West Virginia - Day 23 - Ripley, Parkersburg and Cairo

North Bend State Park

Tuesday, 23 April 2019

today's route

(I apologize now for the distracting text size that changes here and there.  Not having any internet for several days, I wrote most of this on the word processing program that came on my computer, but the additions and editing changes appear in a different text.  I'd rewrite all of it but that seems too much trouble right now.  Sorry.)

There was no point in leaving very early, because the first stop I wanted to make was the Best Buy in Charleston to get a new camera, and they didn’t open until 10:00 and were only a 40 minute drive from the campground.

On the way out I saw 2 male Cardinals in a Redbud tree – a striking color combination.

In this part of the state, the Redbuds are so far advanced they’re starting to lose their beautiful color and turning to green leaves – still pretty but not as stunning.

We got to Charleston with just enough time for the dogs to take a walk around the parking lot – easier when the traffic’s lighter because customers haven’t started arriving.

I was Best Buy’s first customer and had clerks competing to help me.  The little Canon Rebecca gave me is able to do a lot more than I’m asking it, but ordinary camera operations are simple enough even for me.  Plus it’s small and light and has a lens that hides if I’m not using it.  But when I looked at most of the cameras Best Buy offered, they included almost none of those attributes.

Fortunately they also had the latest version of exactly what I have now.  It’s thinner and a bit longer and lighter, but it’s the same model number and everything.  As a result, the memory chip that I have now fits just fine, and the USB connector to download photos to my laptop fits just fine, and the carrying case works just fine – the new one came with none of these things, you understand so, even though this was the cheapest camera they offered, I cared whether I had to buy new additions.

Actually, with those stupid theft-prevention devices attached, the clerk and I couldn’t tell whether any of those things would work.  I had to buy the camera first, and then the clerk ushered me over to the Geek Squad corner and introduced me to someone who looked the epitome of geek-dom, it was incredible to look at him, but he was very helpful.  Together he and I figured all this out, so I was happily able to leave the store after only about a half hour with my nice new camera.  I’d still like to get my old one fixed, but with my kind of life these days it’s not all that easy to do.

From there, Parkersburg is less than 2 hours away, but part way up the road I knew the critters and I needed a rest stop somewhere.  We got off in Ripley, one of the largest towns along the way.

At the entrance to the town is a big sign:

Welcome to Ripley

Where we honor our Veterans, support our Law Enforcement and First Responders and

We Believe!

And farther into town there’s a sign:

Ripley Believes!

Since 1832

And there was also this sign:

(See – my nice new camera takes non-fuzzy photos!)

On the way back to the RV from taking that photo I noticed deer tracks by the side of the road.  This was the main road in town, and I hope the deer didn't show up there until the early hours of the morning, so as to avoid getting hit by a car.

We found a nice old-fashioned Dairy Queen and I got a nice old-fashioned chocolate malt for my lunch, and I was just about to take the dogs for a little walk when someone else got their dog out of the car to go sit at a nearby picnic table on the grass we were just about to walk on.  So the dogs didn’t get as nice a walk as I (and they) had hoped.

We drove on into Parkersburg, where I’d found online addresses for a grocery store and a liquor store.  The online info said the grocery store was a Foodland, but the store turned out to be a Piggly Wiggly.  Fine by me.  We were out of dog food and milk, and they had both those things.

West Virginia doesn’t seem to have many liquor stores.  I know from when I visited the distillery a while back that liquor stores have to buy their supplies from the state (which is how they tax and control it, I guess), but the stores seem to be individually owned and I’m surprised there aren’t more of them.

This one in Parkersburg is the first one I’ve been to in West Virginia, and of course they had a huge selection of bourbon, but a tiny one of scotch, which I suppose is an indication of customers’ preferences – we’re certainly in the South.

Parkersburg is an old town

Blennerhassett Hotel

, as you can see from the internet photo of the Blennerhassett Hotel I passed downtown.  The Blennerhassetts were once people of enough wealth to own an island in the Ohio River near town.  The island is now famous for its link with the conspiracy to commit treason Aaron Burr was charged with.  I've included a link to information about that incident, not only because we've all heard about it, but also because it includes information about Pres. Jefferson's assertion of executive privilege and Chief Justice Marshall's response - still relevant today.  Amazing.   en.wikipedia.org/Burr_conspiracy

It was supposed to be another 45 minutes to the campground but took longer because of the road.  The online directions said the campground was only about 4 miles from the interstate, but I’m certain it was about double that.  Or maybe it only seemed that way because the road was so bad for much of the distance.

We passed a railroad station at North Bend with a sign that said “Rails to Trails” which seems to be a big program around here.  I looked it up and found out why: the North Bend Rail Trail (a public path created from an old railroad corridor) is part of the American Discovery Trail.  Having never heard of this I looked that up too and learned something else amazing about our country.  This trail runs without breaks from Delaware to California - all 6,800 miles of it.  So much for the Appalachian Trail, an upstart at only 2,200 miles long.

From the railroad station the road got worse, including a section where the bridge was being replaced and it looked like the road was actually closed, so I stopped at what I guess used to be a gas station and still had an “Open” sign lit, but it hadn’t seen any paint since before I was born – but there was a person sitting outside and I wanted directions.

The person turned out to be a young woman, who looked much older than she probably was, and who was very nice and gave me fairly good directions to the state park.

And a little way past there the road suddenly was beautiful and newly paved.  Of course, it was still only 2 lanes, not even an inch of shoulder and many many curves and hills.  But pavement that was probably less than a month old.  Vast improvement.

The campground was nearly empty, except for one other site where the people seem to go to day jobs, and for the campground hosts.  The hosts told me that somewhere along that road I’d gone through Cairo, though I have no idea where – maybe at the old gas station and bridge replacement – and that it’s pronounced Kay-ro, as in the corn syrup.  And they also told me they never use that road but instead go farther east to Harrisville and come into the park from there.  They said it’s a much nicer road.  I hadn’t been looking forward to going back over that same road in the morning, so I’ll try their way.

No people here, but the campground is packed with Canada geese.  Dexter loves eating their poop, so we couldn’t walk too far because I got tired of having to pull him away from it.  Otherwise a very nice place.  Too bad there’s no wifi signal or I'd think about staying longer.