In May we went from Alabama to Pennsylvania. We traversed all of those miles in three days back to back. I know, I know…..you are saying, “I can do it straight through in my car.” Your car and our 65 foot of 41 foot RV, tow dolly and Hyundai Santa Fe are NOT the same thing.
If Google maps says it’s a 3 hour 30 minute trip…for us it is 5 hours. We do NOT go 70 miles an hour, we stop at least every two hours to tighten the straps on the car/tow dolly, Gary does not eat while driving so snacking isn’t even a thing. We stop for him to eat and use the onboard restroom. Praise Jesus we don’t have to use gas station toilets. 😊
So our back to back to back travel days are exhausting and stressful. On the way to PA we suffered a tire going down and Gary did a roadside repair along interstate 81. See my blog post from June 7, 2026.
So, when it was time to return to Alabama from Pennsylvania, I thought we would try something different.
A co worker from the YMCA gave me a book called “Go See America”
In this book I found a wonderful place in West Virginia to explore. So the plan was to head south from PA, literally pass through West Virginia (all 26 miles) and Maryland and then into Virginia where we spent the night in Lexington. From there we headed due west into southern West Virginia. It was a lovely 2-hour travel day….BONUS.
We stayed at a place right of the highway that Gary found that morning. We had a huge kerfuffle that morning when Gary started reading reviews for the place I booked in West Virgina. See, I don’t read the reviews. He does. Thankfully we had not paid nor given them a credit card because Gary read terrible reviews about getting in and getting out of the campground and poor navigating in the campground, it was a whole thing. So we literally had two prayer warriors on it, he and I prayed together, I repented of not reading reviews, and we got on the road without a true destination. CRAZY, I know.
BUT, God is Good! The process for campground he found was sending texts and within an hour I heard from the lady booking the sites, we were booked and ready to go for two nights at Hampton Summer Wind RV Park in Dawson, WV.
Because we had such a short travel day, we were able to explore the day we arrived and I had planned an entire day of site seeing the next day. A grounds keeper came by when we were setting up and I asked him what I needed to see while in Dawson, West Virginia. He told me Sandstone Falls and Boardwalk and Hinton (which is the little town you have to pass through to get to the boardwalk).
After we had lunch we set out to explore. We took advantage of Google and found a lovely Grist Mill to go see first. We visited Babcock State Park and the Glade Creek Grist Mill.
Glade Creek Grist Mill
Glade Creek Grist Mill in Babcock State Park, West Virginia
I literally pulled up John Denver on YouTube to listen to “Take me Home, Country Roads.” The GPS had us going down one lane roads. We were zig zagging up and down mountains, it was crazy. Beautiful, but crazy! At one point Gary looked at me and said, “You owe me a month at the beach!” I am the mountain girl, he is the beach guy! This was a lot for him!
Almost Heaven
Almost Heaven, West Virginia
TC has a video giving you the story on the Glade Creek Grist Mill. Check it out with the link below!!!
Sandstone Visitor Center
Our next stop was the Sandstone Visitor Center. The Visitor Center is one of the southern most parts of the New River Gorge National Park and Preserve. This is the newest in National Parks as President Trump signed it into its National Park status in 2020. While the Visitor Center is lovely, it was a gorgeous afternoon and there were rumors of a water fall….I wanted to be outside, not indoors! So, I inquired at the desk about the falls thinking it was a short walk away, right? Nope, it was a 45-minute drive…to go 20 miles. Which was probably REALLY close as the crow flies. The interesting challenge was you had to drive south until you came to the town of Hinton in order to encounter a bridge that took you across the New River so you could then drive north to the Falls. And again, the road just suddenly goes from two lanes with lines to a single lane.
We did find the Falls and there is a ‘boardwalk” to walk out to them. Poor Gary, the word “boardwalk” brings an altogether different picture to his mind. ☹
He was actually quite adventurous on this day; he was determined there was a closer view of the falls than the one we had at the end of the boardwalk. We found a trail through the woods, crossed two streams using rocks as a path, until we came out at a lovely vista, much closer to the Falls!
Sandstone Falles, New River Gorge National Park and Preserve, West Virginia
TC has a video talking about the visitor center and the Falls. See the button for the Babcock State Park TC Adventure above. ♥
Because we had traveled this day, I had purposefully saved the New River Gorge Canyon Rim Visitor Center and Bridge for the following day. This was, after all, what we came to see!
The entire region, centered around the New River has some of the prettiest views I have ever seen. Whether you are traversing a mountain top road or find yourself at the Sandstone Falls along the riverbed, you will be amazed at the beauty God has created for our enjoyment. I could not stop marveling, even on the drive, at the scenery. Also, fun fact, the New River runs north!! Only about 50 rivers in America run north. I also got to see a deer standing in the river, majestic. ♥
New River Gorge National Park and Preserve
The main focal point of this entire region is the amazing architectural genius of the New River Gorge Bridge. Although it was created by human hands and not God himself, it is beautiful to behold. This bridge spans 3,030 feet across. It is situated over 800 feet in the air and boasts records like....tallest arch bridge in the United States and the longest single span arch bridge in the western hemisphere. It is also the third highest vehicular bridge in the United States. Once a year on “Bridge Day”, the third Saturday in October, the bridge closes to traffic. There are festivities like a 5K and rappelling and high line is available. Year round there are “Bridge Walk” tours available where you can pay to walk the catwalk and negotiate the entire span while clipped in securely to a safety line.
The bridge took three years to build and opened for traffic in 1977. It has cut the commute for locals from 45 minutes to seconds.
New River Gorge Bridge, New River Gorge National Park and Preserve, Fayette, West Virginia
Check out TC’s video on the New River Gorge Canyon Rim Visitor Center! Click the link below!
We had lunch in Fayetteville, West Virginia. This is a cute little mountain town that has taken full advantage of the water sports, adventure seekers and tourist traffic. Then we made our last stop for the day. This was an impulse stop to the Thurmond Historic District. We saw history at the Canyon Rim Visitor Center about the Thurmond train station and thought it would be fun to visit.
Thurmond
This was definitely the most sketchy trip we took in two days. We were on a single lane windy road for a very long time. When a car is coming from the opposite direction, you both need to navigate off the side of the road to pass. There are also one lane bridges that require you take turns with any opposing traffic. But we crossed the New River and felt like we had gone back in time.
Train bridge next to the car bridge into Thurmond, West Virginia
Actually, AmTrak does still use this station on their line from Chicago to D.C. It is not a popular stop, nor a manned stop, but they stop for passengers.
The station has been turned into a museum where you can learn the history of Thurmond, West Virginia. This was once quite the booming town, a railroad town, not a coal mining town. But the coal mine was definitely the reason the railroad was there. Millions of tons of coal were removed from this region by the C & O Railroad. There remains a few dilapidated buildings. You can walk the length of the town and see the Post Office, a bank and some other businesses long vacated.
TC also has a video about Thurmond, West Virginia.
Visit West Virginia
We traversed almost 200 miles in two days seeing five of the many sites to see in this region. I would definitely recommend a trip to West Virginia to the New River Gorge National Park and all it has to offer. West Virginia might be one of those obscure locations that people don’t think of as a destination. I would disagree and urge you to add it to your itinerary. ♥
Genesis 1:10-13
“God called the dry ground “land,” and the gathered waters he called “seas.” And God saw that it was good. Then God said, “Let the land produce vegetation: seed-bearing plants and trees on the land that bear fruit with seed in it, according to their various kinds.” And it was so. The land produced vegetation: plants bearing seed according to their kinds and trees bearing fruit with seed in it according to their kinds. And God saw that it was good. And there was evening, and there was morning—the third day.”