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| Kanawha River, St Albans, West Virginia |
Now that the weather had improved I
took a quick snap of our stopping place – not too bad for free eh? It was quite noisy though. Partly due to the rain and partly due to
traffic noise. Across the street from us
was a range of shops so we took the opportunity to get some grocery shopping
done. I tried to save us more cash again
– by buying coffee in bulk as we get through so much of it (some more than
others!). Massive FAIL…. On getting back
to put the kettle on I’d managed to buy a large vat of filter coffee instead of
instant. Result? Not wanting decent coffee to go to waste we
later invested in a $20 cafetiere instead so I actually cost us extra money…. But at least now we have the best quality coffee on the road!
Fully caffeinated, we hit the road again. It being a weekend we had sought out a cheap
camping option. Step forward ‘Aldersgate
camp and retreat’ in Ravenna, Kentucky at the bargain price of $12 per
night. The camp was in the middle of
nowhere and we got a little nervous when the SatNav began taking us on
increasingly tiny roads. We were just
considering making a U-turn to head back to find some wider tarmac when we
spotted a couple of cyclists broken down at the side of the road. As we swept past them I noticed a
hand-scrawled sign on A4 paper attached to one of their handlebars saying
‘CANADA TO MEXICO’. Wow, they had a long
way to go! We agreed to offer our assistance
and, having found a space on this teeny tiny road large enough to turn the RV
round, we returned to the marooned cyclists.
One of their tyres was not just flat, it was completely distorted beyond
repair. We offered them, and their bikes
at a squeeze, a lift to the nearest town or bike repair shop of their
choice. The guys were very grateful and
we managed to add one of their bikes on top of our two before manoeuvring the
other bike inside the main living space of the RV. They looked like they needed a beer, so they
received one each! The guys were called
Josh and Matt, actors from Toronto who didn’t have any work lined up until the
New Year and so….. thought they’d cycle to Mexico! They were carrying minimal luggage and
relying on a cyclist website to put them in touch with other like-minded people
along their route to put them up overnight.
They were living on eggs and spinach!!
It was great to spend some time with, quite frankly, two other people
doing something crazier than us! But
they were intrigued to hear about our road trip and loved the RV (of
course). We’d found a helpful setting on
the SatNav that would take us to the nearest Supermarket. So, after one of our Canadian passengers had
made failed calls to some independent cycle shops we headed to the nearest
Walmart Supercentre (where else?). We
waited to make sure they could purchase the necessary new part there, but I
didn’t dare step inside myself through fear of buying more STUFF! Success for the cyclists, we parted
ways. So brief was our encounter that we
both failed to even think of getting a photo for this blog, so you will just
have to take our word that this happened!
It felt good to have been able to help fellow travellers and we hoped
we’d laid the groundwork for some good karma to come our way.
From there it should have been quite a straight forward
drive to our retreat but, wow, was it in the sticks?! Simon was at the wheel and I took some video
footage to make a record of just how windy and hilly the road was – it was like
being on a roller-coaster! Fingers crossed this link works:
Made even more
fun by the fact that we were heading towards empty on our petrol gauge. There would be no gas stations out here, it
would have to wait. But we made it
without drama and a helpful girl directed us to our camping spot. We were the only RV there and it was a great
spot in between two mountains in the Daniel Boone National Forest. We enquired about hiking or cycling trails
and there seemed to be lots of options.
We had been hesitant about coming to this site but only because of the
word ‘retreat’. It was a Christian
campsite which, it turned out, had accommodation for groups of students to stay
and find nature. This was not a problem
for us and we couldn’t have been happier with how welcoming the campsite staff
were. There was as much free firewood as
we could ignite AND free laundry too! We
just felt a bit guilty for not being ‘Goddy’ enough! Sorry folks, I’m not a believer. I believe in science… evolution, facts and ….
evidence. Not that I have any issue with
anyone following a religion, as long as they don’t enforce it on others. In fact, I think it’s a very sociable
community activity going to church and so for a lot of people it brings a lot
of joy into their lives and ties people together. It’s just not for me. So we were very grateful for their
hospitality… and all the free stuff.
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