It was less than two weeks before I was scheduled to leave for Hawaii, but I decided to get out of the DMV for a couple of days. I packed up SB and headed to West Virginia. New River Gorge National Park was only about a five-hour drive away and could have been a stop between Shenandoah and points south (in fact, I drove past that national park at two different exits heading to New River), but I was concerned about being in Florida on time.
As I drove along, I saw a highway sign approaching Staunton, Virginia, indicating that the exit for the Woodrow Wilson Presidential Library and Museum was upcoming. I didn’t know there was a presidential library for a president earlier than Herbert Hoover’s, so I had to check it out.
The downside to this decision was that I didn’t have time to do an advanced information search about the library and its accessibility. Unsurprisingly, the 19th- early 20th-century structures used for the facility were not built to accommodate accessibility needs, and modern efforts to provide them were limited. Plus, the library is not part of the National Archives’ Office of Presidential Libraries and, thus, not supported by the federal agency.
That said, I was able to take the self-guided tour of the museum that chronicled the history of the 28th president. The 1919 Pierce-Arrow limousine featured near the entrance was beautifully restored. I always find it interesting to see the political, cultural and personal history perspectives about different presidents expressed by those who have chosen to commemorate them. Wilson was a man of his time, and his actions as president reflected this. That said, I got lots of pictures, some of which are below:
Find the rest at https://singin1.pics/piwigo/index.php?/category/Woodrow-Wilson-Presidential-Library-110824.
Since I was only an hour away and was then only early afternoon, I immediately finished my drive to New River Gorge National Park and Preserve‘s Sandstone Visitor Center. The river that is the namesake of the national park in West Virginia is described as one of the oldest in North America, yet it is currently the newest addition to the national park system.
I asked the staff to recommend parts of the park–especially what would be accessible–to visit with the time I had available. I had found online info about a tour of African American heritage sites in or near the park but learned that visiting them would require more time than I had planned to spend that trip. I wandered the scenic areas that were dotted with small towns. Eventually, I made the rare decision to spend the night at one of the park’s campgrounds and got a picture of a star-filled cloudless night. Unfortunately, I have not yet discovered how to effectively get night photos from my smartphone, but I hope you get the idea from the picture here.
I drove to Beckley, the largest town in the area, for breakfast and to fill the Silver Bullet’s tank (ever mindful of my number one rule not to explore a park with less than a half tank of gas), then headed to Grandview. The visitor center there was closed for the season, but the walkway to the Grandview section of the gorge was open to the public. I took several pictures, but the best was this panoramic shot:
By the time I finished taking pictures, which you can find at https://singin1.pics/piwigo/index.php?/category/New-River-Gorge-National-Park-110824, I decided that it was time to head back to the DMV. As I suspected, traffic on the Beltway was quite busy although it was a Saturday evening by the time I got there. The time was after 5:50 p.m., and I was surprised to see fireworks coming from the National Harbor. It seems that it was part of a weekly holiday scheduled for Saturdays through December 28th. I want to get there one weekend before the display ends.
As always, I thank the Lord for granting me the stamina to make the trip, the damn good reflexes to steer the Silver Bullet (SB) as she needed to be guided, and the ability to enjoy His handiwork as it whizzes by my windshield.
Next up: Hawaii!!
I want to kick myself for only now discovering that Wind Cave NP is in Hot Springs, South Dakota. I visited Hot Springs in 2018 and have traipsed across the state several times in the last 19 years without a clue that I was so close.
Oh, well… it took me eight years to get to the three national parks in southern Florida I had missed when I was in the area in 2016. Hopefully, it won’t take me that long to get back to South Dakota.