DAY 20: Summersville, West Virginia to Harrisonburg, Virginia #fiveexplore #travellingduringcovid19

Day 20 – 5th August

The true test of a road trip is whether you can muster the same enthusiasm for your last day as your first. For those following this blog twenty days ago, we travelled across Pennsylvania, Hershey, and Pittsburgh. Our last day was in West Virginia navigating the Appalachian Mountains on roads that leave you with twisted blood.

The morning began in Subway (again). Sarah and I chose not to count the number of gas station sandwiches, McDonalds, potato chips and Subways we have eaten on this trip. It could cause child services to visit on our return. I have also developed a penchant for beef jerky and bags of American candy that leave you in the bathroom for hours if you eat too much.

Two fine specimens of elder west Virginia locals queued in front of us. Neither wore a mask despite the Subway posters requesting customers to do so. This is the crux of COVID. Are three lowly paid workers serving six-inch sandwiches going to confront this lack of compliance?

My daughters were also treated to a surprise aperitif. One of the locals was wearing his tracksuit bottoms somewhere round his knees revealing his derriere to customers shopping for their lunch. Summerville Subway left something to be desired.

We headed north east to Blackwater Falls State Park. I finally downloaded an altitude app and watched how the number varied every few minutes. Straight roads are rare in West Virginia. The mountainous terrain means most routes wind around hills, rising and dipping across uneven landscapes. Sarah and Lyra were on high alert.

Blackwater falls were interesting. The amber, muddy colour of the water due to sediment in the river gives the appearance of a natural sewage pipe. After Niagara and Yellowstone there was a sense of anticlimax. The children only showed interest at the gift shop. Kudos to the owners – only seven people were allowed in the shop at one time. This felt excessive but makes a lot of sense. It also curbed my gift shop spending.

After a brief unscheduled stop at Seneca Rocks we climbed several thousand feet to Spruce Knob, the highest point in West Virginia. Like yesterday, the road revealed little. Trees, vegetation, beautiful wildflowers, and large butterflies cluttered our path. Only at the very top did panoramic views of the Appalachian Mountains reveal themselves at 4,862 ft. Deer wandered near the road, red squirrels scampered and rabbits skipped into the grass. The small trail is well worth visiting if you are willing to navigate the lengthy drive to the top.

(Seneca Rocks pictured above)

(The drive to the peak of Spruce Knob)

(View from Spruce Knob)

We flirted briefly with the idea of driving directly back to New Jersey tonight given the thought of unloading the car at another hotel. Thankfully, we realized our error and completed the beautiful drive into Virginia and Harrisonburg instead. Route 33 traverses over the Allegheny Mountains peaking on top of Shenandoah Mountain on the state border at 3,450ft. You then dive through picturesque forests into Rawley Springs. Harrisonburg is like a small quaint English town. We could have been back in the home counties.

The hotel was excellent, and we spent our last night eating a slap up COVID friendly meal in our room. Alaina chose to eat beef and fish at the same time. She also completed her national hotel bathroom review. When asked for a summation of her experiences, she said, “They were all good.” She reminded me of picking out a favourite moment from our trip. It was all good from first moment to last.

Before I leave you, there were important themes that emerged over the past three weeks. I call them the canaries in the coalmine.

First is COVID. Despite the effort of many states, enforcement of social distancing is inconsistent at best. The people we met who saw masks as a nuisance paid testimony to the work that needs to be done. The image of hundreds of swimmers together in an indoor pool will live with me for a long time.

Second is climate change. As we drove across the Rocky Mountains, we saw swathes of dead trees. We assumed this was because of forest fires in the summer. In Rocky Mountain National Park, I realized the changing climate had caused an infestation of non-indigenous beetles killing trees at a rapid rate. Climate change is insidious. Whether polar bears, flooding, forest fires or tree-eating beetles, this is a problem that will face us long after COVID has been managed or solved.

Third is inequality. People from other countries assume the United States is one country. We visited Kentucky and West Virginia, two of the poorest states in the country. Inequality exists within states, but also exists across the United States. Americans have spent the past seventy years exporting freedom to the rest of the world, but there is still a lot of work to create a more equal and mobile society on their own doorstep.

This is a beautiful, sweeping, astonishing country, but an imperfect one. I think I’ll give it a few weeks before we make plans to visit the other thirty states. Until next time.

In addition to this daily blog, you can check out our Instagram feed for more photos and short posts documenting our 2020 road trip @fiveexplore