I had to drive to Roanoke on Sunday to pick up a package. Unfortunately, the cargo wouldn’t fit on the back of my bike, so I had to take the car. As usual, I decided to multitask a bit and squeeze-in an extra or two.
Extra #1 – Bojangles’ Breakfast
I HAD to stop at Bojangles’ for breakfast, I just had to. It’s my favorite.
Overview Map
Roanoke is roughly 200 miles from my house. I took the slower, more-scenic route to get there and used the interstate to get home.
Heading wast on US-33 toward the Blue Ridge Mountains.
Interstate highways suck. Especially I-81. It’s two lanes in most parts of Virginia, heavily traveled by trucks, and there are some pretty hilly sections as the road winds through the foothills and mountains.
Clogged Traffic
I almost always encounter slugs of traffic like this one. The big trucks tend to stick pretty close to the speed limit and travel in the right lane. But there are always passenger vehicles that don’t observe the Keep Right Except to Pass (KREP) rule, so traffic piles up. It gets even worse when you’re climbing a hill, which is hard for fully loaded trucks, and a big rig with a lighter load, no load, or simply more power gets into the left lane to pass. Still doing the speed limit. Which means it takes like FIVE MILES for the passing truck to get around the other one and back into the right lane. And another five miles for all of the law-abiding citizens to get past the truck. If you’re lucky, everyone returns to the right lane for travel. I’m not usually that lucky, and end up stuck behind a big-ass pick-up with a four-wheeler in its bed. Or a minivan. Which means I can’t really see the road ahead and it drives me NUTS. Not enough to incite road rage, it’s just soooooo frustrating. Traffic would move so much better if people were more considerate of others. Sigh…
I didn’t have enough time to take all back roads, so I suffered through. At least it was a pretty day for a drive. I’d never been on that section of I-81. And I’d never had any real reason or desire to visit the city of Roanoke. It is a city after all. And it’s surrounded by mountains. I’d much rather play in the mountains.
Driving into Roanoke
That day, I had a reason. Roanoke has a LOVEwork. 🙂
Extra #2 – Roanoke LOVEwork
Roanoke has a pretty rich railroad history. And it’s actually a cool-looking city. I didn’t have much time to look around, since the trip took a bit longer than I’d anticipated, so I just snapped a few quick pics.
I wish I’d been a tad further away so the image fit the frame better.
I drink Dr. Pepper, don’t ya know…
Market Center
Charming Downtown
Interesting Architecture
Parking Lot
As it turns out, I’d stumbled across Roanoke’s Railwalk…
…David R. and Susan S. Goode Rail Walk, paralleling the railroad for a third of a mile, with kiosks explaining the details of Roanoke’s iron horse history.
If you’d like to learn more, that quote comes from this article.
Along the Roanoke Railwalk
Hotel Roanoke (built in the late 1800s)
Train-watching
It was a nice little park. The train engineer even waved to me as he chugged past.
One thing is for sure, the state tourism department’s LOVEwork campaign has made me get out and explore parts of Virginia I would otherwise not have seen.
Perhaps one day, Hubby and I will get to visit Roanoke and spend a weekend exploring.
Virginia is a large and diverse state. The longer we live here and the more we explore, the more I appreciate that diversity.
Geographically speaking, Virginia has five regions. I live in the Virginia Piedmont.
The image above comes from a sorta simplistic educational blog that has a concise breakdown/explanation of those regions.
Culturally speaking, according to this web page, which belongs to VirginiaPlaces.org, “there are multiple interpretations of distinctive cultural regions of Virginia, with inconsistent terms and boundaries.”
The map on the Piedmont section of the VirginiaPlaces.org site, shown below, breaks Virginia down into only three regions. (I like this map because it also includes the counties.)
I’m telling you all of this because I’d hoped to find a simple explanation/definition of the geographic line separating the Piedmont from the Coastal Plain. The coastal region just has a different feel to it. The land is flatter. The trees–more evergreen trees than deciduous hardwoods– are taller and seem to grow closer together.
I’ve been aware of the different feel for years. My brother and his family live in the Hampton Roads region–Suffolk County, I believe–at the lower right-hand corner of the map. Always, when driving from Central Maryland for visits, I could always tell that we were getting closer just by the look and feel of the landscape.
Hubby and I went for a ride on Saturday that was out of character for us. We headed south and east, away from the mountains, to the town of Spotsylvania, which is just east of central Spotsylvania County. Our route took us through the center of Culpeper County and then east and south. We reached Spotsylvania County west of Fredericksburg (sorry if all of these directions are confusing), and that’s about when things started to change.
We were on VA-3 / Germanna Highway for only a few miles. We left Va-3 on VA-647/Revercomb Road, then quickly turned onto VA-610/Eley’s Ford Road. That’s the road that delivered us into Spotsylvania County. It was much more heavily forested than I expected, and although the road was on the flat side, there were a goodly amount of twists and turns, which made for a very pleasant ride.
Overview Map of Our Spotsylvania Ride
I didn’t have my tracker app running, so there’s no way for you to zoom in for detail. If you want or need a more-detailed look, let me know.
I’d planned this shortish route because Hubby had gone for a long solo ride on Friday AND was coming down with a cold. I figured I’d take advantage of the rare occasion that he didn’t really care how fun the roads were and head to this area that I knew would be flatter and less interesting to capture this one elusive LOVEwork I’d missed on a couple of previous trips.
Spotsylvania LOVE
The sign itself was sort of plain. At least the weather was nice.
A picture-perfect day.
We both agreed that the ride to Spotsylvania was fabulous, but the roads were all suprisingly pleasant. Spotsylvania County may be in the Piedmont region, but there are definitely portions which feel like the Coastal Plain.
From there, we continued south/southwest across Lake Anna to the town of Mineral (very close to the epicenter of the big 2011 earthquake) and then headed west and north to make our way back home.
As we got deeper into Louisa County on the southwestern side of Lake Anna, which is quite a large and busy lake, it started to feel like the Piedmont again. The town of Gordonsville, which is in Orange County, definitely has the look and attitude of a population center in the Piedmont.
From Gordonsville, we hopped onto VA-231/Blue Ridge Turnpike, which carried us north and through the foothills, roughly paralleling the Blue Ridge Mountains, thus the road is aptly named. That 41-mile stretch of road — the Blue Ridge Turnpike — never disappoints, and is another of my favorite rides in Virginia. One day, I’m going to have to make a list.
Saturday was the first time I’d ridden the entire length of VA-231 from Gordonsville to Sperryville. I’m sorry I didn’t take more pics to share with you all. You’ll just have to trust me when I say that, if you’re in the area, it’s a road worth riding as it winds gently up and over hills, through vast tracts of farmland in the foothills of Blue Ridge, which makes for some amazing scenery.
An older picture captured along VA-231 / Blue Ridge Turnpike
This past weekend Hubby and I enjoyed a fabulous three-day ride south and west of our home in Virginia. We covered 850 miles on wonderful motorcycle roads in Virginia, North Carolina, Tennessee, and even parts of West Virginia.
I’d been wanting to really put those maps to the test. And guess what? They passed with flying colors. Really. We spent three days riding a series of really awesome motorcycle roads. It was tons of fun. We were having so much fun, in fact, that I didn’t even think about taking a picture until late in the day on Friday, after we’d already been on the road for many hours. You know I’m having fun when I don’t think about pictures, right?
Along Indian Valley Road in Floyd County, Virginia.
We ended up staying in Hillsville, Virginia Friday night.
Sunset from Hillsville, VA.
Lucky for us, there was a Bojangle’s about 15 minutes from our hotel, so we both enjoyed a nice breakfast on Saturday.
Hubby and Me
It wasn’t even hard to convince Hubby to pose for a goofy selfie with me.
From there, we rode into downtown Galax, looking for LOVE. (Since it was along the way, I figured we ought to stop.)
Galax, VA LOVEwork
Fortunately, the LOVEwork was right where it was supposed to be.
For the record, I saw the LOVEwork in Christiansburg, but it was hot, there was rush hour traffic, and it was on the opposite side of a busy street, so I opted not to stop for a photo. But I saw it. That counts in my book.
My Real Love
After a brief break, we continued south into North Carolina and then west and north to Mountain City, Tennessee.
Four States in Three Days
Why Mountain City? That’s where The Snake begins. 🙂
Hubby at the NC/TN border.
I missed The Snake on my solo trip earlier this year, so I figured it would be a good destination road that both of us could enjoy.
The Snake totally lives up to all the hype.
And enjoy it we did. Seriously, it’s a FUN road. That road alone was worth the trip.
The Snake
Shady Valley Country Store, about midway on The Snake.
From there, we headed north into Virginia, to Abingdon then East on 58 through the Jefferson National Forest. A repeat road for me that I really, REALLY enjoyed during my solo trip. We then followed 16 into Marion where we stopped for lunch before continuing north on the Back of the Dragon.
Marion, Virginia
My not-so-observant Hubby.
We chose Macados for lunch after discovering that the BBQ place we’d really headed for was closed.
After we were seated, I said to Mike, “Did you see the giant dinosaur head on the wall?”
His response? “What dinosaur?” Sigh…
We continued making our way north and east toward Paint Bank, Virginia, where I’d reserved a room at the quaint Depot Lodge. En route, we stopped at the Wolf Creek Indian Village near Bastian for some more LOVE.
Bastian LOVEwork
Yet another lovely road.
Hubby enjoyed the ride just as much as I did. The weather verged on hot at times, but was very pleasant for the most part.
The Depot Lodge in Paint Bank, Virginia
Lobby at The Depot Lodge
Paint Bank General Store
View of the store from our second floor porch.
Chillaxin’ on the porch.
Our room at The Depot Lodge
Sadly, the caboose was already booked.
Outbuilding at The Depot Lodge
View of the lodge from the rear lawn.
Sunday, we had to hurry home to get the dogs from the kennel and so I could get ready to head off to Rockville, MD for work.
Humpback Bridge near Covington, Virginia.
I’d read about the bridge in a pamphlet at the hotel. A pamphlet which did NOT clue me in on a special bonus we’d also find at that location.
Humback Bridge (notice anything odd?)
We’d accidentally found another LOVEwork. How cool is that?
Covington LOVEwork
Hubby, reflecting inside the bridge.
A bit further north, we stopped at this Falling Springs overlook.
This may be the largest waterfall in Virginia.
That waterfall was easily visible from the overlook along 220 north of Covington, yet another AMAZING stretch of road.
Road south of the overlook.
We continued north on 220, all the way to Franklin, West Virginia. It was a beautiful, scenic ride alternating between mountains and valleys. Spectacular, really.
Feanklin, WV
From there, we headed east on US-33 — one of Hubby’s favorite roads — north and east through the Shenandoah Valley, and then, at New Market, east on US-211 to Warrenton.
It may sound repetitive, but that particular series of roads we covered overed three days was probably the best series of roads we’d ever ridden together. Except for maybe in the Italian/Swiss/Austrian Alps. Really. It’s a route we WILL be revisiting.
Here’s a link to my Spotwalla tracker map with a couple little caveats. I forgot to start the app on my phone, so it looks like we started in Elkton, Virginia. Also, my phone battery died just east of Luray, so it appears that we never made it home.
I hope you enjoyed the recap. Now, I have to get to work.
Finding LOVE isn’t as much fun as I thought it would be. There, I’ve said it.
Don’t get me wrong, I’ve enjoyed seeing the various sculptures around the state — see Capturing LOVE in Virginia if you’re “lost” — but they’re sometimes hard to find. And some no longer exist or have been moved. So there’s an element of frustration I didn’t anticipate. Maybe it would be less frustrating in cooler temperatures.
At least it gets me out there, right?
This past Sunday, July 12, Hubby’s to-do list was calling, but I decided to completely shirk responsibility for the day and go have fun instead. After noting the location of several LOVEworks and mapping a route, off I went.
I kept seeing signs for that town, which made me smile. What an odd name for a town! I honestly had no idea if my route would lead me through Cuckoo, so when I saw this sign, I yelled “Cuckoo!” and veered quickly to the shoulder for a quick capture…
What an unusual name for a town.
…or two.
I’ve Gone Cuckoo
I couldn’t resist a fun selfie upon reaching Cuckoo.
After that quick stop, I continued on to Petersburg to capture LOVEwork number one of the day at Petersburg Pickers, a place to which I must return.
Petersburg LOVEwork
I like when locales get creative with their LOVE.
Coolest OPEN sign ever. When the goats are out, they’re open.
Now, I love places like that, but I was hot, hungry, and on the bike (minimal storage space), so I decided that it would be best not to even look in the door. It took self-restraint, trust me.
More of the herd.
From there, it was off to Hopewell for the second LOVEwork of the day. I honestly think I drove right past it because a different sign caught my attention.
BOJANGLES’!
I really, really like Bojangles’ and, since there are none close to home, I almost always stop when I see one on the road. Especially if I happen to be hungry at the time, which I was.
I’m not sure if I ever explained that I worked at a Bojangles’ as a teenager. There were several locations owned by the same group in and around Baltimore for a relatively short — four years? — span of time. Rumor had it that one of the owners or an upper-level employee embezzled a bunch of money, which caused all of the locations to cease operations. It was sad. They really do have the best biscuits. Hardee’s is a close second.
Anyway, it was a bit late for breakfast. I could have opted for some of their yummy, spicy, fried chicken, but it was getting hot. Who wants a stomach full of greasy fried chicken while sweating their ass off in full gear? Not me! So I opted for my favorite, protein-rich breakfast — a steak biscuit with cheese — and a half-and-half iced tea (half sweet tea, half unsweet tea).
You ever drink sweet tea in the South. It’s shockingly sweet. Really. Especially for someone who usually prefers iced tea with no sugar or artificial sweetener added. On hot days, though, I believe a little sugar helps.
After a few circles around the not-so-nice town, I managed to find the LOVEwork at the Visitor’s Center, which was closed.
Hopewell LOVEwork
The sculpture was surprisingly cute given the depressed-feeling nature of the town.
After that, it was off to Richmond. I’d planned on stopping to see another, unrelated sight, but it was getting really hot by that point, so I nixed that stop and continued on to Maymont, a former Victorian country estate, which seemed like it’d be a nice place to visit, if I had more time. It was actually quite crowded, and there was no place for me to park and zip in and out for the LOVE capture, so I just rested for a bit in the shade, sipping iced tea, before continuing on my way.
I did stop for a quick shot of my bike parked by this flowering shrub/tree.
Gorgeous and big Crape Myrtle.
There was another LOVEwork sort of nearby in Richmond, which I believe was my favorite of the day.
Richmond LOVEwork
Yep, that’s the Richmond International Raceway, a place I’m guessing NASCAR fans would really enjoy. It’s a HUGE complex.
Richmond Raceway LOVEwork
I couldn’t decide which pic is my favorite, so I just decided to share all of my top selections.
Richmond Raceway LOVEwork
Richmond Raceway LOVEwork
After that, I’d planned two more stops. Bit it was getting late, and I wanted to be home in time for dinner with my Honey. I crossed the Spotsylvania LOVE off of my list and proceeded to Ashland.
Ashland, like Petersburg, is on my “must revisit” list. It’s a cute town. The LOVEwork was located at the old train station, which is actually still in operation. It’s unmanned, but trains do stop there to pick up and discharge passengers. Lots of freight trains pass through, too. At least that’s what the volunteer inside the station, which doubles as the visitor info center, told me.
Ashland LOVEwork
Bicycle Garden (local art project)
I was happy to have captured four LOVEworks in one day, but I’m still undecided as to whether or not I’ll plan any more trips specifically to see the remaining sculptures. Of course, I have been known to change my mind.
Next stop, home. That was the plan. Then I got thirsty and decided to stop for a drink.
Another cute, rural-ish gas station.
EV Baker’s store is in Unionville, not too far south of Culpeper. It’s just the sort of quirky gas station/general store that I like. And the water was cold. 🙂
I guess I should mention the ride, which was quite pleasant until I hit the more-populated areas around Petersburg, Hopewell, and Richmond. The bulk of my ride was on US-522 from Culpeper to its end near Powhatan at US-60. There was very little traffic most of the way. The pavement was smooth, mostly straight, but humpy (small up-and-down hills) and alternated between picturesque farmland and forest. There was a little traffic near Lake Anna — big recreational lake — but, for the most part, I had the road practically to myself all morning and afternoon traffic was quite light. All in all, it was a very pleasant ride.
Do y’all think I should give up on my LOVE quest, or keep on keeping on? In other words, do you enjoy seeing the LOVEworks I’ve visited? This inquiring mind wants to know.
Before leaving home, I noted the location of ten LOVEworks in the region around which I thought I’d be traveling. I didn’t know if I’d get to them or not, but thought I might, being in the vicinity and all.
So, when I left Gatlinburg, Tennessee this morning, my first destination was Gate City, Virginia. To get there, I had to pass through Kingsport, Tennessee, which is rich with kitsch. No lie.
In fact, Kingsport is where I captured my favorite pic of the day. But first… something really off the wall happened on the way to Kingsport. I have to file this in the “too strange to be made up” category.
It happened right around Limestone, Tennessee. I saw this guy driving in a little dune buggy that reminded me of one of the Hot Wheels or Matchbox cars of my youth. It was a tiny little thing with those lollipop headlights. I laughed out loud when I saw it. What a fun car! It gets weirder…
The guy was zipping along ahead of me, darting in and out of traffic, so I had to make a bit of an effort to keep up. He had what looked like a tapered bucket strapped to the back of the buggy. I thought it was odd, but didn’t give it a whole lot of extra thought. Until, that is, a bunch of red flowers mysteriously appeared on the road. I wasn’t directly behind him at that point. But, a couple of minutes later, when I WAS right behind him, a bunch of blue flowers came out of the funnel-bucket.
Yes, I was actually traveling behind a Hot Wheels-looking dune buggy that shat flowers upon the road. Really. There’s GOT to be a story behind that, right?
Sadly, I had to turn off of the highway shortly after that.
Here’s my favorite capture of the day from Kingsport.
Hamburger-wielding Muffler Man
As for the Gate City LOVEwork… if you followed my route, you’ll see I rode all over town looking for the thing. It’s a really cute town, by the way.
Gate City, Virginia
Gate City may be in the same state, but it’s kind of a different world. The Hardee’s where I stopped to cool off and grab a lite lunch was packed with locals. One older gentleman was trying to talk to me. Bless his heart, I don’t think there was a tooth in his head. Between that and the thick VA/TN accent, I could barely understand the man. After a few minutes, when I realized he was telling me there’d been a bad motorcycle accident just down the road that morning, caused by a girl on a cell phone, I tuned him out. Rude, I know, but that’s not the sort of thing I really need to hear while road tripping.
Anyway… the guy at the counter told me where to find the LOVEwork, so off I went. Only to find no LOVE. I asked another guy at that spot and he told me it had been or was being moved to a field down the road. I looked in several fields only to find no LOVE.
I did manage to capture this lame, plain LOVEwork at the rest stop on I-81 just outside of Bristol, VA.
Bristol, VA LOVEwork
From there, despite the heat, which is worst in urban areas AND while crawling along in traffic, I ventured into downtown Bristol, VA, where I saw a much cooler sign painted on a building (I’ll share that one later).
There were two other ones on my list for the day, one in Abingdon and one in Galax. The latter was a maybe, as I wasn’t sure I wanted to head that far east. After a sweltering 20 minuntes in Abingdon — another adorable town — when I discovered the sign had been damaged and removed for repair, I decided to give up on LOVE for now. It’s too hot for a wild goose chase.
From Abingdon, I headed for higher elevations.
I stopped for gas along the way at a typical, quirky, ruralish gas station/convenience store/hunting supply shop, which is where I found this guy hanging out.
Oh wait, I almost forgot to share this barn quilt I spotted somewhere along the way. Yes, I should have made note of the location, but didn’t.
Barn Quilt
After the LOVE disappointment in Abingdon, my focus turned to riding. I tested one of AmericaRidesMaps recommended routes (VA-58) which was amazing.
The next pic was captured along VA-58.
VA-58 near Grayson Highlands State Park
From there, I headed north to Marion, VA, which is at one end of the Back of the Dragon. It was around 5:00 by that point. Had I found any decent-looking accommodations, I might’ve stayed there, but I didn’t. So I went ahead and rode the Back of the Dragon. Having ridden the Tail of the Dragon in TN three times yesterday — why not? — I can honestly say VA’s dragon is a much nicer ride. It’ll be more well-known one day, like that other Dragon, and I’m sure speed limits will be reduced and it’ll be more heavily patrolled. So enjoy it soon, while you still can!
Tazewell, VA at the northern end of that road had even fewer lodging choices. That’s how I ended up in Princeton, West Virginia. I really had zero inkling that I’d hit West Virginia on this trip. But I’m glad I did. It’s much cooler in the mountains. And I FINALLY got a margarita.
Now I just need to figure out where to go tomorrow. Stay tuned…
