The Move-Phase 1: KY to WV

(TOT: approx. 1600 miles/2500 km. Click on map to see the entire itinerary)
So here we are: the days I have been planning since May have finally arrived and I am 'on the move and on the road' making my way up to Massachusetts. A little sad to leave friends behind me in Lexington and a truly unforgettable year in Kentucky, a little excited to relocate to a new a state, start a new job (though always 'the same'), meet new people, set up a new house, a little worried about whether I am actually going to be able to make it up north-east with my cute, yet at times problematic, car. Oh yes...and a little bombarded with whole the appropriate recommendations received before setting off for this trip ('you should get a phone!', 'you should get a spare tyre!', 'you'll have to remember to check here and there!').

Thanks all guys for all your support. I mean it: GRAZIE 1000 and keep fingers crossed for me ;)

Let's start this almost-live story of how the road trip/move is going/went (past and present tenses will be alternating for the sake of immediacy and a better rendition).

Steve and I left Lexington on Monday 13 August after a really fun weekend (more later on this) at approximately 5 pm. Sunny and hot afternoon it was. The roof was down, all the bags in; water and sun lotion at reach. The first map was spread out on Steve's knees and all the others lined up for the following days. It doesn't even feel like I am ACTUALLY leaving and I am not going to be back (at least soonish); that I am going to have to take up new habits, learn new whereabouts, deal with new people (oh gosh...new people to deal with!). Start all over again, in brief. It simply feels like I am going back to mine and I'll soon catch up with all the people who have made my stay in Lex very normal and not just a phase.

Off we go, heading towards the I-64, which, I soon learnt, takes you directly to the east coast. Still it was too early to think about the east coast!

To be honest there's nothing much to say about the first couple of hours spent in the late-afternoon-breeze-swept red Cabriolet, being passed by huge (and I mean HUGE!) SUVs, worried that they might start honking or booing or throw names at our slow paced demeanour. We were pretty cool and continued our drive until...

...until when, in the vicinity of Grayson (about 96 miles east of Lexington...still in KY!n.1 on the map) we heard a BOOM! Or maybe it was more a SCRATCH! kind of noise? Or a SGNACK! even better? It is interesting how a simple unknown noise can set your heart in a frantic motion and make your mouth go dry. Thanks heaven we were coming on to a junction leading to a rest area and so we pulled out, parked, got off the car and discovered that the outer part of the rear left tyre had basically COME OFF! HOW DID THAT HAPPEN? We shall not know!

In brief, I called AAA (which I had joined the very same afternoon!) from the rest area pay phone and had a truck come and tow us to Grayson where we stayed in a Motel and brought the car in for service to the nearest garage the following morning.
After a total unexpected $85 expense we were ready to get in the car and on the road again on Tuesday 14 August. Our original road trip schedule was turned on its head and before even actually getting to visit something we already had to catch up with time and mileage.

Needless to say that I (the driver) became also 'slightly' apprehensive about other possible outcomes.



We finally passed the KY-WV border on the morning of August 14 and headed towards New River Gorge National Park (n.2 on the map) where, originally, we thought we would venture into a whitewater rafting trip (even if we had made it in time for the 8 am trip, though, there would have been no availability on any trip. Call it Fate!). Instead, we had a stroll around the park and enjoyed one of the most amazing views I think I've ever seen.

The river Kanawha (the New River) runs at the bottom of a pretty steep and deep valley. Near Fayetteville, in the south of West Virginia, the two banks of the valley are joined by an impressive iron bridge, which, according to the info panels provided in the park, is as tall as 2 Statues of Liberty (=302 feet or 93 m) piled on top of 1 Washington memorial obelisk (555 feet or 169.29 m) + another 20 feet left!! I will tell later on about another rather breathtaking (and spooky) bridge we had the chance to drive on. Yet, certainly the one in the New River Gorge park was the tallest by far! (see pic below)