Day 5: In the blue ridge mountains of Virginia, on the trail of the lonesome pine..
It was a cold night last night. There was no spare blanket in the room and even though the heater was efficient, it was also very noisy – so I slept in T shirt and joggers. This morning was very crisp and clear, there was even frost all over the car. The warmth of breakfast made up for it however.
The hotel had a “coffee lounge” open to all the farmers, garage proprietors and even some truckers – it was only 8.30 but it looked as if some of them had been in there for an hour already – gathered around big round tables talking about politics and the price of cattle feed and someone’s hernia! A bigger bunch of gossips would be hard to imagine.
I drove first of all across the Shenandoah Valley towards the Shenandoah National Park – heading East in the process – an unnatural feeling when I have so far West to go. I couldn’t get out of my head the song “Oh Shenandoah” which was a theme tune of a TV cowboy from the 60s called “The Virginian”. Already a lot of the trip has been punctuated by snatches of songs from my past memory containing place names.
The drive along the ridge of the Blue Ridge Mountains is called “Skyline Drive” and it meanders around the peaks in an amazingly level path but high up.
The Park was designated in 1928 and the road built during the Great Depression of the 1930s – it is in such an otherwise inaccessible area that it could only have been done as a job creation project. The National Parks in the USA are different to those in the UK in that no development is allowed at all (apart from basic facilities). This seems to be in ironic contrast to the seeming lack of control on development elsewhere. Nevertheless, it certainly seems to work – the Parks are lovely, well maintained and respected.
The heavily wooded hills and ridges contain an abundance of tree types – mostly deciduous with a predominance of Oaks. The woods are also host to all types of wildlife including wild deer – who are to be seen close to the roadside and don’t run until you stop the car.
Unfortunately, I missed autumn by just over 2 weeks and the trees were more or less bare. It must look lovely in the Fall before the leaves fall.
I spent the whole morning driving along a 100 mile section of the Skyline Drive and eventually came back down into the Shenandoah Valley at Staunton, Virginia before the Blue Ridge Parkway, which continues into North Carolina 300 miles to the South but which is a much more difficult drive.
I took a policy decision and stopped at a McDs in Staunton. I was feeling good – feeling like a longer than normal coffee stop so I had a Big Mac Meal, sat in the sunshine at a window seat and wrote a letter to Cath and the boys (separate ones). By the time I finished the letter it was almost 2pm and I realised that Cath and Marc would be home from Chattabox and Robyn wouldn’t be in Youth Club yet – so I phoned them from the phone kiosk outside in the car park. It was lovely to speak to all the boys as well as to Cath – I realised yet again how much I’m missing having the ability to call and talk to people at home when I’m relaxing in the evening instead of having to worry about time differences etc.
From Staunton I got onto the Interstate and drove South with just one stop, in Hilleville Virginia, for 300+ miles and just under 5 hours. It was a lovely road – straight, fast (65mph limit) and sunny. It wasn’t until I was in North Carolina with 70–80 miles to go that the road filled up and it got dark — but it was still an easy drive, especially compared to the Northern Cities (in light or dark)
As the road enters North Carolina at a place called Fancy Gap – the road plunges down the face of the Appalachians and in the sunset the whole of the Piedmont of the Carolinas was stretched out in front. A breathtaking sight – particularly at that time of day and at this stage of the drive.
Entering North Carolina also meant that I could pick up some Rock and News Channels on the radio. The Shenandoah Valley is full of country music stations – about 3–4 for each town or “city – it gets nauseating after a while. My tapes are going to get a lot of use in Tennessee and Texas!
Another stunning sight is downtown Charlotte at night – the city has some really attractive buildings and they are lit up in a most attractive and striking way, making them visible from 15 miles away on the horizon.
I arrived at Don and Barbara Sewell’s at about 7pm – a little late but not overly so. I was given a very warm welcome by both of them – not that I expected anything else after the warmth of the friendship that we built up so rapidly in the summer. After a meal, we sat and talked and drank tea until almost midnight.
It’s so good to have a conversation!
