On Tuesday I led David on an adventure - 5.5 hours into the hills of West Virginia. He had no idea where we were going - just pack warm. And yet until we got to the very top of Snowshoe mountain it was sunny and warm, and even then we were walking around in sweaters yesterday. Snowshoe is a huge ski area, and out of season it is open for mountain biking. So while weve been here only Starbucks was open!
Our airbnb is just a studio off the areas, but it did fine for 2 nights. and the bed is Im tempted to peel back the sheets and find out why. We are up at 4700 feet. BTW our Kia hit 30,000 miles on the way.
The water here makes coffee, so this morning we stopped at Starbucks and then headed out to the Green Bank Observatory cluster - at least a dozen antenna focused
into outerspace to pick up radio waves - so we had to turn off phones before walking through. Tours were by advanced booking so we didnt bother. But while we were there one of them turned - wow! They are huge. No radios allowed in this vicinity, and cell phone service is terrible. So we cant do much outside the wifi of the condo. The largest one has a dish surface of 2.3 acres!! or 2 football fields. Not very helpful for our UK family, sorry. One of the interesting displays is signage that represents the sun and the planets distances from each other. Pluto (guess they havent demoted it) is 1.2 miles down the path.
We were at the town of Cass by 11:30 to check in for the steam train ride. These have GEARED wheels to enable them to climb the grades - up to almost 10% at spots. It took 2 hours up and 2 back, with 2 switchbacks in each direction. So sometimes we were pulled, and other times pushed. Coal driven, and my goodness the black smoke was terrible at times. we were in the 3rd car. Would have been better further back.
By the top I was wearing my 2 layers of coat, gloves, and hat 😊 The cars had benches facing out, and open windows throughout.
And surprise of surprises, as we were waiting to board, whom do we see? Duffy Guthrie!! and then Nan!! They were part of a bus tour - Duffys early birthday present. Hell be 80 on the 28th. Oh my. Nan says he walks very little of late - arthritis in knees and very painful back. Of course, hes very large and that must play a big part. We got to chat before and after and even a short time during the ride.
This was all lumber mill territory - red spruce. Normal trains dont have switchbacks. The lumber industry ended in the 50s. The company houses are all white things, some of which can be rented out.
As you can see, the place is full of turning leaves and tame deer. Well stop at the radio science place tomorrow to report some details before heading back.
