While in Virginia, Leïla and I got used to long car journeys, with quite low speed limits. Though there was a lot of tail-gating, which I really dislike, we found that drivers there tended to be considerably more courteous than in some other places we knew. We were looking forward to a vacation visit from our daughters Mariam and Sarah, and Leïla spotted a promising outing for them. We would all go white-water rafting on the New River over in West Virginia, said to be unusual as a river which flows North. The scenery had been overwhelming during the fall with the autumnal colours of the trees.
