What I did last summer
Nearly a year has gone by since I took a weekend vacation and made a side trip to visit West Virginia’s star attraction. I made this stop on my way back from going to Cedar Point last June. Last year, Coastermania, which is that park’s annual roller coaster enthusiast event, was held on June the 7th. Earlier this year, I tried to get a ticket for this year’s Coastermania (which was held yesterday). I wasn’t able to get a ticket as the event sold out in about 15 minutes. Normally it takes a few days to sell out. I was very disappointed, but not so much now that I found out that neither of the park’s newest roller coasters would be open for the event. Later this summer a friend and I do plan to attend Cedar Point and hopefully both of those rides will be up and running by then. The old saying that “the second mouse gets the cheese” might just apply in this situation! It may seem that my inability to score a Coastermania ticket might end up paying off…
So then, last year, once Coastermania was over, I had decided to take that one day detour on the way back home. This side trip would take me south thru Ohio and into the center of West Virginia by way of Interstate 77 and then onto Interstate 64 before ending at Route 19. I was headed for the tiny town of Fayetteville, which is the nearest developed area to the focal point of this trip. But on the way, as I was still in southern Ohio and driving along route 77, I came upon a most ominous and disturbing sight. This would turn out to be something that would bother me for a long time afterwards.
The Saturday after Coastermania was just to be a driving day, and we traveled about five hours to get to our hotel near Fayetteville. Sunday would be the day that I would find myself facing something truly epic. And not only would I face it, I also had a reservation to explore it on foot, high above the river that it spans. But I was afraid that the incident on Interstate 77 would haunt me, especially considering the history of the site I was to visit.