In the last installment I mentioned how Front Royal Virginia looked like a great place to spend the night. I can now explain the reason why we didn't do that & that's because we were approaching and planning on stopping in West Virginia's tiny Eastern Panhandle.

Since Isy had never been to West Virginia, I thought it was a great idea to spend the night here in the local big town of Martinsburg.

The first strike against Martinsburg came when all of the old motels in my GPS had disappeared. We punched in the Extend Inn and then found an empty lot on Race Street, we punched in the Kelly-Apple Motel, only to find it replaced with a Sheetz (Sheetz is like a Western Pennsylvania low-rent Wawa knockoff).

As it was getting dark and it looked like no reasonably-priced, old school motels remained in Martinsburg, we accepted that we were going to have to pay $112 for the Days Inn. And for that $112, we found a floor that was so dirty that I was confused with how I didn't remember walking outside barefoot - until I realized it was actually the filthy Days Inn.

A funny thing is that just a few months back in Cancun, one of my friends was talking about the high cost of vacationing and stated, "well you know, (friend's wife's name) doesn't stay at the Days Inn" - which made me go home and tell Isy that I appreciate her staying in places worse than the Days Inn. This has also led to whenever she suggests staying anywhere equivalent to a Days Inn or better, to having me interrupt with, "woah, woah, woah, easy now (friend's wife's name), we don't live that high on the hog " LOL.

If you're reading this and feeling bad, remember that for one night in Martinsburg, Isy was upgraded to the Days Inn.

(...even if it was one with floors like an auto shop.)

Strike two against Martinsburg came as we waited forever at Wal-Mart when Isy needed some things. At least she got a good taste of the local West Virginia flavour as people in line were arguing about baby mama drama and whatever else.

As that ate up even more time, and we were at the Days Inn in Martinsburg instead of at a rad motel back in Front Royal, I wasn't going to also screw up dinner. Isy was fine with the Mexican joint next door along the interstate, but I wanted Bob's Carry Out - the local institution right in a neighbourhood in the heart of Martinsburg.

Going inside to order the Mexican Pizza which is Bob's specialty, it was going to be 15 minutes, so I left to walk around the surrounding area and eat up all of this West Virginia goodness. In life I want so much more time to walk around New York, Pennsylvania, West Virginia & Maryland; and here I was getting it.

Back at Bob's Carry Out, I walked in to find that they had forgot to make or start cooking my pizza. Jesus Christ.

That was okay though, as I was surrounded by wood grain and Hamm's/Olde English signs. This place was totally out of a movie and whatever, surely they would now rush my taco pizza.

They didn't rush my taco pizza. I stood around in the store for even longer & Isy later laughed at how she had decided against Bob's and it ended up being a mess.

My taco pizza was terrible too. I really loved the setting of Bob's, but man, the taco pizza must be an acquired Martinsburg taste or one of those things that people grow up with and savour nostalgically.

West Virginia is actually one of my least travelled states, where I've only been to 3 of the 55 counties via driving through Wheeling one time & visiting Morgantown another time.

The Berkeley County Courthouse was my first courthouse visited in West Virginia.

I was excited to ride the Martinsburg skatepark not because it's the most amazing collection of embankments and handrails, but because I'd read the history in some guy's review of the place and thought it was pretty neat.

Apparently this is a DIY spot skateboarders built, and with the number of Brownfields - previously developed land that may be contaminated - from old textile plants that've long left Martinsburg, the city quickly went ahead and approved the DIY skatepark use of the building foundation as it knew that it was good for Martinsburg.

Except that's not really the story.

Martinsburg used to have an indoor skatepark, but that closed in 2013 when they couldn't pay the rent on said building. The Martinsburg DIY was then created here on the foundation of the old Thorn Lumber Company. And while the city might be fine with the DIY skatepark in the meantime, their 2018 Comprehensive Plan lists five major Brownfields here in Martinsburg as Target Development Areas, with hopeful plans for each.

Here at the Thorn Lumber Company parcel, the city hopes to create green space, as well as build a strip mall-style plaza. There is no mention of the skatepark or any plan for a different Martinsburg skatepark.

Another of the Brownfields listed is the old Matthews Foundry, a collection of historic structures with some buildings dating back to at least 1851.

I could have went for a further look around the Matthews Foundry, but I was already running late getting back to the Days Inn. Thankfully, it doesn't seem like the Matthews Foundry will be leveled, but instead is already on its way to restoration.

Back at the Days Inn, we once again packed up all of our belongings and threw them and the dog back in the Jeep Patriot. At that point, something caught my eye and I bent down to notice a parting gift from the dirt lot I bombed through at the old Matthews Foundry - a shiny screw, now lodged into the sidewall of my car's tire.

Eddie's Tire had a handful of good reviews and sure enough, they made time for us & had us back on the road within 30 minutes. Make sure to head to them for all your Martinsburg tire needs.

Rewinding a bit, as we were sitting outside waiting for the tire to get fixed, a man came over, pointed at our Newfoundland & Labrador license plate and told us he was stationed in Goose Bay with the American Forces. How neat! And probably neat for him too as I don't know how many NL license plates he sees in West Virginia's Eastern Panhandle.

Leaving Martinsburg, we reached Maryland in no time and the plan today was to stop and explore one of the cities around here like Hagerstown or Frederick. Ever since I drove with Chad & Kyla through Western Maryland back in 2010, I've wanted to get back to these gritty cities with so many stone & brick buildings, set upon foothills, with every street and highway weaving up, down & around.

Today would be the seat of Washington County: Hagerstown.

Situated between the Blue Ridge and Allegheny Mountains, Hagerstown is in the Cumberland Valley, part of the Greater Appalachian Valley. The town is underlain by stone ridges made up of upper Stonehenge limestone, which was easily quarried and became the building material of many of Hagerstown's early churches.

The limestone building you see in the above photo is the Antietam Fire Hall, constructed in 1895.

I would have loved to walk around Hagerstown for hours, but it was already in the mid-30s temperature-wise (~95°F) and we also needed to keep moving. We skipped a stop at the Frederick skatepark as well, deciding instead to head right into Baltimore.

I definitely didn't get enough Hagerstown and I'll be back. Today's walk did nothing but reinforce my opinion that these towns in Western Maryland are some of the prettiest in North America.

Following my GPS into Baltimore, the I-70 had signs that it was ending up ahead and then abruptly ended at a park and ride surrounded by woods. Continuing to follow the GPS instructions, we pulled onto a winding road through a sprawling, woodland park.

Apparently this was Leakin Park, which some of you may know from The Wire where detectives Bunk Moreland and Lester Freamon go out to Leakin to look for a body and Freamon remembers an old search where he was told to only look for the body he was looking for or else he'll be there all day. Due to its proximity to some of Baltimore's worst neighbourhoods and its feeling of remoteness, Leakin Park has become a common dumping ground and 79 bodies have been found there since 1946.

Anyway, I knew none of this at the time and simply thought going through this park was a peculiar way to reach downtown Baltimore. I half-wished we had a bit more time to get out of the car and explore some of the trails.

Eventually reaching downtown, we couldn't have asked for better accommodations - extremely cheap for the Inner Harbor ($81 USD), clean, modern, and we could leave the dog in the room unattended. I think the hotel might make their money with their valet service, but my research had already sniffed that racket out & I had a nearby garage marked in the GPS. I even knew to wait 3 minutes from 2:57 until it was 3:00 to get the cheap, weekend parking rate.

I went for a short walk near our hotel & found a seedy strip of adult entertainment. This was Baltimore's The Block, which is the couple of blocks of these businesses that every American city used to have, except Baltimore has still hung on to theirs to some extent. I wanted pictures of the neon signs and blunt signage, but it seemed like every strip club and sex shop had like 5 shady dudes standing out front just surveying the scene.

There was a great looking dive bar at the end of the strip too, although I just couldn't force myself to go inside. So I kept walking, making a left, then another left, then another, until I came back around and determinedly went inside (that is, after one more hesitant circle of the block). There ended up being only one other person inside and the only interaction I had was the bartender, who said little as he took my request for a beer, haha.

Back at the Red Lion Hotel, I loved the room they put us in. It was far away from the elevators, over in a strange corner with very few other rooms around. We'd never stayed in a hotel where they simply let you leave the dog in the room, and knowing that he can bark at random noises, I was hopeful that this isolation would help.

Whatever though, it was time to head off to the Orioles game to watch my beloved birds take on the Cleveland Indians!

As I've now been to Camden Yards three times, I didn't bring my real camera & didn't worry too much about capturing the ballpark.

Instead, Isy and I lounged in our fantastic seats, spread out into the emptiness around us, and dug into things like delicious Mexican street corn. Later on, when I was bringing back a drink tray with two drinks, two dogs and a pretzel, some guy declared, "how much did that cost, forget your girlfriend, I'll sit with you" followed by laughter.

Isy was initially worried about leaving the dog for 9 innings of baseball (roughly 3 hours), so the plan at points was to buy 3 tickets so I could leave and accompany her back to the hotel, because I didn't think it was the best idea to walk back alone in Baltimore.

Thankfully the game was a quick one, and coupled with the relaxation in what had now become a comfortably gorgeous Maryland evening, Isy decided that the dog was fine and she could hang around for all 9 innings.

So we took selfies in the free bucket hats that we got from today's giveaway, while also loving that my Orioles - who had lost 13 of their last 14 - were somehow dismantling Cleveland by a score of 13-0.

We had to get going the next morning, so there wasn't time for a night cap at one of the nearby enticing bars, or time for what I imagine were enticing breakfast places to Isy.

Loading up everything from my bike to the dog's food, we brought it down to the lobby & I went to grab the car. Finding a nearby spot with 15 minute parking since the valet blocked the front of the hotel, it's with worrying about getting my car towed that as we returned with our stuff, I ignored my worries about this large, muscular, mentally-unstable man moving aggressively and muttering to himself - after all, both Isy and I were loaded down like mules at this point, just wanting to get our stuff to the car.

Kingsley then subtly sniffed the air in the man's direction and the man immediately turned and yelled "get that fucking dog away from me! I'm going to eat him!"

Okay, okay, this wasn't worth avoiding inconvenience and instead we turned around and made a straight line back to the hotel. Giving it a few moments for that man who was clearly a cat person to move along, I instead went and grabbed the car and we just parked in the valet's area to load 'er up.

Driving all the way down to Virginia & Maryland, we squeezed as much as we could into those days and then rushed home afterwards. It would always be easier for us to see Connecticut lighthouses or Cape Cod another time.

About the only thing we'd stop for was one last dose of Wawa while passing through New Jersey. It had to be done.

In Maine, I'd looked up a campground to avoid the abhorrent motel/hotel costs around the beach towns and upscale coastal cities of southern Maine. Looking at my GPS, I laughed at how our campground tonight was only 2.5 miles from the KOA where I'd camped previously.

Anyway, there'd been scattered thunderstorms while we were getting gas and also when we crossed the state line. They weren't anything too crazy though.

So we reached Bradbury Mountain State Park, set up the tent, then decided to relax with a few drinks and card games. Leaving to go to the washroom, sometimes when I'm drinking I do this thing where I don't really register clear and present dangers - things like stepping out of a tent into water that goes over my shoe. Ignoring the depth of this water and returning to the card game, it wasn't until Isy had to step out that she saw the water now almost cresting the front lip of our tent's entryway. She let me know that the tent apparently needed to be moved!

First up was a fight with the dog who hates water and was tired from the day's travel. Getting him out of the tent, we looked at things and discovered that we had put the tent in the tiniest little divot, which was enough in these rainstorms to trap a lot of water and almost flood us out. Scooting the tent over with each of us picking up one end, we were able to get it over to ground that was relatively dry.

I was happy to retreat back into the tent and escape the rain, especially as I was bare-chested and shoeless out in the Maine night.

Another reason we needed to race up from Maryland was because we had plans to spend Saturday night at my friend Christian's in Charlottetown.

Trying to hurry along to catch him before dinner, we made it in time and ordered delicious Afghan food. The dog obviously wanted some, but he only gets low-fat kibble.

And then I dropped a perfectly placed QUINOA on them, right into the six-letter spot that would hit the triple letter score.

Much to my amusement, neither my partner or my good friend were pleased.

Sunday would come but we had a night ferry. Eating an elaborate breakfast and listening to some music afterwards, of course I had one drink with Christian, but then Isy was concerned when I went for a second.

"Well, I thought maybe you could drive to the ferry so I could have a few last drinks with my friend?" I gently replied.

Christian then asked about the division of driving on the trip. It hadn't even occurred to me at this point, but Isy had to admit that she hadn't drove at all since Corner Brook. Not the 2.5 hours to Port-aux-Basques, not the 8.5 hours to Wesley Maine, the 12 hours to New Jersey, 2 hours to the Delaware ferry, the hours around Chesapeake Bay, around D.C., out around the Blue Ridge Mountains, or Western Maryland, or Baltimore, and not the 11 hours back up to Southern Maine, or the 8 hours up to P.E.I..

"You haven't drove at all!?!?" Christian exclaimed. "Isy! Oh my god!"

And with that it was sealed, haha. Christian and I kept on the sauce until we eventually left Charlottetown and I asked Isy if she could also stop for a Hot N' Ready, haha.

Was the trip worth it? Was it worth driving two days to get down to lands that were unfamiliar?

I think so. It would have been a home run if we had a few more days down in Maryland & VA, but we still hold this trip in high regards to this day. And with a dog who doesn't go in airplanes and Isy's desire to keep seeing new states, we're probably going to be back at this soon enough. I guess the only change would be that I'm going to keep driving once I hit Maine, to utilize driving at night to pass through the busier places.

Anyway, thanks for reading as always.

And oh yeah, another bonus of driving?

Being able to bring back a bunch of Natty Bohs from Baltimore.