will be on the dot.

Cats looking out and dinner in the van

I68 Rest Area camp

I made a quick dinner of a cucumber, tomato, onion, and the last of the hamburger in a salad. That used up all the fresh veggies except for a few tomatoes. I sliced the baked goat cheese I picked up in Marquette for some food on the road tomorrow. I put the dog on a double leash so she would have 12' and tosses the rope toy for her to catch. That will have to do for exercise for her until we get home. I did warn her that the Lake Huron play would be the last of the fun for her.

Route: OH600E – US20E – US250S – OH9S – US40E to Wheeling, WV – US250S to Fairmont – I79N - I68E