The road trip that went east before it went south... part 2

Woke up in Buck Creek, to gloomy rain threatening skies. No sunrise for us! Meandered towards the interstate, making sure to get gas before we headed out. The road drew us nearer towards the east coast, the clouds moody and occasionally breaking with either rain or sunshine. We stopped for food at a Wendy's, and encountered a heavy southern accent that rambled on about the tiles on the floor. In the bathroom. When had we made it to Alabama?

We continued to move forward, pausing at a pretty little rest stop in Ohio (not exactly sure where I was most of the time driving, just kept moving forward towards Maryland.) There were some fall colors, some interesting little bright orange flowers and a collection of mushrooms. A great place to stretch and limber up the legs.

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Once more we were road bound. The road had pushed us through a tiny bit of West Virginia to a ramshackle town called Wheeling. The older part of town is built on Wheeling Island and showcases empty, run down, enormous and ornate houses as well as a huge southwest (with palm trees) themed casino. On the mainland side of Wheeling, the city is packed together in a unique mix of old and new building spanning alongside the river.

(All the images I captured are from Wheeling Island.)

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From Wheeling, we continued on the road into Pennsylvania. More roads, and scenic little farms with cute little barns. We passed a pasture full of little horses and big horses and made the decision to deviate from our current path. 

The road to the horses was narrow, bridged by trees full of color. We crested a small hill, a rolling pasture to our right with cows. And a... zebra?!? Not only was there one zebra but there was a second one, a pair of camels and a pair of wildebeests! I snagged my critter lens (telephoto lens) thinking that the exotic critters would turn tail and run to their barn to hide. Instead they meandered right up to the fence line to see who had come to see them! I pet the bigger of the two wildebeests, and almost got eaten by the zebra. Hooray for deviating from the main road!

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After our exotic critter adventure, we continued on the road towards Maryland. I drove across the Bay Bridge, which was super exciting and slightly frightening, then maneuvered to Jen's house in the dark. It was too dark to meet her dogs, but I did get to meet Brie, the doglike cat. I also met Jen's husband Evan, and got my own room in her house!