July 31, 2012 Harpers Ferry, West Virginia

We finished Skyline Drive. Finished our two and a half month trip, about 600 miles up the Blue Ridge Parkway and Skyline drive through Shenandoah National Parks.  Camping in forest service campgrounds. Back to the city life for a while.

The last basket I finished with its new lid, with a pine cone handle.  The basket I am working on now.

both baskets. A walking stick bug on our tire.

We woke up in the clouds this am. We drove thru some fog on the way. It lifted along the way. Here are some motor cycle riders, one with training wheels on her bike. Lots of motorcycles on these drives.  Above are two bicyclists. Lots of bicyclists too. They are pretty brave on these roads, there are no shoulders.

Boo hoo, the entrance station to Skyline drive. Or the end of our trip thru these  national parks.  Welcome to West Virginia.

John at the low point in West Virginia, the confluence of the Shenandoah River and the Potomac.  It was on private property, so I stayed up on the road.  A street scene in old Harpers Ferry, at the confluence of the two rivers.

John Brown with his 21 soldiers came here and captured the armory and was going to give the guns to the slaves for an uprising.  They holed up in this fire station, which became known as John Brown’s fort. The small army was captured and sentenced to death. It is the incident that started the Civil War. The town, with the armory and a couple railroads was a  key site in the war, it was captured and recaptured many times. The union finally burned down the armory so the confederated would not get the guns. This confluence is the point where Maryland, Virginia and West Virginia all meet.

The town has flooded many times, the markers on the left of the door show the levels of the flood water during the different floods. The Appalachian trail goes right through the Historical Park too.

The Appalachian trail crosses the Potomac river on this foot bridge on the rail road trestle.  The Shenandoah river is in the middle, the Potomac on the right, they merge and go left. There are remains of old railroad trestles.

John at the right place at the right time to catch the train.  Old hand cut steps to St Peters cathedral, worn on the middles .

The building next door must have washed away in a flood? The bus at the KOA. What a shock after all those forest service sites to be this close to our neighbor. Most commercial RV parks are close, but not usually this close.  John says we had dueling awnings.