I took my time getting up-and-at-’em on my last morning in Charleston. I figured I didn’t have to check out until noon, so I was going to take all the time I needed. I slept late, got up and showered, got dressed, packed, checked out, and was on the road by 11:30.

I drove north on twisty, hilly I-79 for two hours and then got off to get lunch. Oh, Arby’s, how I’ve missed you. Vermont doesn’t know what it’s missing.

While chowing down on both a Chicken, Bacon, ‘n Swiss (my favorite ingredient? the ‘n.) and a junior roast beef, I checked my map and saw I was only one exit away from US Route 50, so I decided I was tired of the interstate and would take the back roads for a while. I took 50 for 30 miles or so in to Maryland and then took route 219 north past Deep Creek Lake and hooked up with I-68 west of Cumberland. Pedal-to-the-metal, I flew the rest of the wasy and was in Hagerstown and at Dad’s just as dinner went on the stove.

I had a great night with Dad and Darlene, with Ann and the girls. I was tired and went to bed early and had a surprisingly good night of sleep on a bed that I previously thought was among the world’s most uncomfortable.

Today it’s on to Frederick and more family time with Mom and Cal.

I’m considering doing the entire drive home to Vermont in one day; tomorrow.

I love my family and I love my friends and it’s been a great trip, but I just want to be home with my wife.

Today was amazingly cool.

I’d been put in contact with a guy who is a well recognized expert in the battle itself as well as the general area in which it happened. He turned out to be my favorite kind of expert. A guy who’s knowledge doesn’t come from reading a million books and writing a thesis, rather his expertise comes from the fact that his grandfather fought in the Battle of Blair Mountain. His local expertise comes from the fact that he’s lived and worked there his whole life.

We went all over the place. He showed me the battle site itself. (Well, part of it. The true “battle site” follows a ridge line for about ten miles. He then showed me the area as it stands today and the effects that modern coal mining has had on Logan County, West Virginia. I saw dozens of places that used to house communities and now stood empty. I saw mountaintop removal mining upclose and first hand. I saw the aftermath; what coal companies euphemistically call “reclamation”.

I have pictures, and I’ll post them, but my time in Charleston grows short. I have to pack my car and hit the road.

Tonight I have a dinner date. With dad and my sister and my nieces.

Can’t wait.

A day of meetings. A great day.

I woke up around 8:30 and made it to the east end of Charleston in time for a 10:00 meeting with one of the people who worked to get Blair Mountain nominated to the national register. An environmentalist, her concern is with MTR – Mountaintop Removal Mining – the way today’s modern coal industry obtains its coal. MTR is exactly what it sounds like. Anyway, it was a fantastic meeting; shorter than I’d expected, but no less informative. Despite feeling under the weather, the woman I met with was friendly and engaging and answered all of my questions. Promising a copy of my final report, I went on my way.

I had some time to kill before my next scheduled meeting, so I wandered around the West Virginia Stat Capitol complex. I took some pictures. It was massive. The dome on the top of the capitol building is four feet taller than the dome on the US Capitol!

My next meeting was a long one, but man was it great. The folks who took time to meet with me were great. They answered all my questions, volunteered more I hadn’t thought of, gave me a good view of the way their office works, and were generally wonderful.

Afterwards, I returned to my hotel and confirmed my appointment for Wednesday. Then, because I deserve it, it was off to the movies. Here’s a tip: don’t go see 10,000 BC. Why? Because it is terrible. You have been warned.

Then I found some Indian take out which was melt-your-face-off hot, watched some TV, and fell asleep a happy man.