Joyce read some
years ago that visiting a covered bridge with a photographer could be
interesting....
After visiting the bridge and touring the countryside looking for iron mines and old houses, we pitched our tent and celebrated our 31st wedding anniversary (May 29,1971) ....
with a yummy dinner by candlelight. 
And then on with the trip.....
Many of the places we visited had a history of tragedy. This short speech by Chief Logan in what became West Virginia is one example....
Later that day we visited Beckley, WV: "a town with a mine of its own". The mine was closed in 1910, but the city gives a tour into the mouth of the mine where we could see the vein of coal. Miners worked in the mine for 10 or more hours a day. For each ton of coal the miner loaded in a car shown below, he received about 20 cents in 1910 money.
Our campsite was near the beach shown below. We could hear the nearby rapids of the New River all night......
We knew there were lots of railroad tracks around. I counted five CSX coal trains go by during the night. From the air you may notice the grooves in the foilage where the tracks run.
From the late 1800's until the 1950's Thurmond was a railroad town. In 1916 nearly 100,000 passengers and 3.6 million tons of coal went through this little town. Nearly everyone in town worked for the railroad or in a service industry to support the people who did. When steam trains were replaced with diesel locomotives and coal mining became highly automated, the town died. The National Park Service recently restored the Thurmond Station and is restoring some of the nearly deserted buildings. Today, it is a flag stop for Amtrak trains between Indianapolis and Washington, DC.
Our trip took us 7 days: 620 miles to Indiana in one day, two days of visiting the sons and wives, and 1000 miles with 4 nights of tent camping to return. Most of the time we traveled on back roads, some of them gravel. We stayed in one campsite with electricity and water at tent-side, one site with water closeby, one with a short walk to the water and bathhouse, and one by the river with primitive services (and free).
We had rain and sunshine, stars and satellites and trains, a few bugs and ticks, some curious and interesting people, beautiful country-sides, some history (some very unpleasant), and a lot of fresh air and rest and respite from busy Washington, DC.
Mission accomplished.