Arrived at our base of operations for the week — Summerville, SC. The initial plan for yesterday was just to get on the I-77 for the bulk of the run, but within a mile of joining the main route, we hit a miles-long traffic jam. It took us about 15 minutes to get the 1/4 mile to the next exit (W.V. state road 16). That took us away from the traffic, but it also took us deep into coal country:
I had no idea how deep those valleys were: the valleys we drove through the previous day were nothing in comparison. I lost track of the tiny little villages we passed through which were literally just wide spots in the road, with a couple of dozen houses crammed between the valley walls, with the road, the railway, and the river taking up the only flattish spots.
It was very much like a trip back in time, as aside from the few newer buildings in the larger villages (a few new suburban-style houses, a couple of government buildings, one or two small primary schools), everything else looked like it’d been there for a century or more. The roads switched back and forth to match the valley side, and I honestly have to say that in many cases the posted speed limit was higher than I think was really safe: and I can’t think of many other places I’ve visited where I can say that. 55 MPH on some of those mountain roads is very literally taking your life in your hands.
