Country Roads in West Virginia

Listening to John Denver’s love song to West Virginia, “Take Me Home, Country Roads” and driving in West Virginia is just like heaven. A true happiness burst through from your soul.

No matter what the season as you enter West Virginia the sign says, “Welcome to West Virginia-Wild and Wonderful”. It is a wonderful state if you are looking for a peaceful outdoor vacation. It does have other items as well but the back country is so wild and wonderful.

The pictures are from a spring visit, where the mountain snow is melting but a fall visit have the leaf turning colors. A winter visit you have the trees striped to the bark and a summer visit is a bit dryer then spring. Each season is a different wonderful experience.

Each view of West Virginia is a bit different, wonderful, and unique. The roads are vary narrow in places with hair pin turns so watch out or better yet get someone else to drive so you can enjoy the view. Plus you never know when an animal might choose to walk across the street like a deer, a skunk, a bear and her cub, etc.

On each side of the vehicle, you can have a totally different view as most country roads are dug into the mountains. One side is looking down into the valley of trees, a field of cows, or a waterfall. But the other side is looking up into a forest without being able to see the sky, a wall of rocks with a small waterfall, or a field of farm land.

Or a creek following the road but also a home owner who is refusing to allow that same creek to take his home. They have a lot of DYI in West Virginia.

In West Virginia, you will also see several items of interest such as home made business advertisements. Signs in front of family homes for hair dresser, accountants, and other professions.

It feels like going home to Walton’s mountains for those of you that can remember that show. Wonderful cabins in the woods with a stream just to the left. But the freeway is actually only a few miles away.

You also see a lot of signs which say ‘Private Property’ and ‘No Hunting’. Best to keep off. Lots of churches line the way. But West Virginia is very patriotic and you will see US Flag in a least one person yard every mile or less.

In addition, if you are retired military and living in West Virginia before 2018, they had exempted the first 20K plus of your retired military pay for state income tax. As of January 1, 2018, all military retirement pay is except from state income tax. This is a great place to retire if you love the outdoors and your retired military.

You can also see a lot of bridges showing humans taming the landscape. In addition, West Virginia has no natural lakes. All the lakes in West Virginia are man made. But for having no natural lakes, West Virginia has lots of streams, river, and other waterways.

Another item you will see along the drive are different types of houses that look like a large mansion, a little bungalow, a ranch style, an English cottage, mobile home, or a log cabin. Or one was a art deco house that looked straight out of the 1960’s.

They can be right next to each other. There are not a lot of places that have the same house as the next door neighbor has. The age of each house can be decade or even a century older then each other. As well as the state of repair or disrepair as the case maybe. But Mother Nature is also very active in West Virginia. These houses are being taken back.

Take a ride through West Virginia’s country roads. They are beautiful and always peaceful to me. But remember to fill up your tank and get a drink and/or a snack. It can be miles between a gas station or a restaurant. But if you see a restaurant along side of the road and it has vehicles outside in the middle of no where…Stop. This place will have some of the best down home cooking you will ever have. Plus it is usually very inexpensive but you might be asked a lot of questions as the locals get to know you.

A tips about West Virginia Road trips. Lots of areas have little or no cell phone reception. If you are not with AT&T, then you have even less. So having a road map is a good thing in this state.