Travel Notes: Elizabeth City, NC » West Virginia

Later that day, I went to nearby Elizabeth City. I was going to wait one more day for the adjuster's decision. I decided I'd stay indoors somewhere, based on the terribly itching welts all over my body. Using my phone to find an appropriate establishment, I was quite disappointed with what I found, as even the best of them could not be recommended. As I drove through this decrepit and crime heavy city, I was able to see why.

I was stopped at a red light. Two men came sprinting through the door of a gas station to my right. Then they ran across my lane, right to left, and crossed the street diagonally, running through moving traffic. And there, they got into a waiting vehicle and left quickly. Not thirty seconds later, the police came. I knew I could not stay here, considering this happened in the afternoon, on a busy main street. I resolved to drive as far as I could, as long as I could, along whatever roads my GPS device recommended, with the condition that I go through West Virginia. I'd been defeated but I was not about to quit permanently. I had a large allotment of miles on my rental car and was intending to use all I could.

There was a total shift in my mindset. I packed away my camera, applied some medicine to the bites, had an energy-rich lunch, set my course, and was off with no stopping except as necessary. Thus I traveled north to Virginia, and passed through Norfolk, Hampton, Newport News, and Richmond. The shipyards at Newport News were quite a sight, due to their sheer scale. The Hampton Roads Bridge-Tunnel was also quite interesting considering its age. It was built in 1957. Darkness had come about the time I reached George Washington National Forest. It sounded like a great place to explore but I had to ignore it.

I made it to West Virginia and began to get very tired. The land became very hilly and mists filled the valleys and sometimes hung over the roadway. I stopped just across the border and rested for a bit, and thought I was ready to go further. I didn't make it very far, however, before becoming tired again. I made my way to a truck stop, something I had not yet done, and did not want to do, but I could not safely go on. Sleeping was very unpleasant; I slept upright in the back seat. But, I was closer to a place I found most intriguing: Point Pleasant, West Virginia, a place of high strangeness in the later 1960s.