LOVEworks – ToadMama.com

August 7, 2021August 8, 2021

Big Stone Gap, Virginia

VA is for Motorcycle-lovers and Car-lovers

A few years ago, while on one of my solo motorcycle sojourns, was the first time I visited the town of Big Stone Gap in far southwestern Virginia. My reason for going there was to see their LOVEwork (part of the venerable Virginia tourism marketing campaign,”Virginia is for Lovers“). Sadly, it was damaged in a storm and is no longer on display. I really liked the area, and the town seemed nice, so I knew I’d like to return one day. Back then, I had no idea I’d be returning in a big-ass motor home.

Big Stone Gap LOVEwork circa 2018 — The LOVEwork as seen in 2018.

I did not remember having seen a campground in the town, but campgrounds were not on my radar back then. Heck, I think that was even before we started seriously talking about RVing when Mike retired at the end of 2021. At that time, I had just been laid off, so my future-focus was more near-term. I had to think about finding my next job.

Fast-forward to 2021. We are all living in a much different world. It’s crazy how things can change so dramatically in just three years, isn’t it?

Near the end of May/early June, as I was trying desperately to find a campground that could accommodate us over the Fourth of July holiday weekend, I learned that Big Stone Gap has a campground in town AND they had an opening for us. Win-win!

I was a bit leery of staying in-town, thinking it might be too loud for us, but was intrigued by the idea of being adjacent to the town’s greenway trail and close enough to walk to restaurants if we chose. Not to mention that the campground — Jessie Lea RV — was the first one of about a hundred I’d looked into that had an opening for us over the holiday, and then some. They had a full hook-up (water, electric, and sewer) spot for us for 11 nights straight!

The campground office, store, laundry, and bathhouse are all housed in this one building.

As it turned out, I needn’t have worried. It was relatively quiet, considering the location. And the campground, although small, was neat and tidy. It was also located in a very pretty spot along one small branch of the Powell River.

There were several pull-through sites in the middle of the campground that didn’t offer much shade, but were very long and level. The Wifi was fast enough for streaming at times, but struggled during times of peak usage.

Below are some more pics captured in and around the campground.

View on the passenger side of our coach.

View looking to about 1-2 o’clock from the front of our coach.

Field adjacent to campground, which could be the tent area.

Looking from campground toward town. The Shawnee Avenue West bridge is in the background.

Image captured under the Shawnee Avenue West bridge.

One owner of the campground is a woodcarver.

Looking back at campground from near the Shawnee Avenue West bridge.

Another view of campground from near the Shawnee Avenue West bridge.

Pedestrian bridge from campground to the Big Stone Gap Greenbelt.

View from under the Shawnee Avenue West bridge, looking toward town.

Big Stone Gap Greenbelt across river from campground.

Closer look at one of the campground’s tree carvings.

Mike and I both enjoyed the campground’s proximity to the Big Stone Gap Greenbelt. It was a great place to ride our bicycles. One complete loop around the greenbelt was about three miles (4.8 km). All in all, it was a great location.

Following are pictures I captured along the greenbelt.

Walking from area near campground toward the main branch of the Powell River.

View from greenbelt on side of river opposite the campground.

Carving along greenbelt near campground.

Another capture of the Big Stone Gap Trout Mural.

Union is the name of the high school in town. Apparently the art department was responsible for the murals.

View of mural from other side of Main Street.

View of mountains from greenbelt looking across the main branch of the Powell River.

Another view of mountains from greenbelt looking across the main branch of the Powell River.

Finally, here’s a shot of Belle imploring us not to leave her home alone.

We were actually going to return to Jessie Lea RV in Big Stone Gap for a few weeks in August and September, but plans have changed. Again. This time, it is thanks to the blow-out. In about three weeks, we need to be in Lawrenceville, Georgia, just outside of Atlanta, to have the necessary repairs made. So, next week we will be leaving Blue Ridge, Georgia (our current, stunningly beautiful location) and heading south and east to Statesboro, Georgia for a month. I have yet to make reservations for September 10-30, but we are otherwise fully booked through the end of January. In February, we head west.

I have quite a few other photos and recaps of other locations to share. Catching up for an entire month is hard to do.

September 1, 2018September 1, 2018

Exciting Times

It’s been an eventful month for me. I figured I should give y’all an update. I will warn you, however, that I’m using my tablet, so there may not be many images. Or the format of this post could be mucked up. We shall see.

I’ve been doing little stuff around the house to keep myself busy. One of those things was starting to neaten-up my side of the basement. I didn’t finish because I got sidetracked by a couple of projects.

The first project was making LOVE. Hubby helped. 😎

My town is a bit late to the Virginia LOVE program. There’s a LOVEwork outside of town at the Airlie House and Farm (that’s where Earth Day was born!), but I would really like to see one in the historic downtown. I’d heard that the Town Council quashed plans for a LOVEwork in Old Town Warrenton (OTW) so I started kicking-around the idea of making my own. Hubby had enough scrap plywood for three of the letters, but I wanted to figure out an easy way to make a different sort of “O.”

Back in July, when I was having my hair done, my hairdresser was telling me how the move to her house and unpacking was coming along when she mentioned needing to remove an old satellite dish the previous owner had left behind.

“Can I have it?” I immediately asked. She looked at me like I had a few heads and asked why I would want that. I swore her to secrecy then explained that I needed something to make the fourth letter in my own personal LOVEwork.

A couple of days later, there was an old, dirty satellite dish and hardware in my backyard, much to Hubby’s chagrin. We no longer have cable TV and are perfectly happy with analog TV and streaming other entertainment, so he had no idea why I would want or need an old satellite dish!

I outlined the letters on the scrap plywood and Hubby cut them for me. Then I painted everything and hung it on the wall in front of our house. It turned out quite cool, in my opinion.

The black letters didn’t stand out well enough against the dark wall so I added a green border at a friend’s recommendation. #loveva

A post shared by Kathy Kirkpatrick (@vatoadmama) on Aug 15, 2018 at 4:08am PDT

I had a bit of fun with the thing. I even texted pics to all of the kids, saying “Look, we made love last last week and I am sharing pics!”

Other people like our LOVE, too. So much so that we made the local news. If you’d like to read the article, this link will take you to the story on FauquierNOW.

The next project was painting this old end table that’s been in the to-do queue for a long time. I decided it would make a nice table for the porch, and I added a Barn Quilt to the top. It turned out so nice, I think I may keep it in the house.

Barn quilt end table! This table has been sitting in my basement for about three years, waiting to be painted. I was going to put it on the porch, but I kinda like it there, next to my grandmother’s old chair. #barnquilt

A post shared by Kathy Kirkpatrick (@vatoadmama) on Aug 22, 2018 at 2:59pm PDT

Speaking of barn quilts… a friend and I have decided to start a barn quilt trail. We are just in the planning stages now, so I can’t say much. I thought it would be fun to have one here in Fauquier County. In July, we met with the ladies behind the Blue Ridge Barn Quilt Trail in nearby Greene County. Their trail already has about 70 barn quilts in all shapes and sizes and it’s only been around for about a year and a half. The one pictured below is at the visitors’ center.

Barn quilt LOVE in Greene County, Virginia. #blueridgebarnquilttrail

A post shared by Kathy Kirkpatrick (@vatoadmama) on Jul 26, 2018 at 1:28pm PDT

That is a barn quilt LOVEwork. How cool is that? 😊

I’ve been visiting LOVEworks, too. I’m now up to 96! My log page is not completely up-to-date since I turned in my work computer. You know, the one that belonged to my former employer. They were kind enough to let me borrow it for a couple of months so I didn’t have to conduct my job search from this tablet.

It’s been pretty hot, so we have not done much motorcycle riding. Instead, we’ve been visiting breweries in our spare time.

Another date night with Hubby. ❤️

A post shared by Kathy Kirkpatrick (@vatoadmama) on Aug 11, 2018 at 4:12pm PDT

Visiting breweries is a much more expensive hobby. Local breweries don’t give you tours and such like big commercial brewers do, it’s really all about tasting their beer. We’ve both decided it’s fun tasting so many different beers.

Last weekend, we actually did something really different. We did a long weekend centered around bicycle riding. We drove to Farmville, Virginia, about two and a half hours south of here.

I’d been to Farmville a couple of times previously, once to see their first LOVEwork and then just passing through. I knew there was a bicycle trail there with a cool bridge and had said several times I wanted to return. So that’s what we did. They have a second LOVEwork now, too.

It’s a LOVEly day for an adventure. LOVEwork 90! #loveva

A post shared by Kathy Kirkpatrick (@vatoadmama) on Aug 23, 2018 at 8:45am PDT

The High Bridge Trail State Park was the center of our visit. I pasted the description from the state park’s website below:

High Bridge Trail is 31 miles long and ideally suited for hiking, bicycling and horseback riding. Once a rail bed, the trail is wide, level and generally flat. Its finely crushed limestone surface and dimensions make it easy to enjoy. The park’s centerpiece is the majestic High Bridge, which is more than 2,400 feet long and 125 feet above the Appomattox River. It is the longest recreational bridge in Virginia and among the longest in the United States. High Bridge, a Virginia Historic Landmark, is on the National Register of Historic Places.

It’s a really nice trail, and the bridge was fun to see.

A post shared by Kathy Kirkpatrick (@vatoadmama) on Aug 23, 2018 at 9:32am PDT

Check out out this short video from the bridge:

A post shared by Kathy Kirkpatrick (@vatoadmama) on Aug 23, 2018 at 9:34am PDT

We visited a few breweries, too. Trapezium in Petersburg had my favorite beer, a white ale. The brewery in Farmville — Third Street Brewing — was nice, too, and in walking distance from our hotel.

The LOVEwork just happened to be in the vicinity of a brewery or two.

A post shared by Kathy Kirkpatrick (@vatoadmama) on Aug 24, 2018 at 2:54pm PDT

Hubby was kind enough to drive about a three-hour loop on Saturday to see some more LOVEworks while we were in the area. Then Sunday, we detoured through Bedford, Virginia, on the way home to visit the National D-Day Memorial. I created a Google Photos album of the pics from the D-Day Memorial, which was even more impressive than I anticipated. Click Here if you would like to see the album.

Next week is my last week of freedom. I start a new job on September 10th. I’m excited about the opportunity, which is similar to what I’d been doing, but slightly different. It’s hot and humid here, so we’ll be playing indoors for the next couple of days. Monday, I’m off to the beach for 3-4 days with a girlfriend. Then on Sunday, September 9, I’m off to Minneapolis for a week of job training, meet-and-greets, etc. Back to reality, in other words. 😎

A different sort of bike vacation!

A post shared by Kathy Kirkpatrick (@vatoadmama) on Aug 23, 2018 at 10:23am PDT

July 15, 2018July 15, 2018

Motoring Along

In case anyone is wondering, Hubby and I are still riding together. It’s just that it is summertime, which means it gets hot. It’s worse for Hubby on his big-ass Victory with it’s 1,740-cc engine. I’m usually fine up until the thermometer his 85 degrees (~29.4 C), then I start to get really uncomfortable.

The other day, Thursday (?) maybe, I needed a prescription from Costco. The store closest to us (Manassas) didn’t have the med in stock. The next-closest stores are in places like Chantilly, Fairfax, Woodbridge, and other places in the dreaded Northern Virginia metropolis (one giant, heavily populated suburb of Washington, DC). Since I have spare time on my hands, I chose to go to the Winchester store because I knew it would make for a much-nicer ride. Plus, it would make it super-convenient to visit the unlisted LOVEwork I’d recently driven past on I-81 southbound near Clear Brook.

It actually made for a very nice ride. I didn’t leave early enough, though, because it started getting hot during the ride back. By the time I got into our garage, I was READY to get all that gear off. So ready, in fact, that I didn’t fully extend the kickstand. That meant that, when I got off of the bike, it fell over. It didn’t fall all of the way to the floor, it just leaned right up against Hubby’s pretty red Victory. Due to the angle, I could not get the thing standing up, so I had to ask Hubby for help.

It was embarrassing, but he didn’t give me a hard time. Luckily, it didn’t even scratch the Victory.

Yesterday, Saturday, we went for a nice little loop ride together. I planned a route to include four LOVEworks, so now I’m up to 81 visited!

Stanardsville is in Greene County. Within about the last year, a barn quilt trail was established there, which is why the LOVEwork has a quilt theme. One day, when we both have time, my friend Kelly and I are going to spend a day following the Blue Ridge Barn Quilt Tour. At the time of this writing, there are 59 barn quilts listed in the brochure! That’s a lot. Trails usually start small, maybe 10-20 barn quilts, and then slowly grow. To have that many so soon after establishing the trail is quite impressive! You can read more about it here.

The Stanardsville site was the last on the list. Temps were hovering around 80 at that point, so I adjusted the route on the fly and we headed home. Just in time, too. It was 83.3 degrees (28.5 C) when I pulled into the garage.

I made absolutely sure the kickstand was fully extended before I got off of the bike.

July 13, 2018

Looking for LOVE, Still

Those of you who follow me on Instagram may have periodically seen LOVEwork images popping up on my feed. Even though I haven’t been posting as regularly here on the blog, I have still been looking for LOVE signs. In fact, I visited some on my impromptu getaway back in June.

When I came up with the idea of visiting LOVEworks around Virginia, one of the “rules” I set for myself was that a picture was required. Not just any picture, an image I captured myself, or that someone else captured with me in the shot.

A couple of years ago, during one of my solo excursions, I went far out of my way to capture a shot of the Gate City LOVEwork. That’s in FAR southwestern Virginia, a five-and-a-half hour drive from here (highway driving). On the same day, I also stopped in Abingdon to capture a picture of their LOVEwork. I stopped at two places in Bristol, Virginia, too. It was HOT that day, like in the 90s (F). And I was on my bike, all suited-up, sweating my rear-end off. I was really unhappy to discover that the Gate City sign had been temporarily removed, not sure why, and that the Abingdon sign had been damaged and carted off to be repaired.

That first experience going to sites only to find the LOVEwork missing left a mark. I faced a similar dilemma last year, when I was on my way home from down south. I’d seen a LOVEwork listed at FloydFest in Patrick County. I had no idea what FloydFest was or where it was, but Google maps got me there. It’s actually a big outdoor music venue sort of adjacent to the Blue Ridge Parkway, not far from the town of Floyd.

I think there’s only one festival a year, in late-July, but it’s a big one, spanning multiple days. I was there in early May. The place looked and felt a bit deserted, but the gate across the driveway was open, so I went in and puttered around the very empty place, looking for LOVE, to no avail. I saw a man at the edge of the property, near one of the buildings, so I motored over to him. He gave me one of those “are you a deranged alien” looks and asked if he could help me. Once I explained my mission, he said the sign had recently been unloaded from a truck after being moved.

“Can I see it anyway?” I asked, explaining that I’d been driving all over the state taking pictures of the things.

“Sure,” he said. “It’s way over there behind the bandstand. You were bold enough to come in here, you might as well go back there, too!”

I couldn’t help but laugh at that, saying, “The gate was open!” in reply.

He laughed back and I went on my way.

That’s how I managed to capture what I like to call “Scrambled LOVE.”

The large building in the distance with the green roof is where I encountered the man. I think we both ended that day with a semi-interesting story to tell our friends.

Here are pics from some of the other LOVEworks I’v captured over the last year or so…

Lynchburg LOVEwork (one of at least three in that town)

LOVEwork in Marion (near the southern end of VA-16, the Back of the Dragon)

Highland County LOVEwork in Monterey (they have an amazing barn quilt trail, too)

LOVEwork in Narrows (by the community’s duck pond)

VA Welcome Center LOVEwork at Rocky Gap (southbound I-77)

Smith Mountain Lake LOVEwork (one of my favorites)

If you wanna see all of the pictures I have captured to date, you can go directly to my LOVEwork Log Page or click the “LOVE in Virginia” link in the navigation bar at the top of this page and follow the link provided in the All of the LOVE in One Spot section.

I think it’s kind of fun to see all the different signs in one big list. I’ll be adding more soon, I hope!

May 16, 2017

Winging It

My last post ended with me bugging-out of Breaks Interstate Park earlier than anticipated due to approaching thunderstorms. I’d mapped-out a route the previous evening that took me on a meandering trek along and south of the Virginia/Kentucky border through the counties of Dickenson, Wise, and Lee. (I’m trying to hit all of the counties in Virginia.)

Since the radar images I’d seen had looked so ominous, I eliminated some of the higher-elevation roads, following a route that should still take me through all three of those counties.

The first part of the route was especially nice. And I actually got to enjoy the twisty roads as I outran the rain.

As I was making my way past Norton, I noticed signs for the High Knob Lookout tower and made a spur-of-the-moment decision to check it out. I’m glad I did. The road to and from the tower was reminiscent of riding in the Swiss Alps, except with a lot more trees.

I’d remembered reading about the spot at some point, which is described on the virginia.org website as follows:

A brand new observation tower with a long history opened in 2014 atop High Knob Recreation Area. At an elevation of 4,223 feet, the original tower built in the 30s burned down 40 years later. In 1978, Flatwoods Job Corp. built a new three story tower that met its demise by arson in 2007. Thanks to a dedicated community of volunteers in partnership with the Clinch Ranger District, a new, fire-proof tower to compliment and showcase the spectacular view of 5 states was erected. It has become a symbol of hope, like the legendary phoenix rising from the ashes, offering locals and visitors alike an unparalleled view from Stone Mountain.

I’m glad I decided to visit when I did. I pretty much had the whole place to myself. I only passed one other vehicle on my way up to the tower and back down! The place would probably suck during prime season, as the road is so narrow, steep, and jam-packed with very tight curves I can almost guarantee it gets clogged by very poky four-wheeled-vehicle traffic.

View from High Knob Lookout Tower (Stone Mountain)

The view was impressive. And ominous, depending on which direction I was facing.

B2PF_IMG_0736 — View from High Knob Lookout Tower (Stone Mountain)

It was pretty clear that I’d be getting wet at some point that day.

High Knob Lookout Tower (Stone Mountain)

It was quite windy up there, and I enjoyed watching the clouds scurry across the sky.

The road to and from High Knob Lookout Tower (Stone Mountain)

It only drizzled a little as I made my way back town the mountain. I continued west and south, heading toward the town of Pennington Gap for no other reason than it sits in Lee County. I also wanted to ride through Gate City, Virginia, in the complete opposite direction. That’s why, soon after passing the Lee County sign, I decided to nix Pennington Gap, and headed south then east along US-58.

I’m glad I did, because I saw some fun stuff along the way. Like this cute farm.

Really, just look at the animals among the Buttercups. 😊

Here’s some more stuff I saw along the way…

A little further along, I came to an almost-screeching stop when I spotted two barn quilts along the highway. This cow was quite intrigued by me.

I had to backtrack a bit, on foot, to get an acceptable shot of the other one.

B2PF_IMG_0002 — Barely acceptable barn quilt photo.

My “friend” kept an eye on me the entire time.

I continued into Gate City from there. I did a few laps of the downtown area looking for their elusive LOVEwork. I was hungry, so sorta gave up on finding the LOVEwork (it had been missing two years ago, too, the LAST time I rode to that remote town specifically to see the LOVEwork!).

I pulled into the parking lot of a very small diner. Just as I dismounted, it started raining. Pouring, actually. Perfect timing! I was able to site and enjoy a leisurely lunch of fried pickles along with a homemade cheeseburger and French fries. It was all delicious.

I plotted the rest of my route while I ate. As luck would have it, as I pulled out of town onto the main highway, look what I saw!

I didn’t even care that it was still raining. I was so tickled to see the LOVEwork. What are the chances of my getting to that very remote part of the state again any time soon?

From there, it was off to Pigeon Forge, Tennessee, to see something I’d been wanting to see for a few years.

May 11, 2017

I LOVE Barn Quilts

When I started my quest to visit and capture pics of all the LOVEworks in Virginia, I wasn’t thinking that more would keep getting added. Back then, there were less than 50. Now, there are over 70 on the list. And I know of at least two that have yet to be listed. So I have no idea how many there actually are.

Monterey, which sits at the intersection of US-250 and US-220 — both fabulous motorcycle roads — is always a pleasant place to visit. (Something I learned recently, which may also interest some of you, is that US-250 is part of what used to be known as the Staunton-Parkersburg Turnpike.)

I do remember having read about the Monterey LOVEwork in Highland County becoming the 50th LOVE artwork. And I’d vaguely remembered reading about the Highland County LOVEwork and why they’d chosen to use a quilt theme. According to the Virginia.org website:

The LOVE letters in Highland County celebrate the rural landscape and heritage of this scenic community. In recognition of the many barn quilts located throughout the county, the LOVE letters used traditional quilt block patterns to highlight the many special features in Highland. L uses Maple Block to celebrate our maple products and popular festival in March, O uses the Double Wedding Ring to recognize our family heritage and sense of community, V is painted in Flying Geese to show our love of our wildlife and farm animals, and the E uses the Log Cabin block to represent our country style and love of home.

It was only after I saw that first barn quilt on the mountain east of Monterey that I remembered the connection.

I didn’t follow the trail during my recent trip, but I did see some very nice barn quilts along the route I eventually chose to take though the county (US-250 west into West Virginia).

That one was right in town. I suspect maybe that one was sponsored by the town, since that sort of looks like a public works-type building.

My camera was not tilted, the road is banked. 🙂

Scenery along US-250 just west of Monterey.

Doesn’t that one look lovely on the white barn?

Monterey is only about 15 miles west of the VA/WV border. It was taking me a lot longer than anticipated to cover those few miles, what with all the stops. (That’s the sort of thing the would drive my Hubby crazy.)

Some folks have more than one barn quilt. I thin.

The next one is certainly one of my favorites. I suspect it os owned by the same folks whose house is pictured immediately above, but I don’t know for sure.

Do you love that one, too?

The road surface could use a little work, but it’s still awesome.

You have to look a bit harder to find some of the barn quilts.

That was either the last one I saw before hitting WV, or it was the last one I could safely stop to photograph. US-250 is, after all, a twisty mountain road, and there aren’t always safe spots to pull off for stops.

Those cows were actually near the white barn in the first photo above (the Surprised Barn). I can’t remember if it was in VA or WV, but I do remember that the barn made me laugh. And seeing cows stare at me every time I stop always makes me smile.

I hope you enjoyed the Highland County barn quilts as much as I did. I saw even more in West Virginia. That’ll be in my next post.