Expedition into the mountains

We set out on our 400 mile journey through the Appalachian mountains. It was a warm and sunny 71 degree November day when we began our expedition. We knew when it was over, 7 or 8 hours later, it would be about 30 degrees colder. We received our first glimpse of mountain between Charlottesville, Virginia and the West Virginia state border.

Our first view of the mountains.

We took interstate 64 past Charlottesville, then traversed the windy (in both senses of the word) and mountainous U.S. 250 which could easily get us from home to Richmond, but after experiencing just a portion of it, I think we're going to stick with the interstates, so thank you President Eisenhower for those. 

It was a little scary following this guy. A lot of the folks, as they would be known as here, travel these roads often, and know what to expect. Despite the intimidating road that lacked sufficient guard rails for my personal taste, it was a fun ride, with many astonishingly beautiful views. 

This was, unfortunately, the only scenic over-look of the journey, but we could see at least three different mountain distances. It was extremely windy standing close to the edge.

      
 

We went from roughly 200 feet to 4000 feet in approximately two hours and we could definitely feel it. We traveled through George Washington National Forest and Monongahela National Forest.

Finally some proper usage of Appalachian mountain power retrieval.

The day before we left we received a wonderful sailing lecture from "The" Bob Murphy.

We learned some very important and crucial turning tips from Bob that will help us every time we go out on a sail from now on. The were some very large jelly fish that we saw out that day, some with bells as large as basketballs.

It started as a really foggy day, but that lifted and gave us a decent day sail.

And so we say so long to the welcoming calls of the Chesapeake Boat Basin and the east coast of Virginia for the winter. We will return in the early spring.