Current Location: Ashland / Huntington West KOA, Argillite, Kentucky

We rolled out from the Newton’s early this morning. We said our goodbyes the night before so we could be on our way without waking everyone. After looking over maps and consulting with our guests, we found the best way out of the area. We didn’t even try using the GPS today. Once we were on the interstate, the remainder of the route was easy.

Today’s route took us down I-81 through Virginia and picking up I-64 west. We took I-64 west across the Appalachians into West Virginia. The West Virginia welcome center was our lunch stop. What we hadn’t noticed while climbing the mountains into West Virginia was that the temperature had dropped fairly dramatically. What started out as a planned lunch at a rest area picnic table became a lunch inside the truck. The temperature was in the low 60’s and the breeze was pretty stiff.

Welcome to West Virginia

The drive through the mountains was fairly uneventful. There were a few long, steep climbs but no issues. On one climb, even though we were down to about 42 MPH, we were passing several semi trucks. The engine brake came in handy on several downhill stretches, as well. Today was a long travel day, distance-wise. About 415 miles. We think we’ve found our limit. Both of us were pretty antsy to get out of the truck by the time we arrived at our campground.

Appalachian Mountains

More mountains

Once we got set up at our campsite, Malcolm called his aunt and uncle and they said to come on over. They grilled chicken, fish and vegetables for us. We had a great meal on their outside screen porch, then sat around and talked until late in the evening. On the way back to the campground, we found the Kentucky State Troopers out doing random drunk driving checks. They looked at Malcolm’s license and waved us on through.