Day One: Skyline Drive along the Appalachian Trail

Shenandoah National Park, Virginia.










We saw deer, a groundhog, a racoon(dead) , frilly black butterflies the size of small birds, squirrels, and two black bears. The oaks and fir sometimes formed a tunnel overhead, and the silence, but for the birds, was intense.

The speed limit in the park is 35 mph, and there are no trucks - very little traffic at all.













We were planning to stay in Waynesboro, but when we arrived it was the saddest, emptiest town you could imagine, the only sign of life an enormous grey factory with smoking chimneys ,with an abandoned railway line and rusting carriages adjacent. All the shops on 'Wayne' St were closed up. We kept on going to Staunton.


Here we found an inn with an outside pool lit up by a Wendy's sign, wireless internet, and the promise of Belgian pancakes, whatever they are, for breakfast. Now Graeme and Bridget are crashed out in bed, Hugh is on the floor beside me playing with his Ben 10 alien force toys (personal goal: to wean Hugh off Ben 10), and we are all recovering from the dinner we had at Crackerbarrel. Graeme and I ate 'Chicken 'n Dumplings' served with 'biscuits' (scones - with strawerry jam!) and cornbread (sweet cornbread muffins); gravy, and stewed beans. Hugh ordered macaroni and cheese, with corn and beans, but tried a little of each and then declared he didn't like American food. Neither did we, in this case, although it made up for in calories what it lacked in edibility.


Bridget sensibly orderered a grilled chicken salad, which she said was OK.


Crackerbarrel does, however, offer a more desirable product - you can hire CDs and talking books from one outlet, and then drop them off at another. Graeme and I now have three CDs of Madeleine Albright talking about 'The Mighty and the Almighty in America' to look forward to - on politics and religion in the US.


We'll only be able to listen to it while Hugh is asleep, because the rest of the time he is talking.


Bridget is a bit brighter this evening, although she is still coughing. She has slept just about constantly since she arrived.


Graeme was going to tell me about the plan for tomorrow's drive, but he is fast asleep so I am in the dark about our destination. On the 'to do' list though: buy and send postcards! And, some decent food from a supermarket. It'll be cheaper, and it might mean we won't have to replace all our clothes with bigger sized-ones when we get to San Diego.