Sunday, November 22, 2009 - Clarksburg WV

Cleared out cabover junkroom before renovations, July 19, 2009

These first few days on the road out of the northeast are no fun at all. I've tried several routes over the years and they all suck. There is way too much traffic on the few good routes in and out of the northeast for my taste. I can hardly wait to cross the Mississippi and get free of this mess. The past couple of years I spent a few weeks at the Foscue Creek Campground in Demopolis AL before heading west but I'm inclined to skip that this year and head more directly for the southwest. I was even thinking of making a short dash to Florida to visit relatives but that will have to wait 'til another time - I want out of here.

On the road to a new workshop

Once I changed how I view LD and gave myself permission to ignore resale value and to build what I want, just for me, just the way I want it, I was free to rip out the cabover bedroom I had been using as a junkroom and get on with designing and building a studio into the cab. It took a lot of configuring and reconfiguring amidst the months of chasing leaks this summer to bring it all together but it was worth the effort. I'll show you the result tomorrow.

Night camp

Wal-Mart Supercenter in Clarksburg WV

Wal-Mart Supercenter Store #1544, 550 Emily Dr, Clarksburg, WV 26301 - (304) 622-1954

Good level parking
Verizon cell phone service- good signal
Verizon EVDO Broadband service - none but 1x dialup speed is reasonable
Locate this Walmart on my Night Camps map
Find other Wal-Marts in the area
Check the weather here

Crayfish Chimney

Late one afternoon I sat upon my camera case beside the path where it wound through the darkest part of the woods, down near the pond, and watched a crayfish building his "chimney," the land entrance to his underwater tunnel. He had just started to work above the ground when I first arrived. He came up through the moist black earth, carrying a ball of it between his two enormous fighting claws. Using the claws as hands, he spread the soil around the hole to form the base of the chimney. He then backed down the hole and after several minutes came up with another armful.

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