Pennsboro to West Union; Distance = 14 Miles; People Met = 15
The original plan for the day was to get an early start in order to beat the heat and get to West Union early, where we would be meeting Sharon and Paul Weekley, West Virginia trail coordinators for the ADT. Things don’t always go as planned.
The hold up started from the beginning. We made it just short of Pennsboro the night before, camped on top of a ridge that I thought would provide us first light. However, a hill was in precisely the wrong spot and we did not get sunlight until 9:00 a.m. We were in need of sun to dry out the tent fly after an evening of very heavy dew. Our delayed start gave us the opportunity to speak with Charlie and Cattrell, two of four people strolling on the NBRT that morning.
Charlie and Cattrell
Charlie and Cattrell were the first people to advise out to check out the P&H Restaurant in Pennsboro. Another person to do so was Linda, who we joined walking on the trail into town. Linda was recovering from back surgery and walking very slowly and gingerly. Walking at her pace gave us time to chat for awhile. We found out that today was Linda’s birthday and that she was a retired schoolteacher who went to high school with the Weekley’s. She insisted on introducing us to Jim Vogt, owner of P&H and mayor of Pennsboro.
Happy Birthday, Linda!
We figured we were meant to eat breakfast at P&H so we did. That gave Linda enough time to get home and call the local newspaper. Jennifer Metheny tracked us down before we managed to get out of town on the rail trail. She followed us to the first tunnel and then we all sat down and chatted for a long time. By noon we had hiked a grand total of two miles.
Sorry about the blotchy photo, Jennifer Metheny
Before reaching West Union we came to the longest tunnel on the NBRT, the 2100’ long Central Station Tunnel. The next post will be about our stay in West Union with the Weekleys. For now I’ll conclude with the next “tunnel podcast” theme: the good, bad and ugly of our journey.
Other Photo
Basetsoccer. Games are traditionally low scoring affairs.
