Washington or Bust...On to Morgantown West Virginia and a Flat Tire

We had a 167 mile trek from St. Alban's to Morgantown, WV once we got the tanks dumped and had a bite of breakfast at Tim Horton's (we had to buy some of their ground coffee, mmm goood! And 40 donut holes for the road, which Christie said we didn't need, but who ate most of them). Then we were off. Thank goodness I had gotten pictures the day before of the capitol building as the sky was dull and not a good day for shooting pictures. 

The white stuff on the walls is ice. 

The trip was fairly uneventful (once again driving in mountain and valley conditions) we arrived in Morgantown around 4:00 p.m. thankful to get off the road as a stiff wind was beginning to develop. We had contacted the parents of a friend of ours to go visit them. Lou and Barbara Hamrick, wonderful people and so hospitable. 

We made the mistake of trying to take Izzy down into a valley where they lived. Talk about country roads! They were so narrow and the turns so tight that we were not able to get to their home. We meandered our way around tight neighborhoods back to the main road.  It's a wonder how well we followed our noses since we had no idea where we were or if we would end up in an area with no way out. We decided to drop Izzy off at a nearby shopping center, unhitch the car and go back to find their home. 

Barbara met us at the door with a big smile on her lovely face. She offered us some iced tea to drink and we began a lovely chat. Lou came in shortly from work and a delightful conversation ensued. Their son Brian was one of Dave's employees and a dear friend. He was dismayed when he was not able to make it back to Norman for the Celebration of Life for Dave. They once again reiterated this and we said we understood and for Brian not to feel bad about it. 

It was starting to get to light dusk of evening when I mentioned that we needed to find a place to stay for the night.  Barbara and Lou suggested Cooper's Rock State Forest Campground not too far from their house.  We made it back to Izzy, hooked Libby up to her and made our way to the campground, found a site after discovering we had the whole campground to ourselves, hooked up to electricity and made our way back to Home Depot to meet up with Lou and Barbara for dinner.  We discovered that our tire was almost flat when we got to Home Depot. Hmm 

Now how did that happen?  While looking for a campsite we unhooked Libby and Christie took her down a rather rugged road in which she said looked rather shady to say the least. So she turned around to come back and realized she was not on good ground, thank goodness I didn't try to take Izzy down that road. I bet one of the sharp rocks on the road got the tire. 

They decided to give us the twenty-five cent tour of Morgantown.  There is only one mile of road that is flat and straight in the whole town. The rest of the town, you are either going up a steep hill or going down a steep hill.  It's amazing how they built the homes on the sides of the hills and with no parking. It is definitely a walking town and you had better be in good shape to do it.  

An evening sun on Woodburn Hall

The University built a monorail system to get the students from one area to another and it is heavily used.  A rather ingenious idea if you ask me. Lou said that it kept breaking down and hadn't been used in years.  The university was going to tear it down when someone stepped up and managed to get it operational again and now everyone loves it. 

Lou and Barbara took us to the Golf Club where there is a Boston Beanery for dinner.  I had a wonderful French dip sandwich and salad instead of french fies.

With Lou's help Christie got the tire changed. We said our goodbyes. Barbara gave us a goody bag with an authentic piece of Morgantown Green Depression Glass plate and several jelly jars of her homemade jelly's and jams. She also gave me a the story of the barn square and showed me the quilt she made from the 100+ year old quilt pattern of her great grandmother. I will soon write a story about that and post it on dasusmusings. It's quite interesting.

Christie with the goody bag

Barbara and Lou Hamrick, wonderful, kind people

We got back to the campsite and discovered that we had a fellow camper a couple spaces down from us, which made us feel better about being there. We fed the dogs and walked them. Christie used a very nice shower facility then it was time for lights out.