Parkersburg to Cairo; Distance = 24 Miles; People Met = 18
We stayed in the youth group room in the basement of the Good Shepherd Episcopal Church while in Parkersburg. The Monday morning that we left volunteers were working at getting clothes together for a sale that was part fundraiser, part charity. We chatted with a few of them as we packed up to leave.
The good folks at the Good Shepherd
Our walk out of Parkersburg was our first day in West Virginia and Day 300. Spring was in the air as well with different types of trees budding along the city streets. Before we got outside of town we stopped in at a cafe called Marilyn’s to use their restroom. When we told Marilyn what we were doing she insisted on us having some sweet tea and pie. With such kindness it’s not surprising that Marilyn’s care has garnered awards.
Marilyn's crew: Heather, Charles, Marilyn, Michael, Shawna, Phil
Five miles outside Parkersburg we began the North Bend Rail Trail, famous for its tunnels. The first part of the NBRT went through populated areas and we were hailed by Chad. We got to talking about the long tunnels and we expressed our concern for having but one light on us this stretch. Chad gave us an LED light to take along.
Chad provided us a light
I love tunnels, and there are some long ones on the NBRT. The one we went through first is called Eaton Tunnel, the second longest at over 1800′. I just had to get my digital recorder out. The topic for this tunnel was a common theme for our journey: wet weather. In retrospect that was appropriate because we later learning there were tornado watches nearby and the weather was at its worst at 6:00 p.m. while we were safely inside the tunnel. Good fortune strikes once again!
Of course I made a podcast out of my tunnel recording. During the recording I referred this to being Day 100, when it really is Day 300. Geesh, nothing like adding a couple hundred more days to the journey!
Other Photos
An identity crisis
