The day started like the rest of the week. We woke up to heavy rain showers and for the most part rode them out in our tents. By 7:30 or so the heaviest rain had subsided and we started moving around getting ready for the day. We didn't leave camp until about 10:30, and there was still patchy fog and low hanging clouds with light rain here and there.
Our first stop was the local Harley shop (only a mile down the road) for Jay to pick up a rain suit. We ran into a group of riders there from Dillsburg PA. What a small world! Then we were off to Huntington WV to take a look at Marshall University. The overcast skies stayed with us most of the day, though we were teased with a few breaks of sunshine along the way and very little rain.
It was interesting. Marshall had been a relatively small campus with a lot of open spaces. It has expanded greatly in the past 30+ years and is now much more spread out, but much more dense as well. It has an interesting mix of old and new. Many things have not changed, but they are still different because the areas around them have changed so much. Our tour of Marshall was short and sweet. Then we were off to the real destination, lunch at Hillbilly Hot Dogs.
Now I'm not going to say that Hillbilly Hot Dogs is going to be everyones cup of tea. But, it appealed very much to our inate redneck sensibilities. The place looks like a shack (not unlike many you might run across in this part of the country) with a couple of old abandoned school busses parked there and enough junk to excite the american pickers. It was a very busy place (Sat afternoon) so we got in line right away. There were picnic tables scattered around outside, and from the outside of the place you would think at first this was the only place to sit down and eat. We were greeted in line by the owners wife Sherrie, who took our orders then handed us the order slip to give the cashier. She asked if we were eating inside or outside and we chose outside as we were pretty sure there wouldn't be room for 6 inside. While the line was pretty long, there were lots of interesting signs like, "if a man goes to the woods without his wife, and he sez something... Is he still wrong?", to keep you occupied.
Once inside you quickly realize that the busses are actually a part of the "dining room" and the place is air conditioned in great redneck style with old window units hung through the wall here and there. We decided at that point to "eat in". I chose the Hillbilly dog which was a deep fried chili dog with mustard and onions. I had two along with an order of mac wedges (fried mac and cheese) and a can of diet coke. The hot dogs were good, not unlike a sheetz chili dog and the price was not too bad for a place that has become a national tourist attraction and been featured on Diners Drive-ins and Dives. The dogs were $1.79 ea. and the mac wedges were $4.99 (and really good).
It is really the ambiance that makes this place a must see. They also have a super dog called the "homewrecker" which is on about a two foot bun. The dog itself is longer than the bun and about the size of a ring bologna. They top it with an array of condiments that could be a meal in itself, and as challenge type foods go, was reasonably priced at
$16.99.
We very much enjoyed our lunch and the experience (I sat and ate in the drivers seat of the bus). I would very much recommend it as a stop if you find yourself in this area. We were at the original location. There are two others in the area, although I don't know if they are the same as far as the wacky design.
From there we started the 2 hour ride back to camp. We decided to make a stop at the New River Gorge Bridge overlook. This thing is an amazing feat of engineering and the gorge is beautiful.
We finished out our day with our first evening of clear skies and no rain. We cooked on the fire again and enjoyed the evening around the camp fire. Tomorrow we return home and another Wild Hogs Adventure will be in the books. It has been trying at times and we had our worst weather yet, but everyone is already planning for next year.
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