Spring Road Trip Day 7 - Thursday March 16th - Charlotte NC to Beckley WV - no hikes

This was the 2nd part of the family visit portion of the trip.  We had breakfast with Brian’s niece and visited a little more while our laundry washed and dried.  We also visited the casino near Gastonia NC. 

After that we had a long but interesting and enjoyable drive mostly up I-77.  I think I-77 has the longest East Coast mountain pass I’ve been on yet.  There was a long truck climbing lane that went for miles, 2 tunnels and lots of curves for a freeway.  We exited about 20 miles before Bekcley to avoid having to pay a toll on the West Virginia turnpike.  Those handful of WV miles were curvy and bumpy and full of oncoming headlights.  Every time we come to West Virginia, the poor infrastructure is impossible to ignore.

With our change to spend 1 less day in Charlotte we have 2 nights here in Beckley.  We will do at least some sort of hike today but I’m not sure we’re up to a big 8 miler that I had originally picked out.  It’s wet and cool out and personally I don’t really feel the need for a giant difficult walk but we do need to do some sort of hike.


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