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A slow trip through West Virginia.  My idea of West Virginia is that you can drive straight through it on the interstate without a blip (of course, what I remember about it is beautiful mist-covered mountains and a cool glass-blowing place, but that's irrelevant), but a blipless experience was clearly not how things worked for Will in 1917.
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June 2, 1917

Dear Kathleen,

We are leaving for Martinsburg W. Va. at 2:30 PM.  We are due to arrive there at 12:23 a.m.  From there we go to Columbus.  If you can, please mail the collars to me at the Virginia Hotel, Columbus.

I arrived at Athens about 11:40 P.M.  I had a very pleasant chat with a couple of ladies on the train!  I was about to leave the car to go to one ahead when the elder one engaged me in conversation.  I judged later that she was afraid a man with a bottle of whiskey might cause trouble.  They all got off at Chillicothe.

I left Athens at 12:50 PM and arrived here about 11:45 PM.

This is a very new town.  It was not incorporated until 1889.  We had a rainy trip of it yesterday and it rained some today.  The earth wads were pretty bad.  One of the cars, a Buick almost like ours, was stuck in the mud.  It was down to the axle, and the gasoline tank almost touched the ground.

Must be closing.  I don’t know yet when I will get back.

With lots of love,

Will.
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1.
Hotel Randolph in Elkins, West Virginia, whose stationery Will was using, apparently is no longer in existence.

2.
Will's train schedule seems to be:
  • Thursday night, May 31 at 11:30 pm: Arrived at Athens, West Virginia
  • Friday afternoon, June 1 at 12:50 pm: Left Athens, West Virginia
  • Friday night, June 1 at 11:45 pm: Arrived at Elkins, West Virginia
  • Saturday afternoon, June 2 at 2:30 ​Leave Elkins, West Virginia
  • Saturday night/Sunday morning, June 3 at 12:33 am: Arrive at Martinsburg, West Virginia
  • Sometime or other go to Columbus, Ohio.
And apparently he was in Charleston, West Virginia just before this - see:
​3.
If you can, please mail the collars to me at the Virginia Hotel, Columbus.
Kathleen didn't send the collars.  She sent a letter to him at the Virginia Hotel that was returned to sender as unclaimed: Am glad I did not send the collars to Columbus as you were there on Sunday + so probably would not have had them.  I sent a letter there.
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