Dispatch from the Road 2024

 Part ten August 21 2024 Martinsville The rest of the trip was uneventful, we parked in one of the six transient pull-thru sites at Indian Heritage in Martinsville. After setting up the RV we drove to nearby Axton to check on the family cemetery. As far as we know no one in the family has been out there for a while. In addition, we have a new people cutting the grass. They live right across the street, but we had never met them. Millie has been in contact with the Kathy and she wanted to meet her. Millie had texted her and she and her future husband came over when they saw us pull up in the truck.  Bray family cemetery The landscaping as far as the grass cutting and trimming goes is in good shape. Millie is planning a workday in the fall to cut back some of the overhanging branches from trees on the property line.  As I mentioned earlier in the blog, we would not be visiting either of Millies sisters this trip because of Covid outbreaks. So, we have an extra day here in Martinsville. W

 Wednesday August 21 2024 We left Damascus and drove to Martinsville this morning. We traveled a different route on this trip. Instead of taking Hwy 58 all the way across the bottom of Virginia we drove northwest to Abingdon and got on interstate 81 heading north. We drove the interstate up to Fort Chiswell a distance of 60 miles, then took I-77 south to reunite with 58. This long yet faster route eliminated the very windy section of 58.  Dark blue is our route On 58 we traveled east stopping for a short break the Poor Farmers Market in Meadows of Dan. It’s an old country store that’s been there forever. We bought some fresh tomatoes and peaches before continuing our trip.  Felicia Shelor, owner of the market On this next leg we were looking forward to see the progress of the new road being built at Lovers leap, a spot known for the obvious legend as well as the treacherous mountain crossing.  Moving a mountain They have shaved a good deal of mountain top and filled in some valley but

 Part nine-conclusion Biking the Damascus to Abingdon section of the Virginia Creeper is something I have wanted to do for some time and I’m very pleased that I finally made the time to bike it. The trail is not a great adventure, but it was a fun challenge for me. I was somewhat concerned about my worn-out knee joint, but it never gave me any problem, during or after the ride.  I wasn't wearing these to keep my knees warm! There are sections of the trail with no cell service, but Millie was able to track me the entire distance. I guess the phone’s GPS was bouncing off satellites during those cell outages or it just used dead reckoning to plot my progress.  Millie said at times I would go seven and eight miles an hour, but I wasn’t trying to race across. I pedaled at what I thought was a leisurely rate and just enjoyed the journey. I got on the trail at about 9:45 and arrived in Damascus at 1:30. I had no mechanical problems with the bike until I got to the highway 58 bridge. I had

 Part Eight-On the trail from Abingdon to Damascus August 21 2024 I’ll never be a creative writer, so don’t expect essay in the caliber of the naturalist Henry David Thoreau but Ill do my best to tell you what I saw along the trail and try to make it interesting.  Typical trail on the Abingdon end The several miles are under a living canopy, almost a tunnel thru the avenue of trees. Being an old railroad bed the trail is flat and straight. The base is crushed cinders for most of the journey, with occasional dirt paths or wooden decking on the 20 bridges I would cross. First of many bridges. Every so often I would get a glimpse of the countryside through openings in the thicket of vegetation on the sides of the trail. The country is rolling hills, sometimes with fences and pasture for cows, sometimes beautiful fields of grass usually leading your eye to an expensive home on the slope of the hills. At about one and a half miles there is a road crossing the trail, on both sides there are

 Part seven – Abingdon to Damascus August 20 2024 Millie delivered me and the bike to the beginning of the Virginia Creeper trail in Abingdon Virginia this morning. The trail is a 34-mile multi-use path that follows an old railroad bed through scenic farmland and mountains. The most popular section is the 17 mile downhill run from the top of Whitetop mountain to the town of Damascus. Being conveniently close to Millie’s sister’s homestead we have biked down the mountain six times. It is a thrill I recommend to anyone young or old.  I peeled off the layers as the day warmed up. Today I would be biking the relatively flat section from the opposite end, beginning in Abington and biking seventeen miles to Damascus. As with almost any subject nowdays,  Youtube gives you a primer on what to expect, and that’s good for preparation but you won’t know the trail till you ride it! First some facts. I hadn’t expected all the other people using the trail on this end, but it does start in downtown A

 Part six rain delay Monday August 19 2024 Looking at the local weather here in Damascus, Today will be a rainy day, tomorrow will be clear but cool. I’ll take the cool weather over the rain, so the bike ride is scheduled for Tuesday.  Pic from Google street view, usually can't find a parking spot here. Millie and I took a little ride in the country and happened to be in Chilhowie at lunchtime. It worked out well because there is a good Mexican restaurant there. We enjoyed an excellent meal at El Campestre and had the good sense to take half of it home, avoiding the overeating coma we had the other day in Marion.  We meandered our way down to Abingdon and found the beginning of the Creeper Trail where Millie will drop me off tomorrow morning. We browsed the local Goodwill and a Dollar store. I bought the DVD About Schmitt with Jack Nicolson and Cathy Bates. I thought it was a comedy, but it is a very sad story. If the little bit of humor in it classifies it as comedy, it is a very

 Part five Sunday August 18, 2024 When we rolled out of bed this morning at 7:30ish, some folks had already left the Rally grounds. We took our time and by 9:30 when we departed about half of our neighbors had vacated their RV sites. I was happy to note that even though hundreds of RV’s probably dumped their holding tanks this morning the sewer system here handled it all without so much as a burb. We were parked about in the middle of this huge flat field and I don’t know which direction all the affluent was headed, but its all gone somewhere. Dark blue line is our route Our route this morning would take us on country roads up through Linville Falls, Grandfather Mountain and Boone. It sure is pretty country up here, it’s a shame it gets cold in the winter, I'd sure like to live in a place like this, but I don't do cold.  No more cold for me! Our trip to Damascus was only about 90 miles and we traveled through North Carolina, then a little bit of Tennessee and finally Virginia.

 Part four Day three of festival. Saturday August 17, 2024 This was the final day of the North Carolina State Bluegrass Festival. The headliner act today is more than a local favorite, the Malpass Brothers have been growing in popularity in several genres. Besides filling arena’s all over the area with their bluegrass/country show, they now have a Saturday TV show on the RFD-TV channel and are now working on a gospel album with the Bill Gather production Company. The Malpass Brothers from Goldsboro North Carolina These venues allow photography but without flash lighting. I experimented with settings on both my Samsung phone and My point and shoot Sony camera. It seems to me that the LED stage lighting is the biggest problem, there are usually weird streaks of light in my pictures.  camera turned this picture into a watercolor image The phone camera is useless at night, my friend Doug says I need to stop buying cheap phones. When was the last time you went into a Verizon store and saw a

 Part three, day two Friday August 16 2024 We weren’t familiar with any of the performers in today’s lineup but were entertained and pleased with each of the bands. One act was particularly good, they were called Southern Legacy. We hope to see them again sometime.  I cooked on the griddle yesterday and today. I barely got done grilling today when we had a sudden rain. It was just the harbinger of more to come, during the evening set, the show had to stop and wait for a strong storm to pass. The rain on the tin roof of the pavilion was so loud, you could not hear the entertainers. Nobody got wet, there was no thunder or lightning close by and the show was only delayed about 15 minutes. Millie and I have been on one long walk around the rally grounds, stopping to listen to several groups of Jam sessions at different folk’s RV’s. We think some people just come to these events for these gatherings of musicians amongst the rally goers. Jammers=impromptu gathering of musicians We probably w

 PART TWO NC Bluegrass Festival August 16, 2024 The trip north to Marion North Carolina was uneventful, we had light traffic on the state highways we traversed and very minimal travel on interstate highways. We arrived on Wednesday, the day before the festival started. This gave us ample time to get the RV parked and set up. As I noted in part one, we are parked in an event center RV parking field. We are parked on grass but do have full utility hookups, 30 amp electric, water and sewer. It's a tight squeeze in the rally campground This whole complex, which includes the rally field, a traditional campground and an RV dealership used to be called Tom Johnson RV and was a nationally known and well-respected dealership. It now fly’s the giant American Flag that you see at every Camper World Store in the USA.  Originally the Tom Johnson Camping Center it is now owned by Campers World On Thursday before the show started, we drove into the city of Marion for a couple errands. We shopped