West Vir-*******-ginia

I'll let you'all fill in the stars... :)

Jill says I should blog more. And I try, I really do, but I'm always doing something, then I get tired, then I sleep, then I work, then stuff to do... its still an ugly cycle. So far in and still so much to fix. I'm hoping over the next three weeks to be able to wipe any of that left-over junk out.

Today was really a bad day. It started off bad with the mud. That red - cakey - stick to everything - color all your clothing - ick. And since it rained, and the grass was washed away from anywhere that was near the hookups - it is everywhere. Pants, knees, shoes (which I had to change for the inch of mud caked on the bottoms (that picked up rocks throughout the campsite)), steps, cables, hoses... everywhere. I have to find a better system for the mud. Then, the drain is 2 1/2 inches above the bottoms of the hoses. We haven't had any talks about the hoses and the dumping and the fun of all that... so I won't start now - however, not gonna let that happen again either. Lots of lifting, purging, heaving... If you haven't experienced it, don't. :)

Needless to say I was 2 hours behind schedule and grouchy.

Then - Jill wants to go all the way to Richmond... or, "let's get to the VA border, and 'then we'll see'." :) If I were in a car, if I were in her say - MR2 - then yeah - I'm all about that plan. Sadly, we aren't. And as much as I want all that freedom - I'm happy with Charleston... Let's get halfway there today, not push, and then follow through tomorrow. Well, with the late getaway, the tough drive up through KY (traffic and heat), well, we shoulda...we coulda, but didn't. :) We pushed. -I- PUSHED.. hard. I got gas milage that people would scoff at. Foot-in-the-floor kinda numbers whenever possible. I spent more on Diesel today than I have in poker for... (ok.. a month - I had a final game.. it was fun..) :)

West Virginia became my least favorite state today. :) It's hilly, poorly road-managed and... well...geez... its just got some really crazy hills - all with really sharp curves and grades - not meant to be pushed, aggressively, by a Ford, with a notoriously problematic motor... and poof. Injector. I know it. I felt it. And tho I was able to limp it into the gas dock, get it refueled, and then restarted... I'm worried from there. We made it the rest of the way tonight, but this is not my first rodeo. I know its coming back - so I already have the plan for an appointment early next week in Richmond. Hopefully I'm able to limp it in, and if so - hopefully I'm wrong.

I also got to put the first scratch in the RV today. Running down a road that was supposed to hold an RV park we ran into an ugly dead end. And while I was sure I could swing it, and rotate out - Jill heard a crash and a scrape. Its all cosmetic (pictures tomorrow) but its still painful. I hate this state that told us there was a campground ovur thar, then thar weren't (sic). :)

To top WV off we've now gone the full circle..... I'm sure that we will have campgrounds that are worse. I'm sure that we will have campgrounds that are less level, less friendly, less 24 hour shoppable.... but tonight is a Wal-Mart parking lot. We tried three campgrounds tonight, albeit without reservations. And the best one (ok - the only one that answered the phone) told us - "we got a spot for a couple of 25 footers. You can try it if'n y'unt to." Pass. (I mentioned #3 above). I decided to punt, and even in this tiny pittance of a town, it took us two full passes to find the WalMart. Who tucks away a WalMart from the road (and we were BOTH looking for it... on the right side. geez)?

Anyhow - everyone is settled down. The kids had an ok day (aside from the ultra-late bedtimes) riding in Daddy's truck and watching movies. And, above all, Jill and I learned valuable lessons. This will be, barring catastrophic (or fecundant) news, our longest trek. I don't anticipate doing this many miles in three weeks (well, except for maybe Sara-toga- --) because its just not 'our' journey. We won't leave anywhere now with a 'go-with-it' plan because three kids and a 42-foot trailer just don't allow that. "Let's see how far we get" is now banished... yes - BANISHED from our vocabulary. Unfortunate for late-night movie watching, YES. Happy for planning our trip... much more so :)

Anyhow - as I listen to the melodious tones of the vacuum car running around and sucking up the crap that people leave on the ground for no good reason (he's been here for 3 hours people... you really drop that much crap out of your cars nightly?) I think its time to hit the hay. I've got another long trip tomorrow, and a good part of it is through West Virginia...***redacted*** ... I don't wish what I typed on anyone. :)

g'night all.