Day 27, August 5: Indianapolis to Wheeling, WV

Another travel day. Again we left the distance short so we could make side trips. However, we caught up with a weather front that is moving East with a fair amount of rain. In addition, I've decided that I must have had a little something going on that was making be very tired the last couple of days. I had a low grade fever yesterday (and probably the day before) and have been very tired even with 8 hours or more of sleep. Fortunately, by mid-day today, I was beginning to feel much better.

We did take the side trip we had planned to the Longaberger Basket factory outlet. Keep in mind that, until a couple days ago, I had never heard of Longaberger. We went by their corporate headquarters in Newton, OH. Another piece of Americana. It was raining pretty good and we could not find a good place to pull off, but you can visualize it if you imagine a 5 story building sitting all by itself that looks like a basket with windows. Now imagine the handle of the basket soaring above the building. You can actually see the thing if you go to their web site. I think the "handle" was the most impressive thing to me.

We went on to their factory store and did some shopping there. They do have some nice baskets, but, so do the sweet grass weavers in Charleston, SC. I'm not real sure what makes the Longaberger basket so special unless it is the advertising.

From there we went on to Wheeling, WV. We have been through Wheeling several times in the past, but never went into the town. We are in an older Hampton on the National Road (US-40) just off I-70. We ate dinner across the street then walked up a few blocks to get a look at some of the old buildings in the area. There are lots of old (early 1900s?) houses and row houses that have been maintained very nicely. I'd like to take a bit of a drive about tomorrow to see more.

As tired as I was the last few nights, I am feeling much better now. We are, however, ready to get home. Another short 300 mile drive tomorrow and we will be home.