I slept so soundly Thursday night. Maybe it’s sleeping by moving water that makes me drift off quickly and sleep all night…a welcome treat. It was pretty darned nippy yesterday morning and it will be even colder tonight. I got chilled when I first arrived at the campground. I went through a couple of mud puddles and the camper had been splashed from the tires. I got a pail of warm water and washed it down, but I was chilled to the bone. It was’t long after dark that I got in my warm, flannel jammies and hopped in bed under the electric blanket. I still didn’t warm up till after 10:00.

I awoke to the sun coming over the far ridge…lighting the leaves along the river with a beacon of gold that reflected on the window shades of the camper. I slipped the shades up and stayed snuggled under my warm blankets for another hour before I ventured out to begin my day. After a cup of fresh brewed coffee, I took a hot shower in the camper. It’s awfully nice to not have to traipse across a cold campground to use their bathroom facilities in the middle of the night or the chill of the morning.

When you camp and live in a small space, it’s important to stay on top of the cleaning and organizing daily or you end up just throwing things everywhere. I can’t stand living in a cluttered environment, especially in close quarters. In touring with the r-pod, there is always someone who wants to have a peek inside and it’s just easier to spend a little extra time every morning making sure everything is presentable.

I drove to town and had lunch at CJ Maggie’s in Elkins then drove over to the Davis and Elkins College. What a gorgeous campus. D&E is a small liberal arts college affiliated with the Presbyterian Church. With an enrollment of only 805 students, it offers a 13:1 Student/Faculty ratio and both national and international accreditations. D&E is also the home of the Augusta Heritage Center, keeping Appalachian music and skills alive for future generations. There are opportunities to hear Old Time music, both at the summer series and Old Time Week in October. I am especially interested in the Fiddlers Reunion today, as well at the Flat Foot Dance  competition. It speaks to my roots and I’m really looking forward to going.

After my tour of the college campus, I drove up into the Stuart Recreation Area, a densely forested federal park along the banks of the Shavers Fork of the Cheat River. The trees are at their peak of glory here in the Allegheny Mountain Range, part of the Appalachian Mountains. This morning’s low was predicted to hit 30 degrees, bringing us the first frost of the season. If I stay around West Virginia too much longer, I’d have to winterize the camper to keep the water lines from freezing. But a couple of hours of freezing temperatures aren’t enough to cause damage. The weather is predicted to get warmer after this weekend freeze.

I’m having a lot of fun on this trip and it reminds me of those early months and years after losing Mr. Virgo. I traveled for much of the first three years after he died. The big difference between then and now, of course, is the degree of grief healing that has taken place. As I became a different woman in the aftermath of Mr. Virgo’s death, so too have I become a different person on the other side of deep grief. I think we all change and remake ourselves multiple times in our lives. Our “being” is not static…it is ever-evolving. 

As my dear friend Sue told me the other night…”We love this new you.” So do I, my friend. So do I.

❤️

“that their hearts may be encouraged, being knit together in love, to reach all the riches of full assurance of understanding and the knowledge of God’s mystery, which is Christ,”

Colossians 2:2 ESV