The “200 year storm” that delivered constant heavy rains on Roanoke between May 19th and the 21st had flooded parts of the city, but it also caused wider damage across Virginia. And then there was that very colorful atmospheric disturbance at “ungodly o’clock” in the morning on May 21st… The beacon telling all ponies that they weren’t alone, a summons.
Finding a path west proved difficult enough. James had to settle for a combination of traveling on hoof and riding westbound freight trains like a train hopper. If they are lucky, they could make it to Muscatine in maybe a week at the fastest.
However the irony is not lost on them that they are doing what the poor (and unemployed) of the Great Depression era of the 1930’s did. But it is much more dangerous to do it in the modern day due to tighter security at rail yards, so hopping aboard a train has to be done either in transit or as the train is leaving the yard.
Planning the route was tricky. The route had to enter a walking phase near the Bluefield Bowl of West Virginia, and they had to travel along the Appalachian Trail in search of a CSX freight train line that would still take them westward.
The trail was foggy, the sun was setting behind the mountains, and one way or another James will need to take out a flashlight to light the way…