West Virginia to Southern Ohio
West Virginia has really been a tree covered state from what we have seen. Today we drove north-west across the state as we aimed for our next stop just across the border into Ohio.
Probably a combination of things but we have found that the accommodation cost on this trip has been somewhat higher than average based on our past trips. Last night was at the bottom end of costs – and it showed ! It was fine really but this morning at breakfast everything was either “run out” or “out of order”. We ate on the light side which was probably good as it let us “indulge” for lunch.
We drove through the capital of West Virginia along the way – another Charleston – with its fine gold topped capital building a stand out from quite a long way away. Quite a small city again really – about 250,000 in its metropolitan area. Notably it was incorporated in 1794 by the Virginia House of Delegates and one of the trustees appointed was frontiersman Daniel Boone.
We watch a show on Foxtel called “Diners, Drive-Ins & Dives” presented by restauranter Guy Fieri. He travels the USA visiting unique eateries – from the gourmet to the bizarre. Well we found one on the West Virginia / Ohio border – “Hill Billy Hotdogs”
The place is an old shack – or various old shacks, trailers, buses etc – and collection of paraphernalia serving up a variety of hot dogs. And the place is so popular ! We arrived about 12.30 and joined the queue to order and eventually sat down to eat about an hour later ! The queues are worse than Disneyland 😂😂
There were bikies, travellers and locals of all kinds – and I mean all kinds ! While we waited we got to graffiti the walls but we obviously ordered the wrong hotdogs as we didn’t get the waitress singing her song and ringing the bell when we ordered – luckily there were a few in front of us that ordered the “Homewrecker” and got to hear it ! We also resisted the chance to renew our vows at the Hill Billy Wedding Chapel.
But the hot dogs were good and made up for our limited breakfast and the whole experience was good fun ! They have plenty of clientele so they must be doing someting right !
With full bellys we continued our drive along the West Virginia / Ohio border which is in fact the Ohio River. It is quite a broad river and from the barges that move along the river to the extent of industry along it, a working river.
We crossed the border into Ohio late in the afternoon – state number 46 ! – and reached our final destination late in the afternoon – the town of Marietta. It is right on the river and is the oldest town in Ohio. It was the first permanent US settlement, founded in 1788, in the new Northwest Territory which would later become the state of Ohio. And during the Civil War, it was used as a “station” on the Underground Railway to help slaves escape from the south.
We are staying in a Hampton Inn near the river and dinner tonight was at one of our favouite chains – Applebees – which was just a short walk away.
More Ohio travels tomorrow