Road Trip with Extras

Monday we went on a road trip.

We were delivering a dining set I'd painted to a young woman friend, and decided to take advantage of being on the road and just take the long way home.

We started in Glenville, WV and drove north on Route 5 into Calhoun county. I'd traveled this way before but it had been a long time ago, and Larry never had. I'll say right up front that there is nothing special about this road--and yet there's everything. I did not take out my camera on this trip; I just wanted to sit back and enjoy the ride and the views.

What was there to see? Well, the road follows the Little Kanawha River (pronounced KenAW) for many miles; along the roadside were fishing camps, pretty homes with lush gardens, and plenty of paths wandering from the road to the riverbank, made by fisherman no doubt. There were poor places too, homes long neglected or even abandoned. Both Calhoun and Gilmer counties struggle for economic opportunities because both are in the central part of the state and the only interstate highway just touches their southern borders. So poverty is a fact of life for many in the area.

The drive took us through several small communities with intriguing names, my favorite being Annamoriah. How pretty is that? There were also Big Bend, Five Forks, Creston, Cabot Station, Leafbank, Two Run and others. We went through the county seat of Grantsville, quiet on this Memorial Day Monday, and as we drove north I told my husband a bit about how this place came to be the county seat, and the bitter quarrel over its location.

We passed Cabot Station where Cale Betts of the infamous Cale Betts ghost story is buried, passed Big Root Run where Betts once lived, and Yellow Creek where for a short time the county seat was located. We stopped at an intriguing antique shop, located in the middle of nowhere basically, and browsed for a bit, buying a couple things but not much because their prices were as high as any other antique store, and a man, presumably the owner, wasn't particularly friendly or welcoming.

We were soon turning off toward Elizabeth, the county seat of small Wirt County. This community too was quiet but we could see people on their porches and in their back yards, and the smell of grilling meat was everywhere. We stopped at a roadside yard sale and came away with a carbide lamp, a cameo and a WWII "good conduct" medal.

Finally we turned south and west, toward home. We stopped in Spencer, the county seat of Roane county, for a bite of supper. As it happened the restaurant's card machine wasn't working and we were out of cash, so Larry ran back up the road to an ATM. Another couple offered to pay for our supper--so nice of them!--but Larry was back in a flash and all was well.

The "extra" in the title of this post happened on the way home on Route 33. We were about 10 miles out of Spencer when we saw the strangest sight: an older man, a woman, a dog, and two younger people walking along the shoulder, pulling suitcases and carrying tote bags and backpacks. They didn't look like itinerants--the only thing I could think of was that they might be waiting for a family member to pick them up. I thought perhaps there'd be an reunion on a nearbly farm or something like that.

The sight of them bothered me, and I convinced my husband to turn around and go back to see if they needed help. He wasn't too willing at first, but pulled up beside them so I could ask if they were okay.
He warned, "Don't blame me if we both get murdered!"

As it turned out, they did need help. They'd been visiting a son and his vehicle broke down so they had no way home. They were walking to Ripley, a distance of about 25 miles. They'd been walking for hours apparently, and were hot (it was close to 90 degrees), tired and hungry.

Well, we loaded all of them, even the dog, into the van and took them to Ripley. Since they'd had nothing to eat or drink and we had nothing in the van, we went to a drive-through pizza place and bought a couple of $5 pizzas and two liters of pop. Not the best meal, but one they could eat on the courthouse lawn and not have to worry about the dog.

So our trip was a little longer than we expected, but we were both glad to have been able to help these folks get home. Somehow, it made the whole day just a little sweeter.

Copyright Susanna Holstein. All rights reserved. No Republication or Redistribution Allowed without attribution to Susanna Holstein.