Country Roads

Almost heaven, West Virginia
Blue ridge mountains
Shenandoah River

If there was a song that was the primary reason behind a road-trip, this song was it. In mid-August of 2001, my friends and I planned on rendezvouing at a home in Iselin, NJ and then driving down to Seneca Rocks, WV for camping and white-water rafting on the Shenandoah. This took place over the labor day weekend of 2001 - September 1 to September 3, 2001 if you must know. Driving down that concrete stretch of highway nightmare known as the New Jersey Turnpike, ponying up upwards of 50 bucks on tolls alone, we rolled into beautiful rural Maryland and Virginia. Boy was it scenic...

Rolling country-side somewhere in rural Virginia..it had been just two weeks after heavy rains, and with the water re-charging the soil, there was that fresh green all around..absolutely beautiful..

Two predominant colors in the landscape...the black tarred roadtops and the nascent green of grass freshly sprouting following torrential rains of two weeks prior. And my, the gently rolling landscape dotted with white picket fences and grazing pastures for cows and horses, was like a scene out of some classic English poem.

ok, so I lied...it was not all green around..there was this hay field glowing a golden yellow in the mid-day sun...somewhere in rural Virginia...circa September 2001
And sorta true to the song, West Virginia did not disappoint with the blue ridges of the branch of the Applachian Mountains that run into the state.

Maybe, if you drink moonshine like John Denver proclaims in "Take Me Home Country Roads" you will proclaim that the ridge in the background is indeed blue! Meanwhile though, this place was amongst the most peaceful places I have been to....Seneca, WV...circa September 2001

Life is old there, older than the trees
Younger than the mountains
Growing like a breeze

I cant vouch for either, cuz I am younger than them all :)
But one thing is really for sure...life sure is simple there. And it seems like you stepped through some time-portal of some sort, because of the idyllic calm of the place gave an impression that time ran slower here than elsewhere in the country.

The peaceful hamlet of Seneca, WV as seen from summit of the Seneca Rock, a limestone formation that has weathered erosion to stand proud and towering over the town....circa September 2001

Country roads, take me home
To the place, I belong
West Virginia, mountain mamma
Take me home, country roads

If you wanna call a camping trip with almost no prior experience, as going home, then yeah..the country roads of W.Va took us home. Those three days spent white-water rafting, hiking and camping was sorta way outta the ordinary. Even though it is over three years removed from that trip, the memories are still as vivid as the day I was there - the low hanging mist during day-break, the chill that permeates the entire region during the night, the sun light falling on the face of the Seneca Rock, illuminating it like it was a beacon in the midst of swirling mist and fog.

All my memories, gathered 'round here
Miners lady, stranger to blue water
Dark and dusty painted on the sky
Misty taste of moonshine
Tear drops in my eye

I don't know nothing about moonshine, you see, cuz i am an in-bred country brute :P
Kidding aside, for what the song claims, I have to say that the air looked, and smelt and felt pretty clean. Possibly the cleanest air I have inhaled in the continental US.

Country roads, take me home
To the place, I belong
West Virginia, mountain mamma
Take me home, country roads

I hear her voice
In the mornin' hour she calls me
Radio reminds me of my home far away
Driving down the road I get a feelin'
I shoulda been home yesterday, yesterday!

We did our white-water rafting at Harper Ferry, WV, and then crossed the Shendandoah and drove along the shores of the Potomac, upstream. Often times, the road would deviate from the river and run into heavily canopied forests, where a brook would run by the roadside....

A rocky stony brook in Seneca, WV. Surprisingly, the water, while being just about upto the knee level, was still with a strong current..even more surprising...after all the rainfall that region had received just two weeks previously, the water level had subsided this far down.....circa September 2001

In the far distance, sunlight beamed on the road in areas where the canopy was missing...and it was mesmerizing and enchanting...not to mention, simply beautiful.

At last, some clearing in the canopy covering the state highway that leads into Seneca, from Harpers Ferry, WV. Almost straight out of a story book, there was a little gurgling brook running right by the road, on the right side of the picture....circa September 2001
Country roads, take me home
To the place, I belong
West Virginia, mountain mamma
Take me home, country roads

Country roads, take me home
To the place I belong
West Virginia, mountain mamma
Take me home, country roads
Take me home, now country roads
Take me home, now country roads