Coronavirus Crazy Trip Day 3 - Home (already)

Weston, WV to Home:  334.2 Miles

I woke again to a sticky hotel room.  I'm not sure why since the air conditioner was running all night, but everything felt damp.  No matter - it was time to leave.

We got ready and were out the door by 6:10AM.  We wanted to take advantage of the cooler weather; mornings are always the best.  I was prepared for it to still be a bit dark but it was also foggy.  The fog persisted, but decreased, throughout the morning.  I decided to skip any interesting roads and just make tracks for home, taking the interstate up to US50 before heading west.  Much like two days previous, traffic was negligible, but there was a bit more truck traffic.

It was a pretty morning.

And I let my mind wander.  Not that I don't have opportunities to do this during my normal routine - walking the dog, riding the bicycle, even commuting.  But it isn't the same.  

I really did need a road trip.  And golly did the mind wander, maybe making up for lost time.

It usually takes at least a day on the road to mentally get rid of the normal troubles of work and home.  That coupled with the late start and heat made the trip to West Virginia a bit more of a struggle.

The trip home started early morning (as it should), temperatures were very pleasant (even with the dampness) and even the scenery looked better.  Time passed quickly.  The dull headache I've had for at least a week subsided.  I was where I needed to be.  Compared to the last few months, it was a perfect morning.

What I realized is this was the first time since March when things felt normal.  No coronavirus, no crazy work schedules; I was on the road where I belong.  I didn't want to go home.  I wanted to turn and go another direction, any direction.  But this was all BS too.  As much as I might want to head to some distant arbitrary location, an extended road trip right now would not be the same as it was last summer.  All those little things that make road trips are either missing or unrecognizably altered.  I'd miss finding some local restaurant and not even question whether it was the right place to eat a greasy cheeseburger for lunch.  I'd miss walking too far in the early evening to eat a steak somewhere.  I'd miss finding some local novelty to look at, simply because I'm there.  I'd miss free hotel waffles saturated in cheap syrup.  I could end up a slave to hotel rooms.  As much as I felt normal on the road, I knew it wasn't.

We crossed the Ohio River into Ohio.  The day was starting to warm slightly and dry out.

My mind continued to wander.  I found it too coincidental that after touring a defunct asylum, I questioned my sanity for what the present pandemic might be doing.  And I wondered how many other people are going about the day-to-day routine in a similar state - thinking everything is fine but knowing normal is still a long way off.

It started to get dramatically warmer as we got closer to home.  We made our way to SO's work and I dropped her off at her car to get the beagles.  I continued on familiar roads toward home, resisting the urge - for now - to turn the handlebars in another direction.

Coronavirus Crazy Trip Day 2 - Discover The Trans-Allegheny Lunatic Asylum

It was a fitful night of sleep, but at least the noisy air conditioner supplied some white noise.  Everything felt sticky in the morning - mostly due to the leftover greasiness of the hot previous day on the bike.  Due to coronavirus, we decided not to take part in the gratis hotel breakfast (grab and go only anyway) and ate Pop-Tarts in the room.  With ample time to get ready, I was slightly over-caffeinated by the time we left to go to the Trans-Allegheny Lunatic Asylum.

We got there a bit early to get some pictures, but even from the road in front of it, it was hard to get good pictures since the main building is so sprawling.  It does cut an imposing view.

We met one of the owners and she took our temperature as a coronavirus precaution.  She said the previous week there was a couple who were sent away with high temperatures.  There was a tented area where we could wait.  Soon enough other tour goers started showing up for the Discover the Asylum tour which are the only tours they do on the day they have them and they last five hours plus lunch.  Gregg and Amy where the guides as they split us into two groups.  I was surprised how many near-local people where there and how many had taken previous tours - a few people many tours.

The tour started with a bit of background - notably there used to be approximately 300 similar hospitals, and the Trans-Allegheny is one of the few left largely intact.

We started with Amy as she led us through several wards.  Having toured several prisons before (here, here and here), overall the asylum was a little less imposing, but still bleak and restrictive.  I won't walk through the whole tour, but here are some highlights.

Nothing like Home Sweet Home.

Most of the wards looked like this.

Several areas also had large rooms.  These were used for various things over the years including recreation, large housing rooms, etc.

Several areas had patient art present.  The scary thing here is that I could almost see this on a wall at work...

I would occasionally break away a bit and see what else was around.  This scene was almost too eerie.  Which brings up one thing about the tour - it focused a bit too much on the paranormal stuff.  Not that this can't be interesting, but I was hoping for a bit more history.  It was only late in the day when it became evident how sketchy some of the history is with incomplete and/or inconsistent records.

Many areas of the asylum were uncomfortably jail like.  But if we were to look at a Venn diagram of mental illness and prisons, there would be much overlap ... on several levels.

Another ward hallway.

How restrictive the environment was is evident through the tour.

Another ward hallway.  Amy spent some time talking about the many trans-orbital lobotomies that were done at the asylum.  The affects of this can be restorative, but "success" was a sliding scale and likely rare.  What is unbelievably sad is that some people asked for this procedure as the living hell of mental illness could be brutal (hopefully we've progressed at least some since then).

Some of the central part of the main building is being restored.  The work appears well done and much of the decor is period appropriate - if mixed - for a facility that was in use for so long.

This was part of the Doctor's quarters.

The view from the Doctor's quarters was commanding.  

The asylum also had office areas.  What they are hoping for eventually is a mix of unrestored and restored areas.  Having walked through much of the facility, my guess is that complete restoration would probably be impossible in a lifetime.

There were several areas set up to confine patients either for their own, or others safety.  Probably both.

Although this looked a little more brutal.

They also had one ward area restored.  This does look almost pleasant compared to the decayed part of the asylum.  It is easier to imagine how this facility really was designed to help people and the difference to a prison is more evident.

While the rooms may not be pleasant, compared to what else was available at the time (restored to look like the 1910s), it probably was.

If you listened to the Lore podcast - this is Lily's room.  I wasn't sure what to make of the kid's toys (props?).  Draw your own conclusions.

Walking between buildings is interesting just to look at the differences in construction with age.

We opted for the box lunch which was pretty good and a much better option than driving somewhere to eat. 

Then it was time to tour some of the other buildings.  We started with the Auxiliary Women's Building.  From the outside it looks ok.

Once inside, I was surprised they let us in.  But to be honest, I'm glad they did.  Some of the opportunities for photography were too good to pass up.

This building had one of the few elevators in the facility.

But I think I'll take the stairs.

There were many, many bathrooms through the tour.  Most of them have only little in the way of privacy.  This has to be the worst though.

The Criminally Insane building was designed to be escape proof.  And while more solid than the main building, it was apparently escaped from many times.  It is definitely much more ... almost soviet bloc looking.

The door to the building was quite stuck and guide Amy had a hard time getting the door open.  I helped by jiggling the key while pressing the door and got it to turn and Amy wrenched it open.  I joked that nothing was going to keep me out of the Criminally Insane Building - while most residents would have said the opposite.

The building inside is in fairly good condition.  The visiting area definitely looks more prison-like (with good reason).

And here we all are dutifully wearing our masks.  Which does need to be talked about in this time of coronavirus.  Social distancing was difficult, but I was surprised how well everyone did with masks - even the younger kids.  While I may have sort of questioned the absolute safety, I never felt uncomfortable with it in its entirety.

This guy showed up.  So either it was an insane deer, or the overall area has gone through a Renaissance of sorts over the years.

Then it was on to the medical building.  This was the building that I did find quite creepy.  I was surprised that Gregg said it was used not only for patients of the asylum, but as a hospital for others in the area.  A few of us joked that we would have opted to pass on any treatment.

Yes, there was a morgue.  By records, there are about 1900 people buried on the property - in reality it is probably much more.

The remnants of an old steam autoclave for surgery.  In this context - it is horrifying.

We were allowed to go to the second floor of the Medical Building as well.  Condition was not good, but not as bad as this picture appears.  But water damage is considerable.

I was interested in how different wards had remnants of their use.  Almost all the hospital rooms had these same cheap hook/shelves.  I can only assume they were made on-site and possibly by patients.

As the tour wound down, we worked our way back to the tent.  Thunder and lightning shook the area, bringing an almost surreal end to the tour.

I first heard about the Trans-Allegheny Lunatic Asylum about five years ago.  I'm not glad the current coronavirus pandemic has killed most travel, but I am glad I've used it as a reason (or excuse) to tour the asylum.  Overall, the tour was really interesting and a great photography opportunity.  In hindsight, and especially with such a long history, some context around 150 years of defining and treating mental illness would have been interesting.  It wasn't that it wasn't included at times, but it wasn't cohesive.

Even though the tour was a bit light on history, heavy on paranormal stuff, I probably would have been left wishing I could see more by one of the shorter tours.  The Discover the Asylum tour is done with experienced guides and it showed - both Amy and Gregg were fantastic.

Putting on our motorcycle gear was not something I wanted to do, but with rain still threatening, there wasn't any choice.  Thankfully, we made it back to the hotel just a few minutes before the rain really started.

Once the rain let up, dinner was take-out from Sheetz from across the street.  It was ready speedy-fast and quite good.

Coronavirus Crazy Trip Day 1 - Hot! Like Really Hot...

Normally I'm in super-planning mode right before a motorcycle trip, but for many reasons I wasn't for this one.  First - it is going to be short.  Leaving mid-day Sunday is weird and means no scrambling in the morning.  The weather forecast is less than ideal.  It is going to be bonkers hot, with the potential for summer thunderstorms.  But mostly ... "probably because you are worrying about everything we need to worry about once we get there," SO says.

I'm good at rationalizing though.  We aren't going to Florida; we're going to an area that on a per capita basis has 20% of the infection rate of our home county.  And as I keep saying, we need to learn to live with this thing.  I guess I just need to believe that.

Day 1:  Home to Weston, West Virginia, 332.1 miles

Sunday started out fairly typical, but after walking a dog around the block, there was too much time to do nothing, but not enough time to do anything.  So I bounced around the walls a bit; we couldn't drop the dogs off in beagle jail until noon.  Our normal kenneling place doesn't have Sunday drop-offs, so we were trying another place.  Since it was only for two days, we went top shelf and got them a penthouse for their stay.  Not that I think the dogs give an eff about the water feature (outside their cage), but it does give them extra walks.  We've only kenneled Tibbit once before, and she does need exercise. 

Eventually it was time to leave.  SO left with the dogs and I finished buttoning up the house.  The plan was to meet at SO's work to drop off her car since the kennel is in the same general area.  

I got to SO's work and waited for her.  It was already stifling hot with humidity to match.

SO got there and said the dog drop-off went well.  She got on her motorcycle gear and we were off.

It took a bit to get around the Cincinnati interstate before getting off on OH-32.  It only takes a few miles to go from suburbs to exurbs to rural.  Once in the rural area, traffic was non-existent for most of the rest of the day.

We worked our way east with the terrain becoming more and more Appalachian.  I checked the temperature a few times through the day and it averaged around 95F with a high of 98F.  I've been desperate for a road trip, so I was enjoying it.  But this kind of heat and humidity is challenging - both physically and mentally.  The less-than-ideal conditions did take my mind off the fact that we were traveling during a pandemic.  When my mind did wander in that direction, it was at least comforting to know that the infection rate was low in the area we were traveling to and through.

I noted the road toward Bethel, Ohio which oddly for a few days became central to the Black Lives Matter movement.  It also proved the rule that there is no invasion without a counter-invasion.  

My odometer rolled into a milestone of sorts.  Going to a lunatic asylum during a pandemic and hitting an evil mileage seems like a bad combination.

Running low on gas, we stopped east of Athens.  I think I chose the bro-truckiest place I have ever stopped at.  It was lousy with diesel bro-trucks and all of them ran like crap despite appearing relatively new.  Maybe I just don't understand.

We joined up with US50 and continued east.  I was enjoying the lack of any traffic.  We crossed the Ohio River at Parkersburg, West Virginia.  Looking down at the water, I was thinking it looked cool and inviting and muddy.

The scenery was pretty through the day and it got prettier in West Virginia ... to a point.  It seemed every rolling valley or quaint holler had some derelict mill or other industrial cast-off in it.  Or perhaps the heat and lack of food was starting to make me have difficulty seeing the areas own specialness.  We were headed hundreds of miles away to tour a derelict asylum so I guess I can't be too judgmental.

We got off US50 and took back roads for the last hour or so.  I was really hot and tired but it was still probably worth it.  The trees were our friends and in many ways it reminded me of our very first motorcycle trip to West Virginia so many, many years ago.

We got to Weston and ended up driving right past the Trans-Allegheny Lunatic Asylum.  The building was impressive to say the least.  I definitely want to get there early in the morning to get some pictures.  I thought about stopping, but more than anything I wanted something to drink, air conditioning and something to eat - in that order.

We got to our hotel and SO checked us in.  I got my phone out and noted about 18,534 alerts from the new video surveillance system I recently installed.  Apparently high winds and hail will set it off - quite the thunderboomer had gone through at home.

Our room was nice enough.  I started to think about coronavirus again.  As of the previous day, all of Lewis County had 25 confirmed infections, so I shouldn't fret too much.  Right?

Normally we would have gone to eat at the steak place down the street.  But I walked down the road to get drinks and take-out subway instead.  If nothing else, coronavirus helps us save money.  I got drinks and a Dollar Tree since it was one of the only close places.  My bank recognized it as an unusual purchase and denied the sale.  Having a card denied at Dollar Tree is a pretty solid way to feel low rent.

Back at the room, the subway was good.  The cookies were good.  A crazy adventure during a pandemic was good.

Coronavirus Crazy Trip Day T-1 Week

I think the coronavirus is making me crazy.  There is a lot of noise in my head.  I wish I was kidding.

I want things back the way they were ... before March.  But I also know that this attitude is partly responsible for making the situation worse.

After getting back from hog hunting in January, I had started planning three spring/summer trips.  One is still impossible - entry into Canada is verboten.  The other two are impractical.  I guess they aren't cancelled at this point, but have certainly been put on ice for an indeterminable amount of time.  Even with the company I work for allowing me to carry over more of my vacation into next year, it is still looking like I'll end the year swimming in vacation days.

About a month ago we finally got real internet access at home in the form of fiber directly into the home.  This has allowed us to get rid of our data-cap restricted cellular home service we had been using for most of the last decade.  Progress can be slow.  This has allowed me to start streaming TV.  I'm surprised at how much is available for free (meaning it still has ads which can't be skipped).  I'm too cheap to pay for TV - which is fine since this allows me to rewatch shows from the 1980's.  Some of these shows have brought back memories from then; as much as I like the shows, this isn't always pleasant.  It is interesting to hear the music from the 80's in that context and a bit humorous to see the 80's technology.

It is easy to sit at home on a weekend and think the world hasn't changed.  I live in a rural area, and my weekends are typically doing stuff around the house, walking dogs and riding the bicycle.  Most purchases recently have been on-line and SO has been doing most of the shopping.  Outside of work, this trip will be the first occasion to wear a mask for extended periods of time in public.  I went grocery shopping for the first time a week ago.  I felt myself judging people for not wearing a mask - I wasn't too proud of this.  I don't think treating people who choose not to wear a mask as if they are desperately trying to kill grandmothers is helpful or healthy.  I equally think that deciding to not wear a mask is an act of political fortitude is just as stupid.

I was somewhat mystified by the number of people wearing their masks inappropriately - not covering their nose, or around their neck.  If one is going to wear a mask - why do it half way?

But I'm selfish and I want things the way they were.  Even if masks only help a little bit - they are worth it.

So as it looked like the pandemic was coming under control several weeks ago SO and I decided to at least try a short trip.  I've wanted to go to the Trans-Allegheny Lunatic Asylum since I first read about it five years ago.  But it is an awkward distance from home to stop and tour en route to somewhere else.  I wasn't sure I was ready for an epic cross-country road trip during a global pandemic, but a short trip seemed like a good idea to test the waters.  Besides, one would have to be a lunatic to travel and do a tour during a time like this - the location felt right.

My own belief - which is all that it is - is that this virus will be around for quite some time.  We'll get initial vaccines which will kind of work, and we'll get treatments which kind of work.  But it will be years until things are under control.  Until then, we need to learn to live with this, and sitting at home for a few years really isn't an option.

The Trans-Allegheny Lunatic Asylum was built before/through/after the civil war.  It is said to be "the largest hand-cut stone masonry building in North America, and is purportedly the second largest in the world, next to the Kremlin."  Opened in 1864, it originally was for approximately 250 people, but in its heyday it held nearly 10 times that in conditions which were less than ideal.  I'd say inhumane, but that kind of reinterpretation of the past needs to be done with caution - especially when it originally opened it really was called a lunatic asylum - only later did its name get changed to Weston State Hospital.  It shut down in the mid-1990's and there have been a few attempts to use it profitably.

While I'm not sure I'm completely comfortable with this trip during an apparent resurgence of the coronavirus pandemic, money was spent so we are doing the 5-hour Discovery the Asylum tour.

There is a good podcast which gives some of the history of the asylum here (interesting even if one believes the paranormal part is BS).

(note that this podcast sent me down a rabbit hole of other episodes - so listen with caution)