Dennis Dixon is heading West!: 2022 Fall Trip - Day 35/37

Wednesday, Sept. 28, 2022 - Exploring waterfalls in West Virginia today:

Um, if I get out of the car AT ALL, I'll have to modify this.

(so I did:)

BEAUTIFUL DAY heading up to I-64 West:

After a while, I found myself on ANOTHER SCENIC BYWAY:

Unfortunately, at this moment, I have neither the desire nor ability to research "Andrew Lewis and Charles Lewis Highway" - but it is a pretty road.

The view from "Warm Springs Mountain" is great:

And "Warm Springs, Virginia" must mean that I'm getting close to The Homestead:

The time is 10:53 - a bit early for tea. I took my pictures, got a sandwich from the Subway, and left town:

I crossed into West Virginia at 11:50

The Road has its own particular draw, and lines, both imaginary (like State Boundaries) and real (like Scenic Byways) only help to make the experience "more real". I don't know why I'm so comfortable out here - the beauty certainly has something to do with it, but it is also "almost-exciting" having a destination yet not knowing what is around the next bend (or if "they" are going to get the road signs correct, today).

And there are those moments when the music and the view and the movement all combine into something magical, and the tears start flowing. Blessedly, those moments are not "few, and far between". Thank You God.

Speaking of "Scenic Byways" - I'm on the Appalachian Waters Scenic Byway:

Going alongside the "Greenbrier River":

At 12:57 I left the highway/byway to see the "Falls of Hills Creek" in the Monongahela National Forest:

I did a quarter-mile hike to get to the "Upper Falls" - I'm sure I'm missing something:

The next adventure is "Highland Scenic Highway", a National Scenic Byway which I'll be on for 22 miles:

I saw some great views:

I went through a rainstorm (hey, it's not all "sunshine and blue skies"), and a lot of small West Virginia towns:

I started getting concerned when I was following a school bus:

But what really broke this camel's back was when I tried to Google Map my way to the Super 8 Winchester VA:

Side Note From Tech Support: User (me) has a weird icon checked. I need to check the automobile:

10 minutes later I was up at Blackwater Falls State Park:

It is 5 PM - time to get out of THIS STATE!

Without a doubt, THE LAMEST "State Boundary" SIGN I HAVE EVER SEEN:

I don't know if it counts, but this is "maybe church" for today:

I reached Winchester, Virginia at 7 PM, just as the sun was going down. 397 miles today - What an adventure!

Thank You GOD for guarding me, and guiding me, as I left the Interstates behind!

Music for today:

various artists - 51 Must Have Modern Worship Hits, 2007:

keep some, delete some

Bill Morrissey - Come Running, 2007 final album:

Having said my piece about music and tears, this guy is one who does it everytime, almost always. Wendy and I saw him probably a dozen times over 2 decades, from a bar in Cambridge, to a coffeehouse on The Vineyard, to a church in Hingham. He was raised Catholic, and seemed to hate "The Church" and "organized religion". He died in 2011, and I'm really hoping that some of it stuck with him at the end. God Bless you Bill.

Discography, and when I last listened to them in DixonHeadingWest or DixonHeadingNorth:

Bill Morrissey (1984) west 20210911
North (1986) west 20161012
Standing Eight (1989) west 20220618
Bill Morrissey (re-recording of the 1984 album plus three previously unreleased songs) (1991)
Inside (1992) west 20150225
Friend of Mine (with Greg Brown) (1993)
Night Train (1993) west 20211201
You'll Never Get to Heaven (1996) west 20160928
Songs of Mississippi John Hurt (1999)
Something I Saw Or Thought I Saw (2001) west 20211211
Bill Morrissey: The Essential Collection (2004)
Come Running (2007) west 20220928

lyrics: "Thirty Years":

Two in the morning and the bus is late
Gotta get some sleep, gotta gig to make
It's fourteen hours to the next town
But I've got a bottle in my bag and I learned to sleep while sitting down

Thirty years going down by degrees
Thirty years of thank you and please
Till all you get is the smokers' cough and the alcohol disease
Little children, sing this song

She said she'd meet me, but she never showed
And now it's just me and another stretch of road
It's true, nothing comes free and you pay for all your crimes
Once you give your heart away one too many times

You've gotta keep moving so you don't fall down
You've got to sing your song, you've got to buy the round
It all starts as just a dream of traveling and shows
Till you get out on the road and find all the exits closed

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Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra - Holst: The Planets, 1993: