I've never heard of Duffield, Virginia

That's what a handful of old timers at my AA meeting in Salem, Virginia told us, when they asked where we were headed next. The gentleman sitting next to us on the couch quietly sat on his phone, while the other members murmured amongst themselves in an audible tone... 'I've lived here 78 years, I never heard of Duffield', while another person added 'I can't imagine where that would be' and someone else chimed in 'that's a new one to me and I've lived here all of my life.'

'Population 72. I found it on the google', proclaimed the elderly gentleman who was sitting next to me, then added 'no wonder why we'd never heard of it, only 72 people live there!' They asked why we chose that spot and we explained that it boils down to mathematics.

We prefer to travel around 250 miles a day, that way we have time to start our day with our morning routine of quiet time, coffee and breakfast. Then we leave by 10am to miss the morning commute - if there is one. We cruise down the highway and into our next campground well before dark. Again, missing any commuting traffic on the other end of the day, again if there is any. Doug drives the RV, since he has experience of driving 50' of rig. Fun Doug fact, back in the day, he used to haul fuel and later he chauffeured a couple for a ladies golf tournament in their RV.

We enjoy the balance of planning our home base but leaving exploration up in the air. We have reservations through the end of our trip. It's nice to have full hook ups; water, electricity and sewer. Then, we leave the rest to good ol' fashion exploring once we've arrived.

Those old timers in the meeting

weren't the only ones who didn't

know Duffield existed. We were

literally the only campers in our

half of the campground, for the

first 5 days! That allowed us to

have some peace and quiet,

along with access to the wooden

decks that surrounded the

neighboring yurts, for yoga.

It also gave me the nudge to break out my ukulele, while Doug played the drum that our friend, Dawn lent us. I sure do miss playing with our musically inclined friends at MBYC. Nevertheless, we had a good time.

As we took our daily walks to explore the rest of the campground, we only came upon 2-3 other campers on the other side. This was both impressive and a tad disturbing. Doug grinned and said, 'I don't hear any banjos, we're good.'

Speaking of banjos... I was drawn to go explore Cumberland, purely because Cumberland River is a song we play in our music group at MBYC. One of our friends Jim, is a talented musician who plays the banjo. This song has been known to stay with me, off and on for days after our weekly jam session. So one day, off we went to explore Cumberland, Kentucky.

I get to drive our beloved White Mouse and this drive did not disappoint. Curvy switchbacks all the way up to the top of Cumberland Gap and then back down the other side of the Appalachian mountains to Cumberland made for an interactive day of driving. The lack of guard rails and my deep love for life, caused me to lean to the dork side more than embracing my inner race car driver. Nevertheless, it was a thrill.

Once we were in Cumberland, we went to explore Port 31 - the coal mining museum. It was a small area yet full of interesting out buildings, signage explaining the history of them and a small museum that had equipment and uniforms along with ticket sales. We purchased our ticket from a young man who was from there. He had just returned home after serving in the military and is now in the reserves. He said the best food he had was at Camp Pendleton!

Then, we loaded into a train inspired mode of transportation, as if we were a bunch of coal in several small open carts lined up, except that we had benches to sit on. The same guy who sold us our tickets, was the person who escorted us through this old coal mine. It was well done with mannequins and an audio loop that played out the history of coal mining. It really brought it to life, we enjoyed it.

After a day of rest and relaxation and another day of light rain, we went to see the largest natural tunnel. It was adjacent to our campground and well worth the visit. In fact William Jennings Bryan called it the 8th wonder of the world.

It is 10 stories high and 850 feet long. There is a railroad track in it but they are cargo trains and they don't run on a schedule. Even though we lingered and paused, it was not our day to witness a train passing through there. I bet that would be cool to see!

We did come upon an old log cabin from the 1800's and my favorite part was a local dog that adopted us for the afternoon. He had a collar but no tags and would run between us and over to the nearby steep hillside. I think he was part goat, by the way he traversed the unfriendly limestone cliff, so I named him Billy. Then, when I thought he must have gone home (which maybe he did), voila - he was back in our midst!

As we approached our car to leave, I was worried that he might try to follow us onto the road. I told him it was time for him to go home and off he went through the woods, towards the only small neighborhood in sight. He probably does this on a daily basis. Living the dream! Which reminds me of another song we play, 'Trouts don't live in ugly places.'! Shall I pause while you add that to your playlist?!

That's about it for this chapter. We hope this blog finds you and your loved ones well. Next time, I'll catch you up on Park City, Kentucky - where we currently reside.

In a world where you can be anything....

Be Kind, Shari

PS, Thank you for all of your wonderful comments about our last blog 'Impermanence'. I was deeply touched by your warm messages and am grateful to have connected with you on this level. Life is precious and connection is vital for thriving. I love you all so much!

Also, I would like to make a correction, that we arrived to Salem, Virginia on October 29th, not November 29th. I am quite crafty with many things, but time travel isn't one of them!