Bleakley RV did a splendid job inspecting our 33' travel trailer and all its safety features passed the inspection with flying colors. That is, all except the brake drums, shoes, and the wheel bearings. The total repair cost was just under $1,000 and took the whole morning to complete. This also set us leaving later than we had planned, yet we were underway and not knowing all the Lord had to teach us through this trip to West Virginia.
We have to add that we were actually praising the Lord when the bill came in for the repairs, as we often have found that God delivers financial blessing to us just in time to be used well. The previous week, we had about $2,000 donated to the family through a group of families and churches in which we had ministered. You see, just 3 days prior, we had gotten the van back from the shop with 10 new spark plugs (it has a 6.8L V10 motor) 3 new coil packs, a fuel filter, and a bill for $950. We had had no money for anything but food and gas for months at this point, and at times both those were shorter than we would have liked, yet the Lord provided all our needs yet again.
We finally left with our new brakes, headed for the hills of West Virginia, near the intersection of Interstates 77 and 64. For those familiar with the territory, you will note that a nearby (paved) road US 22 runs through the area where we were headed. This route is well documented with a certain automobile owners group. This group has exceptionally high performance suspension cars and uses the road as a testing ground for cornering capabilities. Keep in mind that US 22 is a paved road, not the goat trail that we found.
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Expand this map and follow it to the river to see the hairpin turns we had to take on the way down this mountain road. The detail is not there showing the cliffs under us as we took some of these turns, but you get the general idea.
As we followed the GPS along, we turned onto County Road 26/Irish Mountain Road only to find that there was not any place to turn around after the first 100 feet. When we got to about the 4 mile run of this 7 mile road, we met a mid 80's Toyota 4WD pickup with a wooden body. Having no place to turn around, the driver pulled up over a few small trees and started laughing. We asked if we could make it to the other end of the road, to which he replied "No, but you aren't getting back up that gravel hill in reverse either, so pick one and go with it" and so we did.
After passing the only listed intersection on the road, which looked more like a 4 wheeler trail than a driveway, we got out of the van to pray for safety and wisdom. For those who think this was a little silly, I invite you to travel this road in a 4WD truck, let alone a 20' long van with a 35' trailer(includes tongue) around these little hairpin turns. We got out more than once, and at one point spent 20 minutes debating the details of leaving the van and trailer behind to spare our lives. The locals we talked to agreed with this assessment, and wondered how and why we managed to get the thing down let alone with no damage to person or property.
Thankfully, at the bottom of the hill there is a beautiful scenic lookout. Sandstone Falls is a park area with a raging river that was just below flood stage at the time. We have a few pics that we would be happy to share of this area, and recommend highly stopping in to visit if you have time and are traveling on I 64 in West Virginia near Beckley. The campground.... well that is another story. Let us just say that the average nightly RV spot is $30-40 in most areas. The "RV park" we stayed at is under water 2 months of the year and costs $700 a year for lot rental. Campers in the yearly spots are above water at all times and are packed in like sardines, and I was told they only come in, they never go out.
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| The campground we were looking for. |
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| Sandstone Falls |
Looking back on it all, we have learned a few things from this trip.
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| This is the campground just down the road, which was flooded months before. Many trailers here were destroyed, some were sitting part way up a tree. |
