October 28, 2008
Hurricane, WV heading HOME to
Grassy Meadows, WV
We had parked the RV in Aunt Sue's driveway, so we spent the night there and got up this morning and had a wonderful breakfast (of course) Aunt Sue is a wonderful cook! Before we knew it, it was time to leave and head out on the last lap of our trip home.
Aunt Sue, Uncle Pete (Ferguson) and their best friend Bridger. And NO, she didn't cook on that stove, though I know she's cooked many a meal on a wood cook stove.
Carolee, Donna and Aunt Sue. Looks like she's already waving goodbye, doesn't it???? Teeheehee
This was taken on the way from Charleston, WV to Rainelle on old route 60. I can't remember the name of the little town beside the water where this was taken, but it will come to me later, I'm sure!
State Capitol building, Charleston, WV. At least we got to see some fall colors on the way home, even though they were fading by this time.
We stopped at Hawk's Nest on the way home. Can you believe that neither one of us had ever been to the overlook before??? We drove all the way to Alaska to see beautiful things and had this awesome view right in our back yard!! Doesn't make sense, does it? Teeheehee Anyway, I'm glad we stopped. I will definitely go back when it's a tad warmer. It was quite cold that day!!
Donna and Merrell at Hawk's Nest. Merrell said he used to stop and eat lunch at the overlook when he was driving the UPS truck on old route 60 to Charleston.
We drove all of the way to Alaska and back and NEVER ran into any snow (though Merrell kept assuring me that if we didn't leave wherever we happened to be at that moment that we were going to get snowed in, LOL) until we were back in WV on old route 60 headed towards Sewell Mountain. It was so pretty and white. I was quite happy to see it, but I'm not sure about Merrell. Teeheehee
Snowy farm scene on old route 60 on Sewell Mountain.
Loops Road snow!!!
We knew we were getting close to home when we saw the Big Sewell Baptist Church on Sewell Mountain. Look at the beautimous snow!!!!
Home again, Home again Jiggedy Jog!! :>)
Donna in shock at being HOME AGAIN!!! :>) That's my son Andy in the back ground laughing at us!! He and his wife Maria and daughter Kaylee were at the house when we got there and had it all clean and warm for us. Thanks guys!!! We sure did appreciate it.
Carolee wasn't in shock because she still had a few hours before she was HOME AGAIN!! LOL I think she was just happy be moving around on solid ground. NO MORE FALLING!!!!
I'm posting this almost three weeks after we got home. Partly because we have been busy trying to get settled in after being gone for almost four months and partly because I knew that after I posted the final day of our trip, it would be truly over and I wasn't quite ready to let it go. I know that sounds strange to most of you, but if you had planned and dreamed about a trip like this as much as I have, you would probably feel the same. It was definitely bitter sweet when we pulled into our driveway. One part was happy to see "HOME" and the other part was sad to see the end of an absolutely wonderful trip.
I'm still getting used to having to walk through a big house to get "stuff". In the RV everything was right at your fingertips (literally, LOL) and it takes some getting used to when you go back to "BIG".
We have the RV basically empty and winterized and it looks kind of sad just sitting in the driveway waiting to be parked in the pole barn. I still have a few things to do before it goes into storage.
We kept track of our mileage on the trip, as well as how much we paid for diesel at each fill up. The most we paid for diesel was $5.82 per gallon (in Canada) and the least we paid was $3.12 in Marble Falls, TX. We drove 14,300 in the RV and 3,000 in the car. Beginning in WV, we drove through Kentucky, Indiana, Illinois, Missouri, Iowa, South Dakota, Wyoming and Montana. From there we drove through Canada to Alaska. From Alaska we drove back through Canada using another route and came back into the states in Washington and from there to Oregon, Idaho, Utah, Nevada, California, Arizona, New Mexico, Texas, Arkansas, Indiana, Ohio and back to WV. Unfortunately, we missed North Dakota, Nebraska, Colorado and Oklahoma. I guess that will have to be for our next trip. LOL
I'm still figuring up our total expenses for the trip. I have an Excel spreadsheet on the computer and have almost completed adding our receipts to the different columns (food, diesel, propane, campgrounds, repairs, entertainment, etc..) It will be interesting to see what the total is, won't it??? Teeheehee
We have really enjoyed sharing our journey with you and hope you have enjoyed hearing about it and seeing some of the wonderful things we have seen. It would be really hard to pick just one place that I thought was super special. Glacier Park in Montana was superb. The large Sequoias were awesome. The Glaciers in Alaska were stupendous. The Grand Canyon was amazing. How do you choose? We live in an awesome world that has many forms of beauty. It is really true about beauty being in the eye of the beholder. We each have our own idea of what beauty is. I have always heard the expression, but never truly understood what it meant until now. I know now that West Virginia has the kind of beauty my heart craves. I truly enjoyed seeing all of the places we have been and wouldn't trade the experience for anything, but I have a little bit of Dorothy in the Wizard of OZ in me, I guess, because there is truly "NO PLACE LIKE HOME".
Some people ask if we would do it again and I think we would all say ABSOLUTELY!!! I know that I would do it again in a heartbeat. But, if I am lucky enough to be able to go on an extended trip again, I would go see the other places that we didn't get to see on this go round!!
Take care and thanks again for sharing our journey!!
Donna, Merrell, Carolee and Chuck
