Virginia

July 15, 2010

We crossed the border yesterday south of Martinsville on highway 220. Russell saw Robert E. Lee riding Traveler through the kudzu! Maybe we are too involved in the Civil War. The drive was beautiful; foothills, farm lands, mud-chinked log buildings that have been there for ages.

And then we turned off on to VA 40. It was too late in the day, 2 too tired people, but mainly it was too wide a load on too narrow a road. The oncoming traffic was hugging what little shoulder was to be had in attempts to avoid, clear, miss, dodge...us! We were just trying to stay on the road in some fashion. This was not pretty. I begged Russell to slow down, but he felt the people behind would resent 20mph less than the speed limit. My thinking was I would really resent our plunge off the side of the road! We were belted and holdin' on. So then, of course, we turned on to a more narrow road, and drove right passed the campground. We did find a turn around spot not too far off.

We did finally get there, and there is lovely. Very rural, as suggested by the road narrative, and very quiet. Very nice owners. Once again we are wifi challenged, but all else is good.

Today we have driven into Roanoke for wifi and laundry, in addition to seeing the town. Big! But I can give you more details about Panera and the laundromat than the city. I'll spare you! I did walk around the nearby mall. As we have seen in other locals, there are many empty store fronts. It may be worse here than some other places we've been. The number of jobs represented and the amount of money lost is really heartbreaking.