October 3, 2008 - More time visiting small cities in the mountains

I had to get one final oil change today. While the vehicle could go for a little while without an additional oil change, it would take at least 700+ miles to get home (since I'm not going the most efficient way). This is a minor detail but it will become important in one of the later blog postings.

I went back to the US 33 area to see more of the small cities. Ripley is very small but it's a city right off I-77 and is a county seat complete with a huge courthouse. There is lots of traffic going through. While driving around there, after stopping at a stop sign I turned onto US 33. The car suddenly stopped working, right on the road. The oil and the battery indicators were lighted on the dashboard. From the last bit of momentum of the car, I was able to get it into a parking lot. Otherwise, I likely would have been rear-ended. After turning off the car and restarting it, everything seemed to be fine. Something must be wrong with the computer system.

I headed further east on US 33 and went to Spencer again. After that, I visited Grantsville for a brief time. From there, I went back to US 33 and then went further east. There is a lot of beautiful mountain scenery along the stretch of US 33 between Grantsville and Weston. Unfortunately there is no place to pull over and take pictures. This is an area where you MUST pay attention while driving because the road twists and turns a lot. There are long stretches where there are no homes or civilization of any kind. As I got closer to Weston, there was a small city called Glenville. That sounded a bit familiar.


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Weston was a much more substantial city than what I was used to seeing along US 33. It was much bigger, with various chain stores, banks, gas stations, etc. Of course, it was right off I-79 so that would be expected.

After seeing a bit of Weston, I got on I-79 and headed up to Bruceton Mills. This is a "city" with a population of 74, but I had stopped there for dinner last spring as I headed into West Virginia. For the purposes of tradition, I stopped at the same place for dinner.

After dinner, I headed along I-68 through Western Maryland. I had to get to I-81 and head south from there. I would be back in West Virginia again, in the Eastern Panhandle. My hotel was in Martinsburg.


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The location of the hotel was a bit strange. It was a Comfort Suites hotel. The Choice Hotel brands (Comfort Inn, Quality Inn, Sleep Inn, Comfort Suites, Econo-Lodge, Rodeway Inn, etc.) are usually in business/shopping areas. This hotel was miles away from any business areas. It was in a primarily residential area at the corner of two rodes. But, the GOS got me there and that was the most important thing.