Virginia and West Virginia, mostly away from the Big Storm

Sunday October 28, 2012

Last evening, before we went to bed in the Doughton Park Campground, it got cloudy and a stiff breeze came up. The breeze hung around all night, blowing in the trees. It sounded something like the roar of the roar of the surf when you are at the beach. We all had problems making believe it was the ocean especially when the rolling caves rocked occasionally. We were up, hit the dump station and were on the road by 9:00.

Our first stop today was at the Blue Ridge Music Center VC, they were offering a free stamp for the passport books so we availed ourselves of the stamp. There was a room with displays of musical instruments from a gourd banjo to an exquisite Henderson Guitar with the fret board inlayed with mother-of-pearl. One of the rangers had made a couple of dulcimers that were very nice looking and he played them for us. One was made of cherry wood and the other had a walnut back and the top was of a different wood. He demonstrated the sound difference between the two instruments that was caused by the different hardness of the wood. He also played a canjo which was made of a Mountain Dew can and a fret board with 1 string.

We left the Blue Ridge Parkway heading north on I-77, where we made a stop for fuel and a tank of propane for the Rubble-mobile, then south on I-81 to Wytheville, VA, north again on I-77 to Bluefield, VA, then west on route 52 to Bramwell, WV where we made a stop at the towns visitor’s center. Bramwell is a small town where a number of coal barons lived just after the turn of the 20^th Century. It was considered the wealthiest town in America, for its size with up to 14 millionaires living there at one time. The visitor’s center had a bonus stamp for the books. There was also a small museum of coal mining history. There are several historic buildings there, in addition to the mansions. Tours can be arranged through the houses and other historic structures. We had lunch at the Bramwell Café. It was a delicious buffet of roast beef, potatoes and gravy, macaroni and cheese, green beans, a salad bar and dessert. The town is near the 1000 miles of the Hatfield/McCoy ATV trails, so caters to riders. The cafe had a sign up that said they were dirt friendly. There were two groups of riders also having lunch there, and really muddy ATVs parked in the visitor parking lot.

We headed out of Bramwell on route 52 to I-77 north, then on route 19 through Fayetteville, WV to the Canyon Rim VC at the New River Gorge National River. The VC is located near the New River Gorge Bridge, which is the longest, single span arch bridge in the Western Hemisphere, and after our stop at the VC and talking to the rangers on duty about camping, we forgot to go out there and take a picture. There were 6 stamps at the visitor’s center. Unfortunately their 25^th anniversary stamp was missing and presumed lost.

Today all but 1 or 2 of the campgrounds on the Blue Ridge Parkway closed for the season as well as a number of the VCs. Apparently a number of the other national park CGs closed because the ranger at the Canyon Rim VC called a couple of campgrounds to see if they were open and got no answer. As a result we are in the Fayetteville Walmart parking lot to spend the night.  It is raining and blustery so we are glad to be tucked in. It’s free overnighting, but not when you consider what we spend in the store!

More hammering tomorrow. Y’all take care.