Southern Trip Day 2

Dick's Travel Journal (continued)

Southern trip, Day 2

We spent a lot of time in the motel room looking for highlights of the
Michigan/Ohio State game. Nobody showed the TD that wasn't. A few didn't even mention it. Jim Branstatter was sure that it was was a TD and a flat out bad call. He
said that even if it wasn't a score, the spot should be inches, not on
the 1 yard line.

We got an early start. Apparently this area of Ohio is not on daylight
time. We got up and found that it was raining steadily all over the
State but TV showed that we might drive out of it in WV. Anyway, we
loaded the car and drove off.

Usually we fill up either first thing or the night before but we were only down an eighth of a tank and it was raining so we just drove off. Nancy loaded the address of the motel in Beckley WV into Nuvi. Apparently the Nuvi decided that it would not be a
good idea for us to drive through Columbus and so she picked a
different route for us. We discovered this when she sent us past the
Columbus exit and 3 exits later took us on a scenic tour of an
industrial area of Dayton. Stop signs, yield signs, traffic lights
left turns, right turns. traffic circles, just about everything at 35
MPH. Since it was still dark and raining we didn't see much. The most
interesting thing I saw was an old run down strip mall with The Love
Boutique at one end and the something or other Tabernacle World
Headquarters at the other. Since it was Sunday morning, both were
empty.

We were routed on US35 which is usually a divided highway but not
limited access. Although it was raining, once we got out of town,
except for the 55 mph speed limit, it was a fine drive. We made a
potty/coffee stop at a McDonalds where they had a rack of papers which
had the headline - Wolverine It's what's for dinner. It had a picture
of Brutus with a shotgun aiming at a maize and blue turkey with Hoke's
picture for its head. It's worth a giggle.

As time and the miles passed, both the rain and the traffic increased.
At the same time our gas gauge was dropping. When we got below a
quarter, I decided to stop and refuel regardless of the price.
Unfortunately, the exits were few and the gas stations were non
existent. We were down to about an eighth when the Gallipolis exit
came in view. It said there were stations there but none were visible
from the x-way. Of course I drove to the next exit. There was a
town/shopping area on the left but no discernible way to get there. In
front of us was the bridge over the Ohio River. There's got to be a town
over there. We cross the river and take the exit into Henderson, WV.
What a sad place. Not only is there no gas, there's no store. We
proceed on and ask Nuvi for help. She says most of the gas is behind
us but there is a General Store about 10 miles in the direction we are
traveling. We proceed. The road she wants us to take is up a mountain.
The low gas warning light comes on. Does AAA make road assistance
calls in West Virginia on Sunday morning? Finally, good sense
overcomes the driver. We turn around, drive back over the bridge into
Ohio, pull into a BP and pay $3.39. I put 12.976 gallons into a 13
gal. tank.

This has been a white knuckle day. We get some comfort food at the
Biscuit House and proceed to Beckley.

In the motel I called Dan. He says it was a TD.