VMI, Lexington, Blue Ridge Parkway and Bristol Tennessee

Hi All,
Time for an update on what we've been doing the last few days.

Driving down Skyline Drive we made it to Lexington, Virginia, home of much confederate history. On the way to Lexington we had our first bit of mechanical trouble- the "Check Engine" light came on in the truck. We were able to get the diagnostic codes read at Advance Auto Parts and found out there was an issue with one of the turbo chargers. I won't go into detail about it but the engine is still under warranty and will need some work when we get to Dallas. Saturday night we went to Natural Bridge Speedway for some Saturday night dirt track racing. Sunday we walked around the Virginia Military Institute, took a horse drawn carriage tour around town, toured the Robert E Lee Chapel and Stonewall Jackson's house. Wonderful!

Monday we left the Lexington area and drove down the Blue Ridge Parkway. It's a bit different than Skyline Drive but just as beautiful. As we were about to get on the Parkway, on a small two lane road, I had to stop because two chickens were crossing the road in front of us. I asked them why they were crossing the road but they just looked at each other, shrugged and turned around. I don't think they knew why they crossed the road either. Along the Blue Ridge Parkway we easily saw 20 deer and just as many wild turkey (birds not bourbon) in the 100 or so miles.

Monday night we stopped at a campground in Fancy Gap. It was nice but it wasn't fancy.  Tuesday we drove on to Cedar Bluff, Virginia and visited with some long time family friends of Susan. We had a nice evening with Ray and Sue Fortner on Susan's birthday.

Our goal is to spend as little time on interstate highways as possible. It takes us longer to get some place but it is a lot more interesting. Wednesday we continued our back roads travel to Pigeon Forge, Tennessee with a short stop in Bristol to see Bristol Motor Speedway. When we crossed into Tennessee I noticed flags were at half staff and wondered why. At Bristol Motor Speedway we saw that Pat Summitt, the extraordinary women's basketball coach at the University of Tennessee had died Tuesday. She won more NCAA Division I basketball games (1098) than any coach, man or woman. Flags all over Tennessee are at half staff.

Tonight we are at a campground in Pigeon Forge, the home of Dollywood. What a difference from the hard time, coal country we were in all day. I'll stick with the backwoods, thank you.

Here are some pictures from the last couple of days...

I think I know why they call it Blue Ridge

Saturday night dirt track racing!

Peaks of Otter lodge

Was able to convince them to pose for a picture

Our horse drawn carriage for the tour around Lexington

The VMI Parade Ground

"Virginia mourning her dead" where the ten cadets that were killed at the Battle of New Market are buried on the VMI campus

Plaque commemorating the creation of the Sigma Nu fraternity at VMI

Bristol Motor Speedway with Pat Summitt's picture on the screen and the flag at half staff

That's it for now, take care.

Brian

New Market Battlefield / Skyline Drive / EJ Carrier Arboretum

Hi All,
Here are some pictures from yesterday and today...

New Market Battlefield. The American Civil War for those that aren't American. For us, the war of Northern Aggression.

The picture of the scale model of the battlefield didn't come out, but here's an explanation of the battle. Ten of the VMI cadets died that day or from their wounds soon after.

Every year on May 15 there is a ceremony to honor the cadets that gave their life in this battle. The ceremony features the roll call of the names of the cadets who lost their lives at New Market, a custom that began in 1887. As the name of each cadet who died is called, a representative from the same company in the modern Corps answers, "Died on the Field of Honor, Sir." A 3-volley salute is then carried out by a cadet honor guard, followed by Taps played over the parade ground.

Back on Skyline Drive, the middle third

The single white blaze on the tree marks the Appalachian Trail. The Appalachian Trail (A.T.) is almost 2,​190 miles long, passes through 14 states, eight different national forests, six national park units and numerous state parks, forests, and game lands.

The AT runs from Georgia to Maine. Notice the double white blaze on the right most tree. Two blazes, one above the other,

signal an obscure turn, route change, incoming side trail, or other situation that

requires you to be especially alert

The beauty and the history go on and on

A wall like this runs along both sides of Skyline Drive for most of the 105 miles. The walls were laid by hand by the CCC. The Civilian Conservation Corps was a public work relief program that operated from 1933 to 1942 in the United States for unemployed, unmarried men from relief families as part of the New Deal. The CCC was designed to provide jobs for young men, to relieve families who had difficulty finding jobs during the Great Depression in the United States while at the same time implementing a general natural resource conservation program in every state and territory.

This and all the subsequent pictures were taken at the Edith J Carrier Arboretum at James Madison University in Harrisonburg, Virginia

The sun wasn't around much in the afternoon so a lot of the pictures are kinda dark. But I like the way this one turned out.

Notice the butterfly house towards the upper left

That's it for today.

Take care.
Brian

Shenandoah Valley / Skyline Drive

Hi All,
Pictures from our day of driving the northern third of Skyline Drive in Shenandoah National Park.

On the way there I saw this bus on the side of the road and just had to take a picture

Across the highway from the bus

We actually went in a third of the way down and came out here, but you wouldn't have known that if I hadn't told you.

Shenandoah Valley / Blue Ridge Mountains

Skyline Drive is 105 miles long

The speed limit on Skyline Drive is 35 mph

You don't want to go faster than that anyway

Everywhere you look, the scenery is gorgeous

You wouldn't want to miss anything

Stop and smell the Columbine

Susan preparing our picnic lunch

Our view as we ate lunch

This is only the northern third

After leaving the park we drove through Strasburg, Va.

Don't see many of these around

Back at our campsite

Brian

Land Ho!

Hi All,
We're off on our latest adventure!

Saturday, June 12, we bought a pickup truck. Sunday and Monday we worked our butts off and got a lot of the things that needed to come off the boat into storage. Tuesday we finished up with the last remaining items, sorted into three groups. Stuff that was going with us in the trailer, stuff that was going to Texas or Georgia and stuff that needed to go to storage. About 3:00 we left the storage place for the last time and headed to our friends Jay and Carol's (visited us in the Bahamas) house.  They let us stay at their place on the Rappahanock River. Wednesday morning we drove to the other side of Richmond to pick up our new trailer. Thursday and Friday we (mostly Susan) worked on putting away what we could and getting the trailer organized. Friday evening Jay and Carol came and we proceeded to have a wonderful weekend with them and their friends the Mudds.

Sunday morning we left Jay and Carol and drove to Falls Church, Virginia to spend a couple of days with our friends Kent and Heather from Miss Adventure. Sunday night we had a lovely lake cruise with them and their friends Todd and Samira. Monday we went to their weekend place in Bryce, Va. More great times.

Tuesday morning, after cleaning up the mess created by liquor bottles that were not secured well crashing to the floor, we made a short trip to a campsite in Edinburg, Virginia. Tuesday night was our first night to sleep in the trailer, after owning it for almost a week. We're still working on getting everything put away but it's coming along. We're both pretty sure this is going to be a lot of fun. It's different than being on the boat, but it's still fun.

Here are some pictures of our trailer and our campsite.

Leveled and awning out, backed up next to the creek

The trailer came with a gas grill that attaches to the side

And a side table

If you're outside, they're around. Obviously they are used to being fed.

The creek right off our back bumper

That's it for now.

Brian