Easy In, Easy Out

Linda Burton posting from Charleston, West Virginia – Remember the story I told you last July about the three ways to get to Juneau? The joke was “by boat, by plane, or by birth canal.” I’m reminded of Juneau as I gaze at hilltops from my window in Charleston; no wide-stretched valleys here; the hills are close, with houses perched on top and stair-stepped down the sides. Driveways are steep, unless you live riverside; roads are curved to follow the cut of the river, or the contour of the hills. So how many ways are there to get to Charleston, I asked myself, thinking of the freeway signs that give the choice of I-64, I-77, and I-79. I’ve seen a sign to Yeager Airport, another to the Amtrak station. I’ve heard freight trains, faintly, in the night, and seen barges loaded with coal floating down the river. My GPS has monotoned instructions directing me over three of the five bridges I believe are here; I’m not quite sure. It’s time to go exploring, I decided, and asked the bossy GPS to lead me to that airport. I’m curious to see – an airport on top of a mountain, how can that be? And why is it named “Yeager”? Is that Chuck Yeager, and was he born here? I drove down MacCorkle Avenue, crossed the 36^th Street Bridge, ramped onto an I-64/77 combo, risked my life to move three lanes right so I could Exit 99; turned right to Highway 114 and up the hill. A sign warned “Yield Ahead;” cut left (but yield, of course) for an ever steepening climb; I made it to the Quick Stop parking lot and pulled into a slot. By the end of the day, I’d have my answers, for sure. » read more