First Stop: Beckley Coal Mining Museum

So far, only one minor mishap...  Well, okay maybe more than one.  But all is good now-ish. 

Let's start with that and then move on to good stuff.

Sunrise the first day from our waterfront

We were about ten minutes out from our first gas stop and we suddenly heard a shuffling sound and a blast of hot air from the back.  The window regulator went out on the passenger back window. (argh!) So, we pulled over and Roger got the duct tape from his tool box (probably the most used "tool" in it) and we are hoping the tape holds until we get to California where we will be settled for a few days and can get the regulator fixed. And we will. We have an appointment on July 21 in Morgan Hill.

Here we are at Northern Tool

Also, the CO alarm was beeping when we stopped at Northern Tool, but when I pressed the button and moved some potential culprits away from the sensor, it did not come back on... Until we stopped for gas and heard it back on again. So we (Roger) removed the fuse and voila! problem "solved."

So, right now, we are sitting in space #6 at the Coal Mine Museum camping area and it's REALLY nice. We got here around 4pm. Had lots of sunshine and it was not too terribly hot.  As we were about to cook dinner, a storm rolled in and we are now enjoying a wonderful rain storm (thunder and all--but not too close) while we have our farm fresh corn from home and a wonderful steak--all from Old Farm Truck (opens new browser) back home. I would take a picture, but it's all gone now. Oh, and I made us a couple of "mid-towns", which are Manhattan cocktails with fake bourbon (Spiritless Kentucky74), and real sweet vermouth.  YUM ("Uptowns" are with fake vermouth as well.)

So, since we left later than planned, AND had to stop for gas more than predicted. We only got about NINE miles per gallon when we usually get over twice that-even pulling the T.A.R.D.I.S. There was alot of mountain climbing. AND we had to stop in Glen Allen to buy that generator. BUT the one we originally were going to get was too small (Roger figured that out this morning) so we had to negotiate cancelling our original order and bought THIS ONE instead. It's more expensive, but peace of mind is worth everything. With this heat these days, we just didn't want to take the chance of not being able to cool off the trailer once we stopped--especially the southern route back home through the Mojave.

So, back to the Beckley Coal Mine Museum in West VIrginia. 

The storm is supposed to clear by morning, so we can do the tour, etc. if we decide to. 

There are lots of interesting buildings and some self-guided tour stuff. This place really is beautiful and we have FULL hookups (septic, water, power).

A very well maintained rain garden was among the wonderful little spots to check out on the grounds.

Although there were a lot of people--not just camping, but visiting the museum and walking along the self-guided tour paths. 

We were not right on top of each other and it was quiet (except for the storm) and peaceful. Beckley Coal Mining Museum was a wonderful surprise and great first stop on our long trek.

That's us up that hill - lots of cool walking paths with a shortcut to the Museum

UPDATE: 9pm OMG you guys! Fireflies EVERYWHERE. In the rain. SO cool!