Clarksburg, West Virginia (GA495)

Mary is no longer available for RV traveling, but we remain good friends.
Because we have 5,000+ postings, I’ve invited her to continue posting entries on this blog.

I’m currently in my 23rd year of full-time RVing and my lifestyle is changing, For more info click Here

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The motorhome is parked at Thousand Trails Lake Minden RV Resort in Nicolaus, California. I’m scheduled to depart here November 7th.

 

 

 

 

Since my RVing life is changing (see above), I’m starting to re-visit previously visited places. So rather than constantly re-blogging past entries, I’ve decided to do something different.

  In 2011-2013, Mary and I did a 682 day, 12,679 miles in the motorhome and 8,000 miles in the Bronco, circumnavigation of the United States, which I called The Great Adventure. I called it so because other than my oldest granddaughter’s high school graduation in June in Connecticut, I didn’t know where we would be going or when we would be there!

So, unless I do something really different and unusual warranting a new blog entry, I’ll be posting entries from that trip.

This entry was posted May 19, 2013…

 

 

 

Yesterday I drove the motorhome the about 60 miles from Parkersburg to Clarksburg, West Virginia. 99% of the drive was on U.S. Highway 50. Basically a four lane, mostly straight east-bound with lots of ups and downs…

 

 

 

 

 

As always you may left click upon an image to see an enlarged view and then click once again to see an even larger view…

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

As we go further east the cities are getting older and the streets narrower. They were not made for a wide-body motorhome. When I drove this street, I barely had room to get past the parked cars…

 

 

 

 

 

We parked in an alley next to VFW Post #573…

 

 

 

 

 

Here’s the usual dinette photo…not exciting. I wondered how many years ago it was built…

 

 

 

 

 

After settling in, we went inside for lunch…

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

During lunch we asked the locals what’s to see and do in Clarksburg. They all replied…not much. It seems the VFW is the hot spot in town. So we decided to walk around a bit and discovered this was the birthplace of Thomas “Stonewall” Jackson…a famous Confederate General who stood his ground like a stone wall…hence the name. He died at the Battle of Chancellorsville…

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Here are some of the other photos I took during our walk…

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Downtown Main Street…

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

A nice clean city.

 

 

We will move along later this morning.

 

 

Enjoying very friendly VFW Posts is another joy of the full-timing lifestyle!

 

 

The red dot on the below map shows our approximate location in the State of West Virginia. You may double left-click the map to make it larger…

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Enjoying 65-75 degree temperatures most of the year is a primary joy in the RVing lifestyle!

 

 

“Life is like riding a bicycle. To keep your balance you must keep moving”…Albert Einstein

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

On October 27, 2012, I created a two-minute video titled America The Beautiful. The music America The Beautiful is by Christopher W. French. The photos, which I randomly selected, are from the states of Arizona, California, Colorado, Florida, Georgia, Louisiana, Massachusetts, Mississippi, Montana, New Mexico, North Carolina, Oklahoma, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Texas, Tennessee, Washington and West Virginia (not shown in that order)…are mine. Yup, That’s me standing in front of the Post Office in Luckenbach, Texas…Y’all!

 

 

Click this link to start the video. Make sure you have your speakers turned on and go to full screen asap.
http://youtu.be/FfZUzEB4rM8

 

 

If you have not checked out my Ramblin Man’s Photos Blog, you can do so by clicking this link…
http://ramblinmanphotos.wordpress.com/

 

 

 

 

TWO FOR THE PRICE OF ONE! MARY WROTE A MANY GREAT BLOGS…SO WHENEVER SHE PUBLISHED A BLOG POSTING THE SAME DAY THAT I DID…YOU WILL BE ABLE TO READ HER BLOG BY CLICKING THE BELOW LINK! DO IT NOW!

https://otrwjam.wordpress.com/2013/05/19/clarksburg-west-virginia-2/

 

 

 

 

I hope you enjoyed the photos!

Forecast for today is sunny and 73 degrees.

Enjoying nice weather is another joy in the life of a full-time RVer!

The red dot on the below map shows my approximate location in the State of California. You may double left-click the map to make it larger…

Enjoying 65-75 degree temperatures with low humidity most of the year is a primary joy in the RVing lifestyle!

“Life is like riding a bicycle. To keep your balance you must keep moving”…Albert Einstein

My current travel rig is a 2006 Fleetwood 26′ Class A Motorhome and a towed 1986 Ford Bronco II, Eddie Bauer Model. This photo was taken in the desert at Slab City near Niland, California…

On October 27, 2012, I created a two-minute video titled America The Beautiful. The music America The Beautiful is by Christopher W. French. The photos, which I randomly selected, are from the states of Arizona, California, Colorado, Florida, Georgia, Louisiana, Massachusetts, Mississippi, Montana, New Mexico, North Carolina, Oklahoma, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Texas, Tennessee, Washington and West Virginia (not shown in that order)…are mine. Yup, That’s me standing in front of the Post Office in Luckenbach, Texas…Y’all!

Click this link to start the video. Make sure you have your speakers turned on and go to full screen asap.
http://youtu.be/FfZUzEB4rM8

If you would like to see my YouTube videos, click this link… http://www.youtube.com/user/JimJ1579/videos

There are more than 700 photo albums in my Picasa Web Albums File. To gain access, you simply have to click this link… https://get.google.com/albumarchive/110455945462646142273?source=pwa

If you have not checked out my Ramblin Man’s Photos Blog, you can do so by clicking this link…http://ramblinmanphotos.wordpress.com/

For more information about my books, click this link:
http://www.lulu.com/spotlight/panamaorbust

All original works copyrighted – Jim Jaillet 2018

Tygart Lake State Park – Grafton, West Virginia

Yesterday I drove the motorhome the about 30 miles from Clarksburg to Tygart Lake State Park near Grafton, West Virginia. As soon as we left Clarksburg, U.S. Highway 50 dropped from four to two lanes.

As always you may left click upon an image to see an enlarged view and then click once again to see an even larger view…

The grades, both up and down became steeper and curvier as we advance into the Appalachian Mountains..

Leaving highway 50, the route to Tygart Lake State Park took us on streets with only inches to spare between telephone poles and vehicles…

After what seemed like forever…we finally got there. Between the small, tight campground and the unevenness of the ground it took about an hour to finally get settled in…

Here’s the usual dinette window photo…

Here’s what my neighbor had to do to both front wheels to level his rig…

Of 14 campsites, there were only three RV’s…

In the end, it proved to be a very quiet and relaxing spot. The lake was not visible from our campsite…

In the below Google Earth image the X shows our location…

We will move along later this morning.

Enjoying pretty state parks is another joy of the full-timing lifestyle!

The red dot on the below map shows our approximate location in the State of West Virginia. You may double left-click the map to make it larger…

Enjoying 65-75 degree temperatures most of the year is a primary joy in the RVing lifestyle!

“Life is like riding a bicycle. To keep your balance you must keep moving”…Albert Einstein

On October 27, 2012, I created a two-minute video titled America The Beautiful. The music America The Beautiful is by Christopher W. French. The photos, which I randomly selected, are from the states of Arizona, California, Colorado, Florida, Georgia, Louisiana, Massachusetts, Mississippi, Montana, New Mexico, North Carolina, Oklahoma, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Texas, Tennessee, Washington and West Virginia (not shown in that order)…are mine. Yup, That’s me standing in front of the Post Office in Luckenbach, Texas…Y’all!

Click this link to start the video. Make sure you have your speakers turned on and go to full screen asap.
http://youtu.be/FfZUzEB4rM8

If you have not checked out my Ramblin Man’s Photos Blog, you can do so by clicking this link…
http://ramblinmanphotos.wordpress.com/

All original material Copyright – Jim Jaillet 2013
For more information about my three books, click this link:
http://www.lulu.com/spotlight/panamaorbust

CLARKSBURG, WEST VIRGINIA

We arrived in Clarksburg, W. Virginia, a busy city with lots of hilly areas and one way streets- no streets made for a wide bodied motor home. We had two other options, The Elks and the Eagles. We never did find them but the VFW appeared to have a huge parking area. When Jim pulled between the narrow yellow stanchions to enter their lot, I held my breath. The Commander happened to be sitting on the porch. He told me later he was sure he wouldn’t be able to get that rig in.  The VFW parking lot is miniscule.  But, it was Saturday and you can see us parked in a bank’s lot that runs right next to the VFW building. The commander assured us we would be okay for the weekend.

This old cannon has an interesting history, as does the post. Here they accept “Guest Members”, the first time we’d heard the term.  We had lunch at the VFW, a gulllinos  sandwich for me. I always like to try a local specialty and it was stir fried hot peppers and onion with melted cheese, and a beef patty onTexas toast, which turned out to be the first sour dough bread I’ve had since I left California. I asked her to substitute a chicken breast for the beef patty and she did. I don’t know where they got the name, but the sandwich was excellent.

The forecast was rain. While it was still overcast, we took a walk around a four block area and just took some pictures. This lovely church with the bells, we heard play music at 5:00 while we were reading.

Other lovely churches with stained glass windows. No longer open like the refuges of the 1950’s where you could walk into any church. They were always open 24 hours a day.

Would have liked to have a look inside.

Built in 1863. The plaque says, The Lord Is In His Temple.

You can get a sense of the beautiful glass.

And old town;  there was a cemetery that looked interesting as we came into town.  Stopping with the rig is not always an option.

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An old empty theater, a broken window,  looking sadly uncared for.

A beauty of a building that looks worth saving. A woman I spoke to on the street, when I asked her what there is to do in Clarksburg replied, “Walmart went in a few miles down the road and sucked the life out of this city. So many local shops closed, it is not a place you want to live anymore.” I was stunned to hear that condemnation for a city of this size.  The population is 16,798 from the 2010 census.

There are some signs of degradation, closed up buildings, for rent signs on storefronts.

Graffiti.

This is not the kind of beauty shop I would choose.

You don’t hear or see much about the International Order of Odd Fellows. The historic sign has been retained. The building now houses a couple of shops on the ground level.

Fire escapes up the side of an old building, a rare sight for westerners along with the narrow streets and alleys.

We made it back to the motor home just before the rain started. It cooled off and we spent the rest of the day reading and relaxing.

The City has beautiful buildings, and cities have been known to reinvent themselves. I’m sure Clarksburg will survive to see another economic upturn. I wish we could have spent another day here to look it over, but it was nice to have a day of relaxation, too.

 

Clarksburg, West Virginia

Yesterday I drove the motorhome the about 60 miles from Parkersburg to Clarksburg, West Virginia. 99% of the drive was on U.S. Highway 50. Basically a four lane, mostly straight east-bound with lots of ups and downs…

As always you may left click upon an image to see an enlarged view and then click once again to see an even larger view…

As we go further east the cities are getting older and the streets narrower. They were not made for a wide-body motorhome. When I drove drove this street, I barely had room to get past the parked cars…

We parked in an alley next to VFW Post #573…

Here’s the usual dinette photo…not exciting. I wondered how many years ago it was built…

After settling in, we went inside for lunch…

During lunch we asked the locals what’s to see and do in Clarksburg. They all replied…not much. It seems the VFW is the hot spot in town. So we decided to walk around a bit and discovered this was the birthplace of Thomas “Stonewall” Jackson…a famous Confederate General who stood his ground like a stone wall…hence the name. He died at the Battle of Chancellorsville…

Here are some of the other photos I took during our walk…

Downtown Main Street…

A nice clean city.

We will move along later this morning.

Enjoying very friendly VFW Posts is another joy of the full-timing lifestyle!

The red dot on the below map shows our approximate location in the State of West Virginia. You may double left-click the map to make it larger…

Enjoying 65-75 degree temperatures most of the year is a primary joy in the RVing lifestyle!

“Life is like riding a bicycle. To keep your balance you must keep moving”…Albert Einstein

On October 27, 2012, I created a two-minute video titled America The Beautiful. The music America The Beautiful is by Christopher W. French. The photos, which I randomly selected, are from the states of Arizona, California, Colorado, Florida, Georgia, Louisiana, Massachusetts, Mississippi, Montana, New Mexico, North Carolina, Oklahoma, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Texas, Tennessee, Washington and West Virginia (not shown in that order)…are mine. Yup, That’s me standing in front of the Post Office in Luckenbach, Texas…Y’all!

Click this link to start the video. Make sure you have your speakers turned on and go to full screen asap.
http://youtu.be/FfZUzEB4rM8

If you have not checked out my Ramblin Man’s Photos Blog, you can do so by clicking this link…
http://ramblinmanphotos.wordpress.com/

All original material Copyright – Jim Jaillet 2013
For more information about my three books, click this link:
http://www.lulu.com/spotlight/panamaorbust