The last couple of days have mostly been driving days for me.  My life in Australia was rather sedentary, in the last few years spent almost entirely in one city with only rare excursions to other places, and those mostly for work.  So I was feeling the need to Just Drive, to put miles behind me and feel myself moving forward.  Not even toward anything or any place specific, just forward!

I spent my first night on the road camped at the Holly Bay Campground on the Good Branch (that was it’s name, not my opinion) of Laurel Lake.  This was a nice spot in the Daniel Boone National Forest in Kentucky.  Unfortunately, it started raining in the afternoon, and didn’t let up the whole time I was there, except for about 15 minutes when I hurriedly cooked some pasta for my dinner.  But the FJ was nice and cozy, and with the back window propped open for ventilation, I slept wonderfully well.

And cooking was easy using my old MSR Pocket Rocket stove that I brought with me.  It must be about 25 years old, but still fired up first time.  In retrospect, perhaps I should have tested it at some point, but oh well, I got lucky!

I’m also happy to report that my electrical systems worked very well, and everything charged up as planned.

After walking through the rain to take a shower, which seemed slightly redundant, I got on the road early the next day, Thursday.  I must try to find a way to turn off the beep-beep that sounds when I unlock the doors of the FJ though, as it must really annoy the campground neighbors early in the morning.  I tried stopping by a Toyota dealership, but was told that they couldn’t help me because apparently “the technician is at school today!”  Umm… maybe I’ll try again in a bigger city!

Thursday I drove mainly east through Kentucky and Virginia, and into southern West Virginia.  Most of the trip was through the stunning scenery of the foothills of the Appalachian mountains, with deep valleys below me and stone cliffs above.  I don’t think that I’ve ever seen any place quite so lush with vegetation, as every inch of the ground was covered, and vines seemed to envelop even the trunks of the trees.  I don’t have pictures from this area since I was driving, and the roads were narrow with few places to pull over, but perhaps it’s just as well, as I doubt that pictures could do it justice.  But I did have a chance to quickly capture some of the interesting road and place names along my route.  As you can see, I tried to take back roads whenever possible, since there isn’t much to be seen from the interstates.

In mid-afternoon I arrived at the Bluestone State Park where I planned to stop for the night.  Access to the campground was just over a huge bridge, in the middle of nowhere, and down a road that, shall we say, could have used a bit of maintenance!

But it was a lovely spot when I got there, and I got a site right near the Bluestone River.

It certainly looked like a good spot for fishing, but I spent some time with a family that were trying their luck, and they didn’t catch anything.  Their accents were so exactly what you expect in West Virginia that I had to keep myself from laughing or imitating them.  Think of Cletus from The Simpsons, and you’ll get the idea!  But, of course, the rain started again just after I had dinner, and kept up through much of the evening, so I spent a relaxing time just reading and watching the rain fall.

If you’re wondering whether I’m going to give you a detailed account of every day on the road like this, you’ll be relieved to hear that, no, I’m not!  I thought this might be of interest at first because I’m just getting started, but won’t bore you too often with what I’m having for dinner each night, and pictures of my feet!  I’ll try to keep the content about where I am and the things I’m seeing, with maybe periodic updates if I refine my systems along the way.  But for now, all’s good! 🙂