We live in a wonderful world that is full of beauty, charm, and adventure. There is no end to the adventures that we can have it only we seek them with our eyes open. – Jawaharlal Nehru

On the Road Again – from Virginia to Colorado

I am beginning anew and adventure awaits.  This is a portion of my prayer as I set out again, exploring my way across much of our beautiful country, although I wish to seek it with not just eyes to see, but an open heart and mind as well.   I have no idea what I’ll find.

Last summer I set out on my own and drove south to the Florida Keys.  Investing two weeks to drive there and back proved to be one of the best decisions of my adult life – equal parts liberating and empowering, exhilarating and adventurous.  It was also addicting – I couldn’t wait to strike out again this year with a new destination.

And so here I am on Day One, Adventure #2, tucked away in the middle of the mountains of West Virginia in the most idyllic cabin, with fireflies lighting up the pasture as the horses in the barn next to me softly whinny their way towards sleep.  Best of all, my 9 month-old Golden, Lexi, is sleeping hard at my feet.  She’s the big addition to my travels, and so far, so good.

I started this blog during last year’s southern summer sojourn (Maybe too much alliteration – sorry!).  I was awed to discover that people actually read it . . . and talked to me about it and told me how much they were looking forward to reading about where I’m traveling now.  Crazy.  And so I think I’ve now spent too much time trying to figure out what my “point” is.  What to write about, exactly?  Ugh.  It’s possible that I’ve just spent too much time thinking about this trip – period.

Mercifully, today finally arrived, which really is just saving me from myself and my planning obsession.   Can you break Google Maps? I’ve even tracked down every fold-up paper map left in Barnes & Noble’s inventory.  (Yes, they still exist – both of them!)  Need to know a campground in Missouri?  Kansas?  Southern Wisconsin?  How far it is from Paducah to Dodge City?  I can tell you all this an more.  Know that I’m definitely invested in the “more”.

You know that feeling when a plan turns out way better than expected, so you decide do it again – but in the process you overthink it because now you know enough to be dangerous?  Hand raised here.  That’s ME!  The first-time road trip seemed to take on a magical life of its own, and now I find myself wanting to recreate the genie in the bottle.  I’ve thought and planned this trip to death.  And then I worried that with all the extreme planning I have ruined it before it started.  (Like I said, it was a mercy that today came.)  So back to the original question here – what is my point?  I think it is simply to share the joy of the journey with anyone who may possess a bit of their own hidden (or not so hidden) wanderlust.

A warning – it’ll be weird.  My journey is likely not like anyone else’s.   I notice odd things, take roads that look semi-interesting for completely indefensible reasons, and stop incessantly to snap photos of oddities.  I will, no doubt, throw out some hard thought-out plan just because someone casually mentions something that piques my interest while I’m getting gas, or just because we come upon a place to hike that catches my eye.  But that’s the fun.  It’s my trip, so plans can change on a dime – and my very amenable golden retriever will likely be cool with it all, provided there’s a slot for a hike and a belly rub built into the day.

No Blue Lines

And so we are off – about 275 miles in at this point, with likely another 4,500 more until we arrive back home.  Yup – I may have bit off a slightly bigger chunk of the US of A this time.  With a puppy.  (And potentially some wine.)

This first post will hopefully just set you up to read on in the weeks to come.  It may be a little more light-hearted as I try to find my voice again – it’ been a while.  But I’m excited, and hopefully that comes through.  Here are the facts – we are driving from Manassas, Virginia to Breckenridge, Colorado, in large part without highways.  As you look at a map, that means no “blue lines”.  We could have, conceivably, driven it in two days.  For me that is akin to torture.  My curiosity couldn’t take it!  It’s the stopping and weaving and wondering around each corner that is the draw, and exploring whatever strikes me.  A highway is a very useful thing, but not the point of this trip AT ALL.

So, this morning we headed west and south through the Shenandoah Valley, through towns like Luray and Grottoes, Waynesburg and Staunton.  The mountains in the summer just pull me right in, and the joy and relief of stopping at an overlook at 3,000 feet to discover the temperature in the high 70s instead of 90 confirms the choice of route already.

The Wonder as We Wander

I find that barns and churches draw my eye as much as the mountains.  So many deserve a pause and a photo, but I try to limit it to ones that take my breath away just a little.  Maybe it’s the colors –  worn red and gray barnwood with a background of forest green and billowing blue sky, or white steeples paired with red or black doors, again with a backdrop of good green earth.  It’s all so solid somehow, and reassuring.

Once through the valley, we head south a bit to Lexington, home of VMI, Washington and Lee University, and most notably in my life, the Ruby Tuesday parking lot where I first set eyes on my sweet Lexi.  Her story – our story together – is worth sharing.  I’ve been thinking about it for months now, and in the weeks to come I’ll use these pages and this trip to tell it.  The arrival of her little golden self proved to be one of the few times in my life where God’s voice spoke so clearly to me that I knew to ignore it would have been with the full knowledge of deliberate defiance.  But for another day . . .

Read Finding Hope – a Dog Tale

The rest of our trip to Renick, (also known as Falling Spring) had us climbing and winding through the Allegheny Mountains of the George Washington National Forest. We passed through wonderful small villages, rocky rivers and farmland as well as forests.  Somehow I didn’t realize the road would even take us past the famed Homestead, and all the water towns “Warm Springs, Rockbridge Baths, Bath, Hot Springs.  I’ll state the obvious here – Virginia is magnificent.  If you live here, get out and see the rest of it.  If you don’t, come visit.  It never fails to surprise and surpass my expectations.

Our last leg brought us across the West Virginia border to Lewisburg, which we will explore tomorrow.  For today we skirted around it and headed north to Renick and the Greenbrier River Trail, which is right down the road from our cabin.

For the Love of the Water – Greenbrier River Trail

We settled in and then strolled down the lane in search of a creek for my water-loving dog to splash in.   She happily made friends with the folks passing the evening on the porch swing of the farmhouse next door.  Further down the dirt road – the first fail of the trip.  While water was found, it came in the form of a large and very muddy puddle.  (She doesn’t discern the difference.  In the book of Lexi, all water=fun.)  She wallows in it, blissfully cooling off her warm body, and is so very proud of herself.

After our return to the cabin,  my now Oreo-colored dog happily romped with the owner’s dog.  The hose would not be the solution to this mess.  Instead, we determined to head to the river and get a bath and a short hike on the Greenbrier River Trail.  The trail spans 75 miles of converted railway track, mimicking the lines of the river.  A good way to burn up some of the puppy energy and try to find the white dog underneath the now brown one.

One tired and dirty girl

It seems perfect to end this first day, relaxed and content on the wide front porch of our cabin, watching the fireflies wink and bob in the fading light.  Before long their allure is lost to the somehow brighter heavens, as the stars shine through the black night.  How wonderful it is to be where the sky is clear and the heavens are endless.  God is so good, and His mercy will be new tomorrow.  Another beautiful and wonderful adventure of a day!

Thanks for reading, friends.  We are off to a very good start!  Next stops . . . a little more of the country roads of West Virginia and the hills of Kentucky.  Until then!

Saying goodbye to our new friends