Welcome to Shartlesville!

Made some fast progress this morning.  Left just before 6AM.  I have to play a little bit of catchup here to cover everything before I forget.  We changed the route up a bit from the original plan.  Originally we thought we were going to see the Christmas Story house museum, aka the house from the movie.  However my left and right brain must've failed to communicate, because instead of being in Columbus, the house is actually in Cleveland.  Threw us off last minute.  So the new route, from already being west in PA, brought us down into that panhandle of western Maryland.  

We picked up Interstate 68 heading west towards West Virginia.  From a distance we saw rolling mountains, and this wide deep gap stuck out in between what was otherwise uninterrupted hilly forest.  The highway climbed, then fell, then climbed higher, and fell again, winding back and forth all the while... Like a stretched out theme park ride.  Then, we approached the gap in the mountain, and drove right through it! It was like when moses parted the Red Sea.  Minus the holy intervention.  I wish I had more pictures after this point, but my stubborn self just wanted to keep driving and enjoy it.  I-68 was, no is, gorgeous!  Signs denote it as the National Scenic Byway, and scenic it was, for a freeway at least.  The highway was a shade of red also, that was a first.

West Virginia.  Made it all the way on our first tank of gas.  Filled up - and interestingly enough the price of gas was higher than Jersey, as expected, but only came out to about 3.40/gallon.  Much better, considering we were budgeting for an average of $4/gallon.  We fueled the car, refueled ourselves a bit with some java goodness, and back on the road we were.  I-79 South en route to Charleston, WV.  Side note:  rest stops were surprisingly bountiful.  Walking into this Cheat Lake, WV "BFs" brand rest stop, we could've gotten anything from Coffee, to cigarettes, to fresh (really "fresh") pizza, ice cream, and an entire refrigerated room of Beer.  A stop a few hours earlier, in Maryland still, had similar amenities, but also offered Laundry and a public shower.  Ew?

It's 730PM right now, Saturday still, and we've since stopped in Charleston, WV, where we intended to  spend the afternoon and rest before continuing.  Last minute decision was to continue on, and we're just about to get off the highway in Louisville, KY.  But I will have to post more later.  What a long day already!