The Big Road Trip – Day 22

The final day on the road arrived. I awoke from a nice refreshing sleep. The storms came and went and once I shut my eyes I never saw or heard a thing. The morning was sunny, warm and fresh. There were some small puddles left as remnants of the rain from the night before, but no noticeable damage from the storms. I went on line and while I was only able to receive email the night before (Google still had my account shut down), I was able to send email and did upload the Day 20 blog post. So, now, I began damage control and wrote a form letter email to send to the myriad of queries that had accumulated since the spam emails went out yesterday from my hijacked email address.

I was also anxious to get on the road for the last leg and final day of my 22 day road trip. My objective today was Keyser, WV and since I fell short (only the second time during the entire road trip) from reaching my goal of Huntington, WV last night, I had about an extra hour and a half of driving to do today. Yesterday was my shortage mileage day of the trip logging about 260 miles instead of the normal 500 miles, plus or minus a few, per day. So, I took care of as much as I could in the damage control department, packed the car, grabbed a “rolling brunch” I could eat while I was driving and hit the road. I-64 was wide-open with minimal traffic.

The trip was going to be uneventful, I thought. Pass through Huntington, WV, then Charleston, WV then pick up I-79 outside Charleston and head north. I had planned to get off on Rt 33 at Weston, WV and take that to Buchanon where I’d take Rt 219 north through the back country to Rt 50 (a U.S. highway that goes coast to coast, similar to Rt 66 that went from Chicago to Los Angeles) and then east on Rt 50 about 40 or so miles to Rt 220 and then the final 8 to 10 miles into Keyser, WV and Carolyn’s house where I started the trip from 22 days earlier. Then the plan was to take a day or two of rest, clean out the debris that had accumulated in the Caddy RV and head back to Winchester, VA, the home base, on Friday, June 18th.

Well, while going up a very steep grade near Burnsville, WV on I-79, I looked at my temperature gauge and noted that it was in the HOT region, the overheating light had come on within the light display on the instrument cluster and a warning chime started. So, I immediately pulled off the road, shut the engine down and sat on the shoulder waiting for the engine to cool down. While I was waiting, some local police stopped by (the only time during the entire trip when I was stopped on the side of the road for some reason that anyone stopped to see if I needed assistance). They were very courteous and gave me information as to where I could get assistance, asked if there was anything they could do for me right then and told me to simply call 911 if I needed their assistance and they’d be back. That was very comforting.

The engine cooled down enough to fill up the coolant tank with lots of water I was carrying in the Caddy, I started it up and stopped in Burnsville to buy more water and more coolant. Then back on the road I went. I had called Carolyn to tell her I might need a rescue, but I’d let her know more later and that my ETA was going to be later then the projected 5 PM. She suggested that I abandon the back-country route I had planned and stay on the interstate route that Fiona, my electronic navigator, had me on. I agreed that it made sense. It would be longer mileage, but a better case for “survival” in the West Virginia wilderness. As it turned out, purchasing the extra water and coolant was a smart idea. I had to pull off and cool down two more times, losing at least a half hour with each stop.

But, I babied the Caddy RV all the way back to Keyser and rolled in about 7:15 PM, a little more then the 2 hours later then I had originally projected. I was none the worse for the wear and, believe it or not, while tired and a little dirtier, with my attitude still intact. We made it, the Caddy RV and me. The total mileage on the car from the beginning of the trip was 6,201.7 miles. What a rush! The total miles on the “Platinum Shadow” at the completion of The Big Road Trip is 250,682 miles

I got a big hug from Carolyn when I got out of the car, took a much appreciated shower and had a celebratory slice of real good Sicilian/NY style pizza from Castiglia’s Restaurant that Carolyn had picked up just before my arrival. We spent some time recounting my trip and my experiences and then I was ready for a good, solid night of rest. And that was the final item on my agenda for Day 22 of The Big Road Trip.

Now, for those of you who have allowed me to bore you with my blogged journal of this adventure, please don’t think that I feel like this was some earth-shaking event. I am one of millions of people, over the history of our country, who have made this kind of trip. It was my first cross-country round trip – ON THE GROUND. I’m not a “newbie” to road travel. I’ve driven somewhere over 800,000 miles during my driving career spanning some 48 years. This was simply MY adventure and I was describing it through my eyes and feelings. No medals, awards, certificates, accolades are needed, expected or deserved. However, I have learned so much about myself, my country, the geography, the people, the places, etc. that it’s another “masters degree,” educationally, for me. I have blogged during this entire trip. I have a written log I kept in the car for each day of the trip. I also, for the first time, ever, mounted a small camcorder on my dashboard and have a video journal that is probably 40 or, maybe even, 50 hours long, documenting what I saw, my feelings, my impressions, my emotions as I experienced this trip. Will I ever watch the entire thing? Who knows? Perhaps, one day when I’ve hung up my spurs for the last time and decide to review my life, this will be there waiting for me to relive this adventure. I was doing my thing, my way, Living and Working Free, on my own terms.

There will be one final blog posting about The Big Road Trip. It will be an epilogue to reprise this adventure, the experiences that left the most lasting impressions and how this has impacted and changed my life. I feel much closer to Charles Kuralt, who spent years “On the Road” documenting his travels and experiences. I understand more of the feelings that drove Studs Terkle in his books. I feel more like part of the whole of this country then I ever have before. Just to end on a corny note, “This land is your land. This land is [more then ever] MY land.”

The end of Day 22 of The Big Road Trip. It’s the end of this road, but not the end of “The Journey.”

Enthusiastically,
Ed