Not seeing the Blue Ridge Parkway

Thursday - 13 May 2004 - Max Meadows, Virginia: We spent yesterday visiting with friends from college and are now headed north. Tonight we are camped in the southern edge of the Allegheny Mountains. But, we are in Virginia and I just LOVE Virginia! And my, oh, my, did we have a day!
 
Our first stop this morning was only fifteen minutes from last night's campsite - the Folk Art Center on the Blue Ridge Parkway. Operated in cooperation with the National Parks Service, the Art Center is part showroom, part classroom and part shop. Appalachian crafts such as ceramics, weaving, basket and broom making and wood working are featured; and there are also examples of quilting, doll making and jewelry. We spent an hour in the shop alone, but didn't buy a thing - something we began to regret, after not purchasing a curious curio.
 
But, still, we spent some money! The Honda had a nearly-flat tire! No worries - we just fired up the generator, hooked up the air compressor and filled the tire. It filled, but we could hear a slow hiss and DT could feel a nail, so we unhitched the car and drove the two miles back to town, in search of a repair shop. The third business we came to was a tire shop! What luck! It was perfectly situated too - right between a bank with an ATM (we would need some cash) and a coffee shop. We enjoyed the most important meal of the day while the tire was being replaced. Yes, the tire could not be repaired. There were two nails in the sidewall. DT pulled one out (at the repair shop, thank goodness) and the tire went immediately flat!
 
So we had a bit of a delay, but another enjoyable time in a local cafe where all the diners seemed to know each other, and the friendly staff. Conversation was focused on the weather - clouds and rain making the landscapers behind schedule and tourism slow. The weather did not assist in making our cruise along the Blue Ridge Parkway a scenic drive. All we could see was a tunnel of green on either side, and a foggy mist down the middle.
 
For miles.
 
Between noon and 3 p.m. we had only traveled 100 miles. We saved a lot of time by not stopping at the scenic vistas, because the clouds were so dense, we could only see fifty feet! Finally we stopped at the Moses Cone Manor. Moses Cone, son of a Jewish German immigrant, made an absolute fortune at his denim mills in Greensboro, North Carolina and built this home on 3,600 acres in 1890. After his death, the property was donated to the Park Service for inclusion in the Blue Ridge Parkway system. The property contains several lakes and miles and miles of "carriage roads" for biking, horse-back riding and hiking. The rain was coming down in buckets, so this is the best photo I could snap from the shelter of my GW umbrella!

Moses Cone Manor - in the fog

The fabulous jewel box I passed-up purchasing at the Folk Art Center was also for sale at the Cone Manor gift shop! This time, the (same) artist, Jim Hiett, had used Wormy Chestnut and Walnut, and DT and I agreed this delight needed to come home with us! The treasure now graces my nightstand. It is of the most ingenious design - and the artist has recently retired!

Wormy Chestnut and Walnut jewel chest by Jim Hiett

And so we continued, in an absolute down pour. It wasn't as foggy, but every time we stopped to see something or read an interpretive display - we had to dry-off again. What a mess. But we were in Daniel Boone country and there was a lot to learn! Thank goodness we came to the information about the "Hang Down Your Head, Tom Dooley" song so we could quit singing the Daniel Boone TV show theme! It is claimed Tom Dula wrote the song himself while awaiting execution for murdering "one of his lovers". Guess he had several?
 
By 5:00 p.m., we were at milepost 240-ish and the sun tried to show herself, and visibility greatly improved. Helpful, in fact, in spotting the many deer - and one turkey - crossing the parkway in the front of Our Intrigue! Occasionally we could see a bit into the distant valleys - views of fog and clouds hanging in the "hallows" were very pretty. By 5:30 it was raining again! At milepost 213 we entered Virginia and we left the Blue Ridge Parkway at milepost 200 in the teeny town of Fancy Gap and stopped at the first campground in Max Meadows, Virginia. We were tired. We were hungry. We had driven half of the Blue Ridge Parkway today and we have seen about 1/10th of the views!

RV Park: Fort Chiswell RV Park in Max Meadows, Virginia