The week before I left for my adventure, I worked over 70 hours. Needless to say, my brain was a bit fried on Saturday morning. But, that’s okay. Riding really is the best medicine to relieve stress.
I honestly had no firm plans beyond heading to Monterey, Virginia to see their LOVEwork. When I pulled out of my driveway, I had no idea which route I’d be using to get there. As I headed south on US-29 toward Stanardsville, I initially thought about crossing the mountains on US-33, because my favorite route — Dyke Road — that parallels the mountains on the eastern side would have taken longer. Then I realized I WAS IN NO HURRY, and took my favorite, also longer, route instead.
It was lovely. Such a pretty area.
VA-810, just North of Boonesville in Albemarle County, Virginia.
I don’t know the full story behind this next place, a little further south along the same road. I wasn’t a fan of The Waltons TV show, so wouldn’t recognize this place even if it were on the show. But the fence says Walton’s Homeplace. A quick Google search didn’t help.
Sign on the fence.
Cute little old house.
I took my good, sweet time enjoying the scenery. I even stopped at my favorite store for a snack and a drink.
Dyke Store
Dyke Road
From there, I continued south and west, not paying much attention to anything other than the ride and enjoying the scenery. I was tickled to see a barn quilt atop the mountain just before Monterey.
Barn quilt.
Stopped along US-250, east of Monterey.
I still wasn’t thinking about much of anything in particular beyond getting to Monterey. I was looking forward to seeing the LOVEwork. So much so, that I almost headed for it first, but I figured I’d better stop in town for gas first.
That’s when it happened. Because I hadn’t been paying attention, for the first time ever, I ran out of gas. As you’ll see in the next pic, it wasn’t as bad as it could have been.
Photo captured while standing at gas pump.
That street sign you see in the above shot is where I ran out of gas. Literally about 25 feet from the gas station. I had to push the bike, but another rider came over to help me (it was slightly uphill).
“Gas?” he asked as he started pushing.
“Yes,” I said.
“That’s cutting it a bit close, isn’t it?” he said.
“Yes,” I said, laughing. I thanked him for the help, he rejoined his group, I filled up, ate some lunch, and then off I went.
Monterey LOVEwork
I didnt have to go far to find the LOVE. I think it’s one of the prettiest ones I’ve seen.
After that, I just had to figure out where to go next. Again, I had a direction in mind, but no route plan. It was fun making my way on the fly.
One thing for certain, I kept a closer watch on the gas gauge after that. And I usually filled up well before I got too close to empty. 😎
You know it’s hard to keep track of how many LOVEworks there are to visit when even the Virginia travel folks can’t pin down the exact number!
In this blog post from February, the travel folks said “more than 65.” That’s technically true, but the number is now higher than 70! I’ve physically visited and captured pics of at least 50 LOVEworks.
The two latest I saw are here…
Mineral, Virginia
Lake Anna
It’s really hard to keep track of how many I have yet to see. Why? They keep adding more!
I’m in the process of planning (sorta) a May getaway. So I figured I’d make a list of sculptures I need to visit. There are 22! Even I was surprised at how many are on that list.
Some of them are really far away, or at least hard to get to, like the one new one near Chincoteage on Virginia’s Eastern Shore. That would either involve another trek through Maryland or a journey to Norfolk/Virginia Beach then across the bay bridge tunnel. The one in Gate City, in the far southwestern tip of Virginia, is reported to have reappeared, too.
I might see some on my upcoming adventure. Then again, I might not. This is another of those trips where the plan is NOT to plan. I’ll just head out with my maps and a general idea of direction and/or destination. I may end up on the Gulf Coast. Or I might have so much fun in the mountains that I’ll end up staying there.
It’s fun for now trying to imagine where my bike might take me.
I’ll be the first person to admit that I sometimes go out of my way to see some of the stuff that I photograph.
Like the big Virginia LOVE signs. I’ve gone out of my way to see a bunch of those. But sometimes, I encounter them unexpectedly.
Take this past Thursday as an example. I left my house around 5:30 AM for the three-plus-hour to drive to the coast. About halfway, along I-64, east of Richmond, I had to stop for a bio break. That’s when I saw this LOVEwork.
Counting this love (New Kent, VA), the undocumented LOVE I saw in Sperryville recently, and the one I saw in Doswell, VA on my way to Carolina Beach, I have visited and captured pics of 49 LOVEworks!
I haven’t updated my log page, so you’ll just have to trust me.
Hi, my name is Kathy, and I am a photoholic. I take pictures. Lots and lots of pictures. But, even worse, I am a photo hoarder.
Bleeding Heart
That flower image is one of hundreds of gigabytes of images that I don’t need to keep. I mean, it’s pretty, but why do I need to keep it? Like, for years? I don’t. I really need to concentrate on keeping only those images that mean something to me.
Unlike many people, I don’t store the images on my camera and/or phone forever, I actually upload them to my hard drive in a pretty timely fashion. That’s where they tend to sit. For like a year or more.
Recently, over the past six months or so, I have noticed my computer getting slower and slower. I’m not really inclined to buy a new one at the moment, so I just grit my teeth, do what I have to do on the pokey-ass thing, and then get off of it.
That slowness is probably one of the reasons you haven’t seen much of me lately.
The weather this holiday weekend has been rather wet. So I spent the day on Sunday deleting and moving image files. I think it has helped. Yay!
All is well here. I haven’t been riding as much as I’d like, but other stuff — good stuff — has been keeping me busy.
Remember my quest for LOVE? I haven’t given up. Even though I am chasing a moving target — more LOVEworks keep getting added — I really enjoy getting out and see the sculptures.
Guess how many I have captured so far? Forty-six! That’s a lot, right? This is a big state!
Unfortunately, the Virginia tourism folks don’t keep the master list up-to-date, so I don’t know how many there currently are. Whatever… who really cares about statistics? I like looking for LOVE. LOL.
Here are my latest captures…
LOVEwork in Crozet, Virginia
LOVEwork in Madison, Virginia
I’m not sure if the Madison LOVE is official or not. It’s not listed on the web site, so I have no idea who it belongs to. I suspect, however, that it might be on the Early Mountain Vineyard property. I captured that image from Wolftown-Hood Road (VA-230).
LOVEwork at Airlie (near Warrenton, Virginia)
The last image is just a few minutes from my house. I guess Airlie is technically in Warrenton, but it’s not in the downtown area where I live. It’s less than four miles away, though, which is cool.
And it’s actually a pretty place. I should go there more often.
Parked at Airlie for the LOVE capture.
I’ll try to catch y’all up on what’s been happening ’round here. The exciting stuff, anyway. Like visits with grand kids, a trip to my friend’s rose showcase, a few rides we’ve done, etc. Oh, and a few craft projects. Another reason I’ve been away from the pokey computer.
Yes, that stuff is exciting to me. I’m getting old.
Hubby and I ended up in the coolest place while looking for the LOVEwork listed as being in Tazewell, which is really in Burke’s Garden, about 15 miles east of Tazewell.
The Garden, as residents call it, isn’t just a town, it’s a mountain valley (the highest mountain valley in Virginia at about 3,000 feet or 915 m above sea level) surrounded by one very large mountain. How does a valley get surrounded by one mountain? According to geologists, the mountain, mostly composed of limestone with a sandstone cap, was once 6,500 feet (1,981 m) tall. Over time, the center of the sandstone cap eroded, exposing the softer, underlying limestone to the weather. Then, as the limestone eroded, the mountain basically collapsed. The softer rock formed the valley, while the edges of the cap formed ridges.
It doesn’t sound like a huge deal until you see it from above, as shown in this aerial photo from Lost World Ranch (located in Burke’s Garden, the ranch raises Bactrian Camels and Llamas). The ranch has an interesting history piece on the Garden if you’re interested.
…Burke’s Garden is a beautiful land that, to a certain degree, time forgot. The place is completely off the grid of modern life: There is no newspaper delivery in the town, and no cable television; no stoplights and no working post office. And no cell phone service. Many of the residents are retired, a few of them farm, and lots drive out to work in nearby towns, constantly challenged by often-sketchy road conditions leading in and out of Burke’s Garden.
Not only did they have my new favorite LOVEwork, there were also quite a few barn quilts, interesting road signs, and plenty of beautiful scenery.
Here are my favorite captures from the Garden.
Tazewell LOVEwork in Burke’s Garden
General Store
This building reportedly serves as the unofficial post office.
Old Building
The Most-interesting Wayfinding Signs Ever (there were several)
Amish Buggy Warning Sign
It’s a very pretty place.
And a happy place.
It felt like we were out West.
Surrounded by Mountains
Deer!
We happened upon that little gal, who didn’t want to give up the road. We followed her slowly as she trotted along, finally exiting to the left after rounding that far bend in the background.
View from the southern end of Burke’s Garden.
When I mapped the route, which Hubby later put into his GPS, I had intended for us to enter the valley from the north and exit on a very curvy road to the south. The GPS software apparently didn’t like that idea, and made us turn left, looping around the Burke’s Garden valley instead. It was a lucky detour that gave us the opportunity to see more of the lovely place. But I wanted to take the curvy route out of the valley.
Burke’s Garden isn’t an easy place to reach. The route into the valley from the north is the only paved road. Hubby had apparently had the mapping software set to avoid gravel roads when he entered the route.
Google Maps doesn’t like the curvy gravel road either. It wanted to send me along the loop shown.
The GPS didn’t like the curvy road!
VA-623 heading into the valley from the north.
VA-623 exiting the valley from the southern end.
Yes, the road was as narrow, steep, and curvy as it looks.
View from a little ways up the road.
Look at all the rhododendron!
Hubby and I were divided on whether or not we’d want to revisit the road in the Spring. I’d love to see the rhododendron in bloom, but that’s definitely NOT a road for his big Victory. There are quite a few very tight turns and even a few hairpins, all very narrow.
If any of you would like to visit Burke’s Garden, I recommend driving in from the north. The southern portion can be treacherous during Winter, with icy patches lingering into late Spring. Followed by mud. It took us about an hour to cover the 10 or so miles (~16 km) of gravel road, not because conditions were bad, but because we were enjoying the scenery. 🙂
It’s definitely a nice place to visit and is well worth the trip if you like pretty scenery. And especially if you like barn quilts.
I hope you folks in the US enjoyed your Thanksgiving. Ours was interesting.
As I mentioned the other day, we didn’t have any meal plans for turkey day. A couple of weeks ago, when I was cataloging VA LOVEworks I still needed to capture, I mentioned planning a trip in the car, since Winter is approaching. Hubby said he’d go along, so I suggested doing it on Thanksgiving.
Hubby started a diet recently, and I knew we wouldn’t be preparing a traditional meal for the two of us. So I figured a road trip would be better than sitting around the house.
Not only did Hubby go along, we took the furkids, too. That’s something we rarely do. In fact, we’ve never spent the night in a hotel with these two. K is a good car rider. Belle doesn’t like car rides. Neither of them gets carsick, thank goodness, but Belle does a lot of panting unless we’re on an interstate or other smooth, fast-moving road. I was a bit worried that they’d be a real nuisance, but they actually did good on the ride.
Overview Map
I’d planned on capturing seven of the large LOVEworks and one smaller one, which I knew to be indoors. I also included two roadside oddities, which I knew wouldn’t be enjoyed by all participants. But, since both were in areas we’d be passing through anyway, I included them.
Traveling in a clockwise direction, our first stop was in Lynchburg. Wait, I mean our first planned stop was in Lynchburg, we first had to stop at Wal-Mart to buy a dog leash. We’d forgotten to grab the leashes before leaving home and could only find one in the car.
My Traveling Companions at the Lynchburg LOVEwork
Mike, being a good sport, tried to get both of the girls to look at me for a pic. I took about ten shots before giving up.
Not knowing when, if ever, I’d get back to Lynchburg, I wanted to see the shoes. There were other oddities, like an enema collection, large metal water pitcher, and Easter Island head, but I didn’t want to push it.
Crazy Clouds
From there, we headed south and west toward Lambsburg. The LOVEwork is actually located at the Virginia Welcome Center along the northbound side of I-77, so we dipped down into North Carolina then headed north on the interstate.
The weather was warm — mid-60s F / about 18 C — dry, and partly cloudy, which made for some interesting skies.
Lambsburg LOVEwork
That’s my favorite LOVE image from the trip. The light was perfect and there was a break in the clouds.
From there, we headed west toward Abingdon, where we’d reserved a hotel room for the night. A good bit of the Lambsburg-to-Abingdon leg was along The Crooked Road Trail (a portion of US-58), which goes past Grayson Highlands State Park, a place I’d been wanting to visit. I’d read there was a pretty good view from the park. As it turns out, the Internet was right.
View from Grayson Highlands State Park
I’d hoped to see downtown Abingdon’s Main Street at night, but Hubby was tired after those 380 miles in the car. The girls needed some people time, too. So, we got a mediocre-to-crappy meal at Cracker Barrel, which was right next to the hotel, then hunkered down for the night. (By sheer coincidence, Abingdon was almost exactly the halfway point of our journey.)
After a yummy breakfast, we were off.
Abingdon LOVEwork
I’d stopped in Abingdon in July, but the sculpture had been damaged during a storm and removed for repair, so I missed it. I’m glad I got the chance to go back. Not capturing the Abingdon piece wouldn’t have been a huge deal, but it’s a pretty town in a very nice area.
We also stopped at Holston Mountain Artisans, a craft co-op which has an indoor LOVEwork I’d hoped to see. They have a barn quilt on the outside of their building, so I actually got a chance to see a full-size barn quilt up close for the first time. (The standard side on a big barn is 8′ by 8′ (about 2.5 x 2.5 meters) square.
Holston Mountain Artisans’ Barn Quilt
Hubby actually discovered a second, smaller barn quilt behind the building, which I’ll share later. Sadly, the shop didn’t open for another hour or so and we had a lot of ground to cover, so off we went.
Driving northeast toward Tazewell
I forgot to mention earlier that it was a very pretty day for a drive.
The next planned stop was Tazewell, where we’d capture the piece I was most excited about seeing.
Seen along the drive to Tazewell.
I couldn’t resist stopping to see the barn quilts on this not-yet-open arts center. Speaking of barn quilts… wanna know why I was so excited about seeing the Tazewell piece, which was also added very recently?
It is a barn quilt LOVEwork! I’m not doing a barn quilt scavenger hunt, I just really enjoy seeing them.
Tazewell LOVEwork
That piece is in a really, really cool location, too, which I’ll tell you about in a separate post.
Blacksburg LOVEwork
Not all LOVEworks have to be standalone art works. The Blacksburg piece is a very nicely done mural.
We also revisited neighboring Christiansburg to capture a pic of the piece we’d ridden past in July because it was rush hour and too dang hot to stop.
Again, not seeing it wouldn’t have been a big deal. There are no hard and fast rules to this self-imposed scavenger hunt, but since we were in the area, we stopped.
Christiansburg LOVEwork
We were supposed to see a seventh LOVEwork. Unfortunately, I’d failed to notice that the LOVEwork at the Silver Hearth Lodge, which was one of the more-recent additions to the growing list of sites, is on private property and you’re supposed to make a appointment to see the thing. We took our chances and drove up to the lodge anyway, but didn’t see the LOVEwork.
I don’t think pieces should be included on the official/master list of LOVEworks unless they are publicly accessible around the clock. I can’t be the only person to have driven to see a specific piece only to be thwarted because a piece was behind closed gates and/or doors.
The next-to-last planned stop for the day was a must-see for me. I missed it the first time I visited Roanoke.
I had planned the route, but Hubby was in charge of entering it into the GPS. His label for the next stop should tell you how unexcited he was about that one.
Just another stupid roadside oddity…
I was excited, but the girls were ambivalent.
My first Paul Bunyan Muffler Man
I should have made the girls get out of the car, but sunset was fast approaching and I wanted Hubby to see downtown Roanoke. As it turns out, he wasn’t impressed.
Looking west from Roanoke, just before sunset.
That was the end of day two. Not counting the uneventful drive home from Roanoke. I think it was just before 8:00 p.m. when we got back to Warrenton. The girls were especially excited to be back home. We were, too.
Now, if I could just muster up an iota of Christmas spirit, I might get something done today.
