I have arrived home safely. Of course it took me 6 hours to get home from West Virginia. I decided to take a slower, more indirect route to enjoy the scenery. I left Charleston, West Virginia at 7:15 this morning. Route 79 North goes through the mountains of West Virginia. I arrived at my condo at exactly 1:15 PM with a sigh of relief.

At that time of the morning there was some very dense fog covering most of the mountains and drifting down to the road surface. The mountains were in a fog just as my mind must have been when I first decided to take this trip. What was I thinking? I was, yet again, thinking about Shawn and what went on during this trip. The fog made me think too much about it. I promised myself I would not think about this again on this last leg of the trip. The fog would not cloud my judgment. I would enjoy the scenery and not think about it any longer. What I did think about however was all the comments of support from total strangers. I was so touched by all the comments left on my previous vacation posts. I mean, these people don't really know me. They only read about me on my blog. I hope they all realize how appreciative I am for the support and well wishes. Even though I traveled alone, I felt like you were there with me every mile of the trip.

With the combination of the fog and the steep mountain roads, the driving was a bit slow at times. And I couldn't believe that people who live in this area and probably travel these foggy roads all the time would drive around on a morning like this without their lights on. What idiots! It took me almost two hours to get to Bridgeport where I was to “hang a right” onto Route 50. For those of you in the D.C. area, this is the same Route 50 that goes through Arlington and ends in D.C. (I believe). I thought this would be an interesting change from the typical drive on a highway. I made that right and got onto the two lane Route 50. Things started out well. It was flat, there was no fog, and hardly any other cars in front of me. However, the farther I went on Route 50, the more I feared ending up like Ned Beatty in Deliverance. The road was mostly overgrown with tree branches, had no pull over lanes, and had many no passing zones. I was really scared when I got behind an old toothless man going 30 miles an hour in his Chevy truck, that was older than my father, with a pit bull roaming in the bed. I couldn't wait for him to turn off onto some dirt road. I wonder what he thought of me driving my little white SUV with the windows all down, blasting 80's music while sunning my face with the moon roof open. He probably thought I was some rich city slicker, which is so far from the truth. Anyway, this road seemed to go on and on and on. I kept looking at the map to see just when I'd cross into Virginia. At the top of one of the mountains they did have a scenic overlook. I pulled off and shot some video of the mountains. The views were actually amazing. The sad part was that the entire time I was on Route 50 I didn't have a cell phone signal so I couldn't call anyone to share how beautiful it was. That also scared me because what if I had gotten into an accident or worse yet, kidnapped by a banjo playing hick who lives in a trailer with a HUGE satellite dish in the front yard?

About 4 and half hours into that drive, I did cross into Virginia. And the minute I did cross that line, the cell phone signal returned as well as a proper 4 lane highway. I was so glad to be back on Virginia soil. In the north western part of Virginia there are also some beautiful views. Of course as I got closer to my final destination the traffic and strip malls returned. But hey, this is where I live and I love it. It's good to be home.

I know many of you are probably tired of reading about my vacation. I promise I will only write one more entry about it tomorrow. I already have an idea in mind. Also, some of you have been asking to see the photos. I promise I will work on the photo libraries tomorrow and post all the photos.