Just back from West Virginia

Took the girls and boy for a week long trip to West Virginia this week. Some thoughts from our 65 deg low humidity vacation.

1. West Virginia is truly almost heaven. The weather, the temperature, the scenery, etc.
2. Surprise (not really): Joe Manchin (the current democrat Governor) is going to run for the US Senate. He appointed an assistant to Sen Rockerfeller to Byrd's seat. Then Manchin announced 12 days later that he will run for this seat this fall. Still seems more unseemly to do this than for Manchin to just appoint himself to the seat and get it over with. I'd have a hard time not voting for Manchin, even if his is a democrat. He will definitely fight for coal. Byrd was caving on this issue. Actually, he was getting a little out there on many issues.
3. Cass railroad is just as cool now as it's always been. I'm still not sure how they keep the old steam engines from overpressuring and blowing up without relief valves.
4. Seems like every bridge, road and building is named after Robert C. Byrd. There are still a few still named after A James Manchin and Jennings Randolph. but they are getting fewer as the reality of the "what have you done for me lately" politics takes hold more firmly in our mob rule democracy. It's as if Byrd personally paid for all these projects out of his own pocket. Of course, if you named a bridge "Taxpayer's bridge" how does that help you get reelected?
5. Dolly Sods is the best place in the entire state. Don't, however, travel this with just passenger car tires. One should have puncture resistant tires (or at least 6 ply tires) as the gravel is sharp. We punctured a left front tire. And, of course, the spare had very low air pressure. So for the 5-7 mile trip down the mountain we drove no faster than 5mph. With the low tire on the front we where dragging in the middle when we went over large boulders. I was really concerned with puncturing the oil pan and losing the oil out of the engine and then was worried about how we were going to travel on a real road with very low air pressure in the left front and having no spare. The girls were loving it. Got to the bottom of the mountain and stopped at the first house. They were sitting on the front porch (you see a lot of that in WV) and told us to use their air compressor to add air to the spare. They then directed us to a service station 3 miles down the road. I told them that it was 6:30 in the evening and that it would be closed. They told me that the owner lives there and will open for me. They were right. The owner plugged the punctured tire and we were able to put it on the car. He tried to charge me $3 and argued when I told him to keep the change from the $5 bill I gave him. This is why I love WV.
6. Absurdity of the Federal Government: While we were at the service station, my son asked the owner's wife if the station had a restroom. She told him no. but when she over heard the little girls need to go "potty" she showed them where to go. The absurdity part of this story is: the federal government (thanks to George HW Bush) requires businesses, if they have a restroom to conform to the "Americans with Disabilities Act" by making all restrooms wheel chair accessible. However, if they don't have a public restroom, they don't have to comply with this law............because they don't have a public restroom. So, if you ask if you can use a restroom, you'll be told no....even though they have one.......but it's not a "public" restroom. This is something only our Federal Government or the East German Stasi could think up!
7. Why is it that a 1987 Buick Century with a 4 cylinder engine has plenty of power for the mountains of WV and still gets 31mpg on the highway...........yet we now have (in 2010) car manufacturers bragging about their new cars getting (get this) 31 mpg on the highway. If they could do this 23 years ago............is the American buying public so stupid they can fall for this non improvement in gas mileage.........and have the manufactures tell you it's a selling point?
8. All of West Virginia has about 1.8 million residents, about the same as the Columbus metro area. If you don't like to be around people, this is the place.......along with North Dakota.
9. Paula Dilley's Cottage was a great place to stay. Close to Cass and within reasonable driving distance of Spruce Knob, Canaan valley, Blackwater falls, Dolly Sods wilderness area and great trout fishing areas. Durbin (where her Cottage is located) is a nice little town in itself. Here's her website.
   

Having said all that, it's always good to get back to southeastern Ohio.....with it's Ohio river driven 98% humidity and 95 deg days.