Well, I made it to Roanoke, VA today.
I left a little later than expected after sharing coffee with the wonderful person who made me a loaf of artisan sourdough bread (and not having my stuff as organized as I should have), but got on the road in decent time.
The drive down wasn’t bad. I came across an accident that slowed me down for a bit, but that was okay. I took a couple photos while I was sitting there, just for fun.
For those who are following on FB, I bought a Garmin GPS. I am very happy with it. It took me a little while to get used to it, which I did today, and there were 2 false turns, but out of several hundred miles, that ain’t so bad.
My first fun stop was The Coffee Pot House. The GPS led me exactly to the address but I had a nice preview, seeing the ‘steam’ from the coffee pot floating out ahead around a curve (I didn’t know it was the coffee pot steam, but was assuming). I pulled in, the only customer at the time, and met the artist in residence. We had a nice conversation and I bought a little $8 piece of art. What the heck!
I needed to use the facilities and found out they were outside – “first door on the right – it’s really clean!” I entered, turned on the light, and, for those that watch Twin Peaks, the light fixture made the exact same noises and flickering that many lights on Twin Peaks do. That was one of the quickest potty breaks I ever took! LOL.
Anyway, it was a rewarding trip that I enjoyed. Next up was the Cyborg Muffler Man. I found out about this ‘sculpture’ on Roadside America. Note it is the same artist as the guy who made Dinosaur Kingdom (and Foamhenge, which unfortunately is not on my route this time). It is in an industrial area of Lexington, VA. And, of course, there is a Trump/Pence sign at the bottom. Kenn chose to stand in front of that part, so the photo below just shows the cyborg.
After driving thru Buena Vista, VA (some photos included), I headed towards Dinosaur Kingdom II. Seeings as it was raining and all, the only other car in the parking lot was the nice lady who was manning it today. She was getting ready to close down but hadn’t ‘turned anything off yet’ so she allowed me to enter all alone. Now, I will say, if I had been with other people we would have been probably drinking beer, laughing hysterically, and being loud and obnoxious. Today I was walking though the whole place ALL BY MYSELF. In the rain. Creepy. Despite all that, I laughed out loud at several of the displays. See for yourself. When I came out at the end , the nice lady said ” you hurried through it, you didn’t need to do that!” How sweet! She then opened the gift shop for me and I bought yet another T-shirt that I didn’t need. But how nice she was. She also gave me directions to the Natural Bridge and a nice ‘mom and pop’ restaurant that I ended up not going to.
But I did go to Natural Bridge. Leave it to the Fed Natural Park people to not post the price to get in and then complain that “our management doesn’t want us to post the price.” It was beautiful. And I actually drove across that natural bridge twice. Again, the rain kept the crowds away. I had the place almost all to myself.
After that, I was pretty ready to just get to Roanoke. So, I drove pretty much a bee-line there, except I decided to take the scenic route towards the end and I apparently made a wrong turn somewhere, but, I got here all right. Walked a walking bridge over to downtown from the hotel. Nothing stands out more than the smell of pee. Ugh. But, I had a nice meal at Billy’s in downtown Roanoke. And my walks both to and fro were uneventful, thankfully. The bridge also leads to the Taubman Museum of the Arts. I am still trying to figure out whether I will try to hit it tomorrow, or maybe on my way home. Online it looks pretty cool.
All in all, a decent day. I love driving the GTI, Kenn kept me company, and there is nothing to complain about today. All good.
Here are some pics:
Pee stop somewhere near the beginning of the Blue Ridge Parkway. When I was backing out some guy waved to me. And I bought some Fig Newtons here.
Coffee Pot with Steam (only on weekends). Kenn took a photo but decided to be shy with the posting. Nice dude here.
oops. this is sideways. but, you get the point.
Cyborg Muffler Man. Thanks Kenn!
Entrance to Dinosaur Kingdom II!
The ‘time tunnel’ to the Civil War!
The dinosaurs provide a glimpse into the fate of General Custer
Milking a Stegosaurus
On the way to viewing Natural Bridge
Natural Bridge
Back in Roanoke I had dinner at Billy’s (view from the bar):
View from my room. If you squint you can see the foggy Roanoke Star in the left part of the shot (sorry for the crappy photos!)
I’m not sure how many stops I will make tomorrow yet (some research to be had tomorrow) but stay tuned! I suspect I will be in a ‘radio-free’ zone over the weekend but will update as soon as I get back online. Thank you to all of you who are following my exploits. I cannot even express how much it means to me that you care enough to follow. Thank you!!!!!!