2018 Life Logs, Day 252—Travel from West Virginia to Virginia
Date: Sunday, September 9, 2018
Weather: Overcast with Rain, Fog in the Mountains; High 85, Low 68 F
Location: Quality Inn in Christiansburg, Virginia
My road trip continued today as I drove from West Virginia to Virginia. My goal was to reach Roanoke, but rain and fog caused me to stop 30 miles short of my destination in Christiansburg, Virginia. I could have driven on, but I saw no reason to fight the weather. I got started later than I planned, but I had a relaxed day and decided that was more important than rushing to push on. We all slept in since we were up until almost 2 am. Diana left around noon to go to the hospital to check on her mother. Her mother had another TIA this morning and the diagnosis at this point is that she has carotid artery disease where fatty deposits (plaques) have clogged her blood vessels that deliver blood to her brain. That causes a temporary shortage of blood flow to the brain which results in a stroke or transient ischemic attack (TIA). At this point the damage is minimal and hopefully now that the condition has been diagnosed things can be done to reverse the problem.
When Diana went to the hospital, Rex stayed behind for a bit and he took me on a boat tour of the Coal River.
He walked down to the dock to get the boat ready and I was to follow in a few minutes. When I got to the door to go out, I was very surprised to see that it was pouring rain, and I mean pouring. I waited a few minutes more and when the rain let up a bit, I got a towel to put over my head and braved the weather. Rex was returning thinking our little trip was rained out, but then the rain stopped. So, we were back on track. Rex is my oldest sister’s son and when he was young they lived on the opposite side of the Coal River from where Rex now lives. I spent many of my summer days as a young child and as a teenager riding on that river with my sister and her husband, first in their classic Cris-Craft motor boat and later in their 24-foot cabin cruiser. It was great fun to go out with Rex today and explore once again.
The Coal River is small and runs into the larger Kanawha River which eventually runs into the Ohio River and then the Mississippi. When Rex was in grade school and I was in high school, we went from the Coal River all the way to Cincinnati, Ohio. Great memories. The Coal River is the color of the clay mud that dominates in that area.
It is certainly not blue water, but I really enjoyed the ride down toward the Kanawha and then back to the what is called the Lower Falls. You can kayak the falls, but you certainly can’t take a motor boat any further. When I was young, the river was so polluted from the chemical plants in the area that there was really no bird life or fish in the river.
Both have returned and we got to watch a Great Blue Heron catch and swallow a fish, saw lots of ducks, a turtle, and a hawk. What a treat.
After the river tour, Rex headed to the hospital and I did some laundry and wrote and posted yesterday’s log. I didn’t get away until almost 5 pm. I only had a three-hour trip in front of me and made it most of the way. Tomorrow morning I will travel on the last 30 miles to Roanoke to spend the day with my Aunt Ethel on her 103rd birthday. I’m looking forward to that.
