Driving the Blue Ridge Parkway in Virginia

November 2, 2013

We head out of DC towards Lexington, Virginia.  We drive down through Shenandoah National Park.

Big Mistake!  It is Saturday and apparently everyone within 200 miles in going to drive through the park to look at the leaves!

This is one of the views we had of the Shenandoah Valley.  It was amazing.  The Blue Ridge Parkway starts in northern Virginia and goes all the way down to Georgia along the top of the Blue Ridge mountains.  It is beautiful.  We had to leave the parkway today because it was so stopped up with people.  We will come back on Monday when everyone has gone back to work.

We spend the night outside a small town called Greenville, in Virginia.  This place is a little uncomfortable.  We found this campground through "Passport America", where we have a membership for "half-price" campgrounds.  Up to this point there hasn't been a problem.  This place is about 4 miles outside of this tiny town.  Where are we going?  Then when we find it the people in the little office/store look kinda "hillbilly".  We get our site and now I am really taking a close look around.  The sites that are filled have people that really look hillbilly and you can tell they are staying in these sites long term.  Most of the guys have scruffy beards.  There is "crap" all over their campsites.  Blue tarps, old porch swings, junk.  Everything seems kinda cramped.  I walked around the motorhome and had dog poo on my shoe when getting back into the motorhome.  That was a sign to me.  I didn't leave the motorhome until we left in the morning.  Locked both locks on the door before going to bed.

We spend the next night outside of Lexington, VA.  Their local claim to fame is Natural Bridge.  This natural rock formation was surveyed by young George Washington, who carved his initials about 23 up on the right side of the arch.  Above you see the arch and then inside the square are George's initials.  This was later owned by Thomas Jefferson who was said to have loved this peaceful place.  There is a stream running through the bottom of the arch.  Not so peaceful with the tourists coming through.  You can see the benches where they are supposed to sit and enjoy the peaceful arch.

The above pictures were all shot from the Blue Ridge Parkway, some looking east, some looking west. It was awesome.

We jumped over to West Virginia for a night.  Stayed in Lewisburg at the fairgrounds.  We were the only rig there!

I picked Lewisburg because the guide book said that Carnegie Hall was in this small town.  It didn't sound right but who was I to argue?  I just didn't realize that Carnegie Hall was in such a small town!  It wasn't until I got there that I found out there are four Carnegie Halls.  The big one I was thinking of is in New York City.  I am starting to feel like a country bumpkin.

Recognize that green ball in the picture above?  Yes, that is a hedge ball.  I first saw one in the produce section of a grocery store in Michigan.  They are used to repel spiders in your home.  I find this one in the woods as we are hiking up to a Confederate grave site just on the outskirts of town.  I was kinda excited that I found one in the wild and knew what it was.  If you missed my first picture, refer back to my Michigan escapades.

This is the road we hiked to a confederate gravesite where 95 unidentified confederates were buried after the Battle of Lewisburg during the civil war.

This was the view from the motorhome door when we woke in the morning.  There was a flea market going on next door in the fairgrounds.  Mark strolled it while I took a shower.  He assured me that it was all junk so I didn't walk over.  It was cold!......and I was lazy.  Beautiful day out, though.  Don't you love those clouds?

I did get my sticker on before leaving.

Next night was in Wyethville, Virginia.  Quietest campground we have ever stayed in.  It was wonderful.  Unfortunately, we hit a deer on the road the next morning.  Did a little damage to the front of the motorhome and we lost a fog light but nothing major.  There is just no missing those deer when they jump out.  No wonder we have seen so many dead deer along the road on the east coast.