Charlottesville To Washington, Pennsylvania -- Nope -- Cumberland, Maryland

Fairfield Inn

Cumberland, Maryland

May 15, 2022

Back in the saddle today.

After a couple of evenings of the Pi Kapp reunion and two nights not sleeping well at all, I was tempted this morning to stay in Charlotteville, go to the Clemson-UVa baseball game and start back on my wanderabout tomorrow. But I dug deep and hit the road at 10 am. Destination -- I had talked about heading to the no-longer-there town of Paris, Oklahoma but called an audible thinking that scoring some closer visits would be useful. So I plotted a course to Paris, Pennsylvania which is just west of Pittsburgh. Six-hour drive that I thought I might be too tired to complete -- I was right.

But I was wrong that Paris, Pennsylvania would be my destination. You would think by this point I would have identified all the Paris' in the US. Not so fast. Someplace in West Virginia after getting gas, I looked ahead on Google Maps. I knew that my destination after Paris, Pennsylvania would be New Paris, Ohio. Yet, when I typed New Paris into Google Maps, it gave me directions to New Paris, PENNSYLVANIA. I'm embarrassed to admit I had not known about that one. Fortunately, I was on the right path to New Paris, PA so I continued on.

I was correct that I would be too tired to get all the way to my target -- I pulled up in Cumberland, Maryland (motto: "Isn't this West Virginia?") and got a hotel room for the night. It feels good to be in a room having camped in Hi Ho Silver the past week.

Finally, this is not my first rodeo in this area. US 50 passes nearby which I drove to Colorado in the fall of 2020. I also drive around this area when I started my trip in October 2019. I recognized places that I had photographed previously as I was driving today.

My grandparents, parents and uncle are buried in western Albemarle County.

Lost City is an unincorporated community in eastern Hardy County, West Virginia, United States, on the Lost River. Lost City is centered at the intersection of West Virginia routes 59 and 259. The town was originally known as Cover. Its post office has been open since 1892.

The community takes its name from the nearby Lost River.

The Lost River is a 31.1-mile-long river in the Appalachian Mountains of Hardy County in West Virginia's Eastern Panhandle region. The Lost River is geologically the same river as the Cacapon River: It flows into an underground channel northeast of McCauley along West Virginia Route 259 at "the Sinks" and reappears near Wardensville as the Cacapon. The source of the Lost River lies south of Mathias near the West Virginia/Virginia border. Along with the Cacapon and North rivers, the Lost River serves as one of the three main segments of the Cacapon River and its watershed.

The river is listed as impaired due to pathogens by the state of West Virginia; this is likely due to the livestock and poultry raising activities throughout the valley.

The river was named for the fact it is a losing stream.

A losing stream, disappearing stream, influent stream or sinking river is a stream or river that loses water as it flows downstream. The water infiltrates into the ground recharging the local groundwater, because the water table is below the bottom of the stream channel. This is the opposite of a more common gaining stream (or effluent stream) which increases in water volume farther down stream as it gains water from the local aquifer.

Losing streams are common in arid areas due to the climate which results in huge amounts of water evaporating from the river generally towards the mouth. Losing streams are also common in regions of karst topography where the streamwater may be completely captured by a cavern system, becoming a subterranean river.

Short Gap is an unincorporated community in Mineral County, West Virginia, located at the intersection of Routes 956 and 28; approximately eight miles from Cumberland, Maryland. The community is home to Frankfort High School, as well as Frankfort Middle School, which serve the northern part of Mineral County, including students from the towns of Ridgeley and Fort Ashby. The ZIP codes for Short Gap are 26753 (Ridgeley, WV) and 26726 (Keyser, WV).

Located in Short Gap on Knobley Road is Stewart's Tavern, listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2000.

Wiley Ford is a census-designated place (CDP) in Mineral County, West Virginia and part of the 'Cumberland, MD-WV Metropolitan Statistical Area'. The population was 1,026 at the 2010 census.

The community was named after one Mr. Wiley, who settled at a nearby ford.