Going places that I've never been...

On the road again

Goin' places that I've never been

Seein' things that I may never see again...

                  ~Willie Nelson

We are headed to the Shenandoah Valley in Virginia. After a super busy weekend, we managed to get on the road Monday morning. 

Yesterday we drove very familiar roads through places we've been many times but we picnicked at a place we've never been! We stopped north of Bloomington, IL at Comlara Park on Evergreen Lake.

It was very quiet and peaceful. Every so often you could hear a hickory nut falling somewhere close or maybe a fisherman's voice from one of the fishing boats on the lake.  

This was the view from our car.

And this was from our picnic table. It was in the upper 70s and overcast - perfect picnic weather.

Today we decided to get off the beaten path a bit and head to Clarksburg, WV. Google maps led us to believe that we would be more on back roads. Our GPS forgot to consult with Google maps but I finally found a map and got it all straightened out. A couple miles past Chillicothe, OH, we turned onto highway 50 - all new territory for us. 

I didn't take any pictures because we were in rain ALL day - no picnic, no shopping, just great company and great music in the car.  

We saw a few accidents today and avoided a few! Heading down a hill, there was a one semi, a 2nd semi, and a car with a travel trailer. We were just passing the travel trailer when the car pulling it was following the 2nd semi too closely. When the semi braked, the car with the trailer couldn't stop fast enough and came into our lane. Ray was barely able to miss him. Within a minute, the first semi cut across three lanes of traffic right in front of us and blocked our lane. Once again, Ray was barely able to miss him. We were both glad that the day's travels were almost over!

I'm not sure how many people we saw go through red lights - not as near misses but just blatantly blowing off the light. We probably saw more police officers than we've ever seen in one day when we've been traveling - of course they weren't around for the running of red lights. Oh, do all West Virginia officers drive Chargers?

Hopefully people drive better in Virginia than they do in this part of West Virginia. We've seen too many accidents and near misses. I think we've worked our Guardian Angels overtime today!

Tomorrow we will meet up with son Brad and his family. Can't wait to see everyone. It's been a year since our last visit - way too long!

Disclaimer: Not sure what blogger is doing with the type. The line spacing is very strange.