West Virginia Wrap-Up
OK — some sleep and back to the routine. For the stat-minded, here’s a breakdown from this mini WV trip: four days — 2,414 miles — maybe one-third of that death-defying hairpin turns in the mountains. $591 on gas. I never keep track of food & hotel costs. About 600 photos — 98% of them for the website, the other 2% appeared here at the blog.
I took Sparkle directly to my mechanic. The code was something like a mass intake something or other. The exact name has fallen out of my brain. But basically, something to do with mixing gas and air. Also need some oil line something or others (I noticed a few drops of oil leaking once in a while) and a couple of engine mounts (I noticed a little vibration at stops). So, about $1400 or so. But I intend to keep Sparkle going for at least a couple more years. My mechanic says everything else looks perfect — engine, transmission, all the big pieces (and the little ones).
Back to the trip — day 4 started in Gilbert. Here’s a geodesic dome church from there. The Promise Christian Fellowship and foggy mountains:
The sun, ever so briefly, and a former Burger Chef in Kenova. Now a Stewart’s Original Hot Dogs. More about the Burger Chef chain if you’re interested:
http://agilitynut.com/eateries/bchef.html
From Huntington — Wright’s Men’s Store — still in business:
From Milton — the Blenko Glass Visitor Center, built in 1966. I didn’t have time to check out the museum inside. Incredible glass pieces and you can watch them being produced. The video on the lower left at this page shows a bit of that:
http://www.blenko.com/Photo_Album.php
Also in Huntington — I love these big Sunoco signs….
… this station also had an unusual concrete building. Never seen one like this before. Some of it might be updated (the pushed-out window on the left; maybe the brick glass) but I’m still intrigued by it:
The light ran out in Parkersburg. Here’s a nice Masonic Temple sign to close out the batch:
And so, back to life here in the Big City. Here’s the view of Manhattan from my gym next door to my apartment. Lots of sun here today just to torture me about the grey I had on my trip. Some of you might spot the Chrysler Building, the Citicorp Center Building (now Citigroup), and the Williamsburg Bridge if you click to the larger view:
The next “real” trip starts in just over four weeks: April 26 – June 1. The dogs and I will be taking on west Texas, New Mexico and Arizona — with some stops in other states to & from. As usual, I’ll be blogging and posting to Flickr nightly. So I hope you’ll enjoy tagging along.
In case you missed them, I posted a handful of photos each night during this trip over at Flickr:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/agilitynut/
Or, if you just discovered this blog, you might want to check out my website which is the reason for all these obsessive trips:
http://www.agilitynut.com/roadside.html








March 27, 2012 at 2:12 pm
Probably mass air flow sensor. Glad you got home ok, looking forward to the pictures from your next trip.
March 27, 2012 at 3:21 pm
That’s IT! Mass air flow sensor. I’ve never heard of this thing til today. There sure are a lot of sensors inside Sparkle. I guess I’ve never had such a modern car before. Much, much more to come this spring.
March 27, 2012 at 4:01 pm
So excited about Sparkle!!
March 27, 2012 at 7:29 pm
Because she’s getting fixed? Because I’m committed to her for years to come?
March 27, 2012 at 7:02 pm
…enjoying
March 27, 2012 at 10:27 pm
i am looking forward to your West Texas trip. i was born and raised there. good luck
March 27, 2012 at 10:37 pm
Thanks! I did a LOT of shooting in Texas last spring. You might want to see what I’ve got at my website already:
http://www.agilitynut.com/roadside.html
What I post to the blog is really just the “lesser” stuff — and only a fraction of the volume that’s at the website. But if you like the blog format, you might want to check out the roadsidenut Flickr stream which has duplicate photos from the blog and links to the blog posts in the captions under the photos. Here’s the TX set:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/roadsidenut/sets/72157602172587600/
March 29, 2012 at 2:38 pm
Happy to read you again, please continue.
A french follower.
March 29, 2012 at 3:14 pm
Thanks! See you in four weeks for a really big trip to the Southwest.
March 30, 2012 at 2:04 pm
Debra Jane– I missed your mini trip, but weirdly enough I was doing research last weekend on Charleston, WV and the 1949 Woolworth fire. Which led me to driving up and down the streets via Google Street View. I must have been getting strong West Virginia vibes from you!
I am glad as always that you made it home okay, and I am really looking forward to following your Big Trip Out West in late April!
March 30, 2012 at 3:26 pm
How strange is that! I hadn’t heard of the Charleston fire before — saw the video & such on-line just now. Very sad. I assume the building was demolished? I’m always on the prowl for former Woolworths.
I’m really looking forward to this trip. Always good to have you on-board! We’ll get out to SoCal one of these years soon. Hopefully, next year.
March 30, 2012 at 4:45 pm
If you make it out to SoCal again, send me an email, I’d love to meet you and the pups in person! In addition to frustratingly long traffic lights, we have many nice dog parks in Orange County.
Amazingly, the Woolworth building in Charleston was NOT demolished. It was repaired and is still there, a plaque on the building honors the 7 firefighters who died battling the inferno. It was a Rite-Aid in the 1970s.
March 30, 2012 at 8:33 pm
Poking around online, it sounds like the Woolworth was “rebuilt”. Google Maps shows what appears to be some of the building — so I’m not sure if it was entirely rebuilt.
I will definitely give you lots of notice & hook up with you when we get out your way. I remember the Huntington Beach doggie beach being a hit last time.
April 1, 2012 at 12:11 am
wait you go to the gym?!?
April 1, 2012 at 6:41 am
Uh, huh. For about a month now. I hate it — but it’s gotta be. Treadmill, the bike, the machines, all that. Just about every day. No agility, no stairs at the new apt., and eating crap at work — I was really starting to pack it on. And I’m not getting any younger. It’s a huge sacrifice of time (an hour a day) but I am feeling better and starting to see changes.
April 7, 2012 at 1:39 am
wow. i’m sort of shocked but good for you. the job can be a killer like that. it’s amazing you can fit it into your day given how busy you are…. more again to be inspired by the mighty debra jane! xox
April 7, 2012 at 6:41 am
Well, an hour a day, six hours a week (can’t squeeze it in on Saturdays cuz of work) is a lot to give up — but I’m thinking might eventually lead to living a few years longer? And hopefully those years at the end of my life will be MINE where I won’t be working for The Man so they will be more productive.