It had been raining on and off during the night but this morning the weather looked to be dry, thank God! But as the toilet facilities were far from where we were and coming back to Tuah would be a climb up a hill we decided to pack up and go down with Tuah and proceed from there to a rest area for breakfast. That we did and at the same time although the RV owners didn't seem very friendly lot, Alison signed up for membership of the KOA campers. It will save us some money on the long run if we were to carry on camping in the US.

When we left the campsite it was only 9.30am with mileage showing 69065. A few miles down the 79 South there was a parking area but as I drove in Alison was grumbling that there was no benches to put the stove on bla...bla...! So I carried on driving warning her that it would be another 50 miles before we could see another rest area. True enough after 35 miles there was a rest area but it was closed for some reason or other and the next one was another 35 miles further on. We eventually got to the rest area at about 11am with me cursing under my breadth.

We stopped for about an hour me knowing that we won't be stopping for lunch as we just had brunch! I thought it better that we left the 1-79 South to Charleston and divert to an alternative route which would take us through the Appalachian Mountains. We stopped at Elkins where Alison stocked up with fresh meat, sausages and veg from a Wallmart. As we passed the town of Beverly there was a banner indicating that it is a historical town form the days of the Civil War.

Then we passed a sign showing that we were entering the Shenandoah battlefields, another historic area along with the Pocahontas Trail. Then we came across a town called Warm Spring and Hot Spring and between the two there were so many nice houses, being in the George Washington Natural Forest reserve. As we entered Hot Spring we couldn't help but see this great monstrosity of a hotel called Homestead built in 1766. Of course we didn't stay there nor did we bother. to ask for their rates. There were two golf courses to cater for holiday makers and I wished I was fit enough to play.

We turned into 606 and had an awful experience as about 8 miles of the road was narrow and twisty. Adrian was complaining that I was putting him to sleep while Alison forgot all about looking for a campsite as she was scared stiff with vehicles passing by only a few inches away on her side. The GPS was set for a campsite that was never there when we got to the spot, blast I thought! Alison found another about 20 odd miles away and we went for it and it turned out to be for a long stay site. We found another site nearby which was also meant for long stay only ad not one nighter like us. Finally we decided to go to the State Park and take the risk of camping even if there was no camping allowed. As it turned out it had good facilities and I cursed the lady who told us that there were no campsites available in the area and advised us to go to a motel.

Although we arrived late Alison quickly cooked dinner for Adrian and when he was settled she prepared the meat for a BBQ and we had a great candle lit meal. Unawares that we had done anything wrong the Ranger on duty came after dinner to ask us why we were perched up on an area meant for tents. We explained that we had the tent on top of Tuah, and how else could we get the tent on to the tent area? Fortunately he didn't insist on us shifting Tuah out there and then but told us that he believed we would be asked to move him in the morning!