WV reflections

We made another quick family trip to the mountains of West Virginia over the weekend, hoping to get a couple of more days of skiing in before the snow completely vanishes. We left shortly after the girls got out of school on Friday, and returned yesterday just about in time for them to go to bed.

During the eight hours or so I was driving there and back, I had plenty of time to make a few observations:

• Why are they turning Route 55 into an expressway? (Okay, I actually know the answer to this one...because Sen. Byrd is a master of pork politics and has earmarked lots of Federal money for the project.) I don't know what the expressway is meant to accomplish when its finished, but currently, it connects Moorefield, WV to, well, nothing. The other end just ends, in the middle of no where, more than ten miles from the VA state line. Its an interesting expressway, too. There are the normal interchanges, with ramps and merge lanes, at the major intersections, but in between, the rural roads intersect at grade crossings. All with a 65 mph speed limit. Weird.



• Strange road names. I saw some great names along the way. Who comes up with these? My favorites include Ridge Runner Road (nothing to do with moonshining, I trust...), Squirrel Gap Road, Upper Skagg Run Road (which begs the question of where the Lower version might be...), and Dismal Hollow Road (Okay, this one was actually in VA, but definitely is not an address where I would want to live...)



• How much tourist money can fishing bring to an area? There's a stretch of Route 55 that runs along the South Branch of the Potomac River known to the U.S. Postal Service as "Cabins, WV". This mile or so of highway is lined with dozens of rental cabin, apparently serving the fishing masses. Some of these cabins are quite new and modern, advertising satellite TV and internet connections. Is the fishing really so good that they can attract enough fishermen to pay for these nice new buildings? They must, but I find it a little difficult to appreciate.



• Our minivan has no great difficulty climbing the mountains. There is one grade that is labeled as being a 10% Grade (whatever that means...other than its pretty steep), and the van had no trouble climbing (or descending) that bit of road. On the way up, we caught an eighteen-wheeler right at the bottom, and we had no trouble passing him when he got a truck lane to pull over into. The hardest part for me was remembering not to get my speed up too much, as there were lots of sharp curves that required me to slow down significantly for. Not much point in racing up to high speed only to burn it all off in heat on the brakes at the next curve.

We had a good time skiing, and our girls are SO much better than when we were here last year. I have to look at my pictures to see how they came out. I'll write more about the weekend later, and I'll include pictures, if there are any good ones.

From miketroll

You Are a Smart American

You know a lot about US history, and you're opinions are probably well informed. Congratulations on bucking stereotypes. Now go show some foreigners how smart Americans can be.

Are You a Dumb American?

I have a minor issue with the choices for one of the questions...none of them is exactly right, but I know which one they considered correct. It scares me to consider how many of these questions would be difficult for a lot of people.