Today was totally removed from the rally location at the State Fairgrounds – The Cass Scenic Railroad tour to Bald Knob! Six of us left the fairgrounds in two vehicles and drove 1 ½ hours on winding West Virginia mountain roads – passing through the hometowns of Pear S. Buck and Pocahontas, Civil War battle sites, and several State Parks. We arrived at the Cass Depot station which was constructed in the 1970’s to replace the 1923 depot, which had burned. Also on site (back in the heyday) was the storage area for finished lumbar produced by the Cass Mill which was built in 1902. It didn’t close until 1960 and produced 125,000 board feet of lumber per 11-hour shift! Arriving early we enjoyed a bit of time in the country store, the museum, and viewing a video about the railroad and town of Cass. Our train, mostly filled with Airstreamers from the International Rally, left the station at 11:30. As we boarded we picked up bottles of water and a sack lunch for the 5-hour round trip. Our destination of Bald Knob was at mile marker #11, and gave us a 30 minute stop to enjoy the scenic overlook and use the pit toilet facilities. It took us just under 3 hours to chug that 11 miles up the mountain -- the downhill trip was considerably faster, and took about half that time. Tom and I had to rush from the train station back to the Fairgrounds for the Opening Ceremonies where Tom would march in the NOVA Unit flag! Dressed in a blue beret (the official Wally Byam headgear) blue pants, white shirt, and red tie – he did NOVA proud! The ceremony concluded, and I hustled back to the Silvermine for a shower and to pay some much-needed attention to Charlie Button. Soon, we were joined by our other NOVA contingents as well as two NOVA couples that arrived just that day: Stephanie and Aaron, and Mark and Sharlene. NOVA ended the day by being represented by a total of 6 Airstreams!
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October 2021
We don’t go camping any more . . . we go ‘streamin’ ! The “SIlvermine and His” is our 2018 25' Airstream Serenity with Salsa interior and front twin beds., and ‘streamin’ is the name we use to describe our adventures. Stream along as we document everything from weekend trips to longer summer excursions and full-blown vacations. You know what they say: if you’re not in an Airstream – you’re just camping!
Tom & Ella Brown |