There is a particular kind of quiet that settles over the rig in the first hour of a long trip. The coffee is still hot, the packing to do list is finally behind us, and the only thing left to do is point the Wild Blue Yonder north and drive. Donna rode shotgun, Juneaux claimed her usual spot, and we pulled out mid morning on a familiar route.
North on I-77 through North Carolina. We timed our departure to dodge the worst of the Charlotte traffic, and for once the plan actually worked. We slid through the city without much of a fight. Unfortunately, the traffic in Virginia turned into a genuine beast. We battled through it and rolled into our first stop with plenty of afternoon to spare: Lewisburg, West Virginia.
We are only here three nights, and the agenda is packed wall to wall. Home base for this stop is the West Virginia State Fairgrounds. It is not fancy, just basic hookups and not much else, but it is centrally located between everything we came to see.
This Lewisburg stop is only the opening chapter. Over the coming weeks the road is going to carry us across a big swing of the country, and we cannot wait to share it as it unfolds.
We will visit history and chocolate, lake shores and bourbon country, a return to the place where our motorhome was born for a little service, and one of the great gateways of the American frontier, all strung together on one tank of diesel after another.
Stay tuned. The real adventure starts now.
