A big dump truck pulled up in the same pull-out I did, and so I decided to wake up and head out in the late afternoon. It turned out some guy was sleeping with the engine running and windows rolled up- air conditioning probably. Somehow, I unintentionally wandered into the Baltimore, Maryland area. I stopped to get something to eat and left as soon as possible. On the northwest side of town, there was horrific traffic on loop 695, so I got off and took Old Court Road out of there. I wanted to go east instead of south to avoid Washington D.C. Normally, I wouldn't mind driving through the city full of politians and hypocrites, but maybe another time; I had enough of the big cities- I just came from one (Baltimore) and heading towards another one (Houston).
West Virginia, in my opinion, is the most beautiful state in the continental U.S. I'd have to travel back to Alaska again, but right now I'd say West Virginia is even more beautiful to drive through than Alaska since there are much more road options. The rolling hills and spring valleys make the state a beautiful drive. As a bonus, the state is not densely populated. Parts of the Appalachian Mountains run through here.
Peter was a bright, nice man I worked with at Loral, a NASA contractor, after I graduated from college in 1995. Peter was in his late 30's or early 40's, and had graduated as a psychology major. After working there for a year, I moved on to H.E.B. in San Antonio, but on the last few days before leaving, Peter and I sat down for a little chat, which I didn't think much of at the time, but still recalled the gist of what Peter stated.
One of the things he revealed was his childhood in the Appalachian Mountain area. He was bitter at his father because his father would drive dangerously in these mountainous areas, especially with all the curves. Because Peter was a child, he had no control over his possible fate because it was in his father's hands. Like I said, when Peter told me this, I didn't think much of it, but took at face value, that was, he was angry with his father. But later on in life, as my mind developed and my thoughts grew much deeper, I evaluated more of what I had been told. (Psychology is my first love, and I wanted to study it myself, but for financial reasons it wasn't really feasible, so I took up something else I enjoyed- computers.)
Here's how I now read into the story. Peter felt anger at his father because his father had no right to put his life in jeopardy. Worst, he had no control in the matter and feared for his life. If you bring someone into this world, you must do your best to protect and raise a child correctly. Why bring someone into this world and then uneccesarily put their lives at risk, like dangling a piece of meat in front of alligator (not that alligators are bad)? Why bring someone into this world if they cannot be given the proper care or education? (That brings up my viewpoint on pro-life and pro-choice, but I will not get into it here.) It shocks me sometimes, when I see young kids in a vehicle when the driver is driving way too fast- don't they realize, the faster they go, the less likely they are to survive in an accident? Not only kids, but adults as well. Well, like I've always known, common sense is very underrated.
I spent the whole day driving slowly and stopping many times in this wilderness state. So beautiful, I didn't want to leave. And I will definitely be back again.
At sundown I pulled into what seemed like an abandoned house on Highway 50 in the tiny town of Augusta, West Virginia well after nightfall. There were other houses nearby, so I called it a night.
A couple of hours later, a knock came at the windshield. I jumped up from my rest in the backseat and made a shocking sound like waking up from a terrible nightmare. Funny, I wasn't scare because I instinctively knew what was happening. There were lights shining on me as I tried to open the car door. Three police officers were standing around me. They told me the owner of the home called in suspicious of the Cresseida on their property. I told them I had thought this was an abandoned home or business, and to give my apologies to the owners. The owners were in a Ford mustang nearby on the other other side of the lot, and took off after one of the officers went over to say something- probably to assure them everything was fine. The officers looked me and told me I had to find someplace else to sleep since the owner's didn't want me around. That was the 3rd time someone came knocking on my windshield while I slept along the road (once this trip).
I drove down the highway a bit and took a south turn onto a smaller road. When I saw a church, I parked in the parking lot along the road under a light and went to sleep again. Hopefully, even though I am an atheist, the church people would not call the police and kick me off their property. (I've never been kicked off a church parking lot before).
