Friday July 15, 2011

In front of the visitor's center

Today we drove to Milton, WV to visit a glass factory, Milton is about 30 miles west of Charleston, it is the home of Blenko Glass.  Blenko an old company and one of the few glass makers remaining in West Virginia.  Even though they are still open they have filed Chapter 11 Bankruptcy in an attempt to survive.  Many glass factories were established in West Virginia in the late 1800's, the main attractions were the quality and quantity of the sand and the availability of cheap natural gas to fire the furnaces.  Now, like many companies, they can't compete with the Chinese.  Glenna and Gerri bought some small knick-knacks and Gerri went to the observation area for awhile, the craftsmen were demonstrating vase making.

Making a vase

When we left the Blenko factory, I checked the GPSR for nearby RV Parks.  We really like Rippling Waters and it is a beautiful place, but the 25 mile drive into Charleston gets tiring. There are several in Huntington and further west along I-64.  The GPSR showed a RV Park/campground in Charleston called the New River Campground.  I called the number and asked if they could handle 42 foot motorhomes, the answer was yes.  We drove to the address on Campbell Creek Drive Which is only a few miles from cousin Eddie's house.  We found the address but no campground or RV Park,

Mistakes?

I tried calling again but service was bad and then I got a recording to leave a message.  When we got to a computer at Ed's, I looked up the New River Campground.  It turns out that the campground is on the New River in Gauley Bridge, WV, 40-50 miles from Charleston.  It seems the question I should have asked on my first phone call was,"Where are you located?"  It turns out that the address on Campbell's Creek is the Paralyzed Veterans office.  They own the park and that is the address that takes reservations, not the address of the park itself.  The Gremlin, err Garman, strikes again.  This isn't the first time the GPSR led us to the wrong place.  Trust them at your own peril.  We have encountered several RV parks whose website warns not to follow the GPSR and give driving instructions of their own.
Our plans for the evening were to attend a dinner at the Elk's Lodge with other classmates.  This dinner was an optional prelude the the Charleston High School '50's Picnic.  There were only about 30 people in attendance, the picnic itself should have about 200. 
Ed and Lottie had taken Glenna to dinner.  After our dinner we picked her up and returned to Rippling Waters.
Gerri has more pictures posted on her Face Book page,