US50 - Washington DC to San Francisco in 13 days

[Paolo99]

DAYS 1 -3

Flew into Dulles and, after a bout of the usual boneheaded, arrogant incompetence from immigration officials, headed West.

Stayed in Wingate Inn in Winchester, VA, the apple capital of the US apparently. Lots of apple-related things. Nice little town. Hotel not so great. On the way through rural West Virginia, we stopped off at the charming Cool Springs Park, owned by E Harlan Castle, and a general store/machinery graveyard. Absolutely fascinating. Especially the Udder Butter. The drive through liquor store a few miles previously was interesting too.

Stopped off for lunch at Salem for lunch - good, solid food but have forgotten the name of the place, sorry. Detour to Philippi to see the 285ft covered wooden bridge. Drove in lovely late afternoon light through farmland headed towards Chillicothe, OH, and the Green House B&B, a thoroughly lovely establishment run by Tom and Dee Shoemaker. The town was quiet - it was Mothering Sunday - and there were no decent downtown restaurants open so we headed out to the chain restaurants where we had a fairly miserable meal in Bob Evans served by and even more miserable waitress.

The Green House B&B made up for it - a really nice place in a perfect little town [although it would probably describe itself as a 'city'].

Off in the morning towards the Ohio River scenic byway. Really lovely drive. Stopped off at Madison, Indiana. We could live here. Really special town, with a vaguely bohemian feel and a thriving downtown. [I later e-mail the local newspaper's editor asking if he has any positions available - the rude beggar doesn't even acknowledge my correspondence] Head off back towards US-50 through beautiful farm roads. Rejoin US-50 at Seymour. Pleasant rolling farmland all the way.

We stay in Lawrenceville, Illinois at Cloud 9 B&B. Really nice room, very pleasant host, Elaine, but bizarre breakfast. Our host claimed she wanted to cook us a breakfast that reminded us of England but the resultant concoction would perhaps only remind us of Alice in Wonderland. A cinnamon-flavoured giant Yorkshire pudding filled with sausages, peaches and squirty cream. Truly odd but very memorable, if not for all the right reasons.

MORE TO COME SOON