| After an overnight stop in Charlottesville we carried on up the
I81 through the Shenandoah Valley. We had travelled down on Skyline Drive,
now we returned via the valley. Skyline Drive runs along the ridge of these
hills. |  |
 | This is the
Shenandoah River which we followed for quite some miles through a succession
of small towns. |
| All these towns have a water tower and some are quite artistic.
Someone had painted apples on this one at Fort Jackson as a reminder of the
agricultural nature of the country. |  |
 | At this point
we had a small problem! We ended up replacing five tyres in the space of a
fortnight. Still we know they had all done at least 26,000 miles and
probably much more. |
| Mardi Gras is mainly associated with New Orleans but many small
towns have a Mardi Gras party and we found one such at Shepherdstown. The
band was too noisy but the folk all dressed up and had fun. These two were
almost unrecognisable in their costumes. |  |
 | The bubbles in
the hair represent the champagne. It was a shame that the bar only served
Rolling Rock and Bud Lite. Too many Americans really don't understand about
beer. |
| Some costumes were quite imaginative. I wonder how many exams he
got to make or whether it was only tested by the 'nurse'. |  |
 | The glasses on
sale were fun with flashing lights in the base. They went well and folk
seemed to enjoy the whole party. |
| We retraced our steps to Martinsburg. This is the town hall and
library, impressive with the gold dome glistening in the sunshine. We had
returned to sort out our tyres. |  |
 | And having
travelled the length and breadth of the US and marvelled at the size and
obvious prosperity of the First Baptist Church, we were very pleased to find
at last the (admittedly smaller) Second Baptist Church. |
| We had stayed with friends in Shepherdstown and had a little
snow. The RV looked at home next to their Airstream caravan. Soon they will
be living in that as they move on to build their next project. |  |
 | They work
building timber framed housed so we'll give the process a little plug at
http://jointefforttimberframing.com if you want to know more about this
ecologically friendly methodology. |
| With a break in the weather we made a mad dash 350 miles from
Shepherdstown WV to Springville NY. The railway also follows the road
through the valleys. Norfolk Southern is the line here. This was grain but
coal is a major part of the traffic on this line. |  |
 | The roads have
plenty of traffic too, with houses being a common sight. Here is half a
house. The other half was just behind. This is something we don't see in
England. |
| We started to cross the mountains as we drove through
Pennsylvania. This is Williamsport, about halfway on the day's journey. |  |
 | The rivers are still
quite wide requiring impressive bridges. The roads were generally good
(until we got to New York State) and we made good time all day. |
| But it was still sunset as we covered the last few miles. This
will probably be the last page of the journey since we have no more
travelling to do this trip. We fly home in a week's time. Current plans are
to return in April 2007 but watch the front page because there will be a few
more pages on summaries and our future plans. |  |
|