the Grabers: Leaving Virginia

After a short night and some coffee, my friend Ruth and I said our good-byes.

I know it wasn't easy for my friend to leave her dear friend Lorrie in Virginia, but she knew Wichita was "home".

The George P. Coleman Memorial bridge, which spans the York River between Glouchester Point and Yorktown, is the largest double-swing-span bridge in the United States, and the 2nd largest in the world.

It is too bad that we didn't have time to visit these historic places that were all so closeby!! Including Jamestown! But it is off season and Ruth needed to get to Wichita. And I needed to go to a women's conference at our church on Friday.

Allen and I will have to come here some day to see all these places! I love to learn about history! In high school I hated it! I got really bad grades. I've fallen in love with it though through reading historical fiction (usually based on real stories). We have many such books in our church library.

As we drove along, we could see icy trees in the higher elevations.

We drove higher and higher. Luckily the roads were clear.

More historical places to see - someday!

So beautiful!

You can see icicles hanging from the posts of the crosses.

We stopped to fill up with gas. There was a Wendy's attached to the gas station and we decided to have lunch. While we were eating, the lights shut off.

Teiden! 停電 (as we say it in Japanese)

The ice-storm had caused a power failure. They closed the gas station and the restaurant. The workers at the station were pulling all the refrigerated foods off the shelf.

We watched people pull up to the pumps only to realize they could not pump gas, so they'd have to drive elsewhere. We were glad we had already filled up! Wendy's was locked up too. They allowed us to stay and finish eating though.

It wasn't too dark in Wendy's as windows let in the light. Going to the restroom was interesting though. Luckily our phones have flashlights on them!