Day 9 -April 12 continued

As the rain cleared we had a quick walk around the park. The main park lodge is a beautiful stone and wood structure dating back to early 1900’s when the park was constructed.

We headed out again to the Blue Ridge Parkway which is a narrow two lane highway that winds up and down the Appalachian and surrounding mountains providing frequent and spectacular views. In combination with the maximum 45 mph speed limit the frequent photos stops are giving us an average speed of about 30 mph so we are not exactly rocketing along but really enjoying the laid back pace. Even thought everything is in bloom, or actually in leaf, the park centres are not open yet as this is unseasonal weather. The upside to this is that there is next to no traffic, it appears that everyone has been caught off guard so the campgrounds have lots of vacancies and in this off season not having reservations is not proving to be a problem. However to find a campground, or garage, or grocery store you have to leave the parkway on one of the many roads that crisscross the route.

It was a need for fuel that drove us off the Parkway at around 2:30 at the town of Bedford. Although Jane and Ike’s Toyota truck (the LRT in case you had forgotten) has much better fuel consumption than the BRT it also has a smaller fuel tank and we need to fill up at about the same time which is proving convenient. Gas continues to get cheaper. We have bought it as cheaply as $3.29 a usg. Prices like that make a huge difference when you have a tank the size of the BRT which seems to hold one tanker truck full of fuel. At a couple of stations when we finished paying for gas they shut the station down and left on vacation.

At Bedford we stopped at a bakery and cafe for a quick bite. They had a wifi connection – not surprisingly ‘poundcakes’ was the password. We took advantage of that to send some e- mails and update our blog. Jane ‘face-timed’ with her dad and I contacted Colin to see how he was making out and to see if that border guard had been poking around. Apparently my ruse is working as there hasn’t been any sign of her. (Just a note to the casual reader – I will be referencing earlier entries assuming that all of this content is so riveting you don’t want to miss any of it, so if some comment like the above makes no sense then – busted, you haven’t read the other entries tsk, tsk).

The bakery stop

Further down the road in Bedford we stopped at the Bedford Visitors Centre. Going against the tide of most other municipalities that are shutting down such locations due to such easy access to tourist info on the Internet, Bedford has made a statement that tourism is important and built a beautiful information centre with interpretive displays, a wifi hotspot and to top it off RV hook ups at a reasonable price if you want to hang around.

We still had sunlight to burn and wanted to make some mo distance so they recommended a park further down the Parkway, the Smith Lake Park – a state run park. With directions in hand we headed off. One thing we are quickly discovering however is that as nice as these parks are it’s almost like they don’t want you to find them if you are a cfa. Signage is almost non existent and none of them are on main drags. Often they are not on the maps or GPS so finding one can be a challenge. Smith Lake Park proved not to be an exception to this rule. After several wrong turns and a couple of back-ups, we finally found it.

Interestingly on the list of things that you can’t do in the park, like discharge a firearm, cut down live trees, detonate nuclear devices (without the supervision of an adult) the first thing listed is ‘no alcoholic beverages’ – talk about having your priorities set. The volunteer camp host reinforced that several times when they ‘welcomed’ us to the grounds. One man’s welcome is another man’s warning- remember, just because you are paranoid doesn’t mean that they aren’t out to get you.

We were feeling in need of a rest day so discussed staying for two nights but booked in for one when we signed in, awaiting the next day to make that decision. Many of the parks have self check in. You pick up an envelope at the entry building, pick out a site and then drop off the envelope with your info and the payment. The next morning the park host drops by to see if everything is in order. However at Smith’s Lake the visitor’s centre was opened and staffed by a young gentleman who must have been an outside worker because he seems to be somewhat challenged by the computerized registration system which easily took ten times longer than the envelope in the slot system – you gott’a love the economies that technology has brought to old processes.

We found two nice sites next to each other and after a requisite campfire went to bed. I think we are finally settling into sleeping in this bed as Di and I both had the best sleep of the week.

Day 10 – April 13

After a quick morning conference we agreed that a rest day was in order and Ike headed down to the visitors centre to check in for the second night. Unfortunately the centre was closed so we talked to our camp host who said that there were two site left and that he would get the park ranger to contact us. While Jane and Ike waited for the appearance of what later appeared to be a somewhat elusive park ranger Di and I headed out for a bike ride, our first of the trip. We returned in about 1/2 hour, still no ranger and we all headed off to explore the park and trails on our bicycles.

Smith Lake is a large man made lake and apparently prime bass country, striped bass are stocked. As we cycled down to the boat launch the parking lot was full of 1/2 ton trucks, all of which had crew cabs and boat trailers, bedecked in sparkle paint you can only assume matched their big billy bob bass boats. Now when I say full I mean at least 100 trucks and trailers, I have never seen so many boat trailers in one spot. And just as a testament to the size of the lake, as I looked out I could only see three boats.

A Big Billy Bob Bass Boat – in it’s natural setting

We took a woods trail that ran along the edge of the lake and then back to our camp sites. It turned out to be bike/hike as the terrain was a little rugged in places but it was a very welcome change to driving. We were very cautious on the hiking part as we were told that Virginia is home to the copperhead snake, a close encounter with which could lead to a premature end to the trip, and life in general.

After another great meal and campfire under an amazingly clear star filled sky we turned in with the plan to be on the road ‘early’ the following morning.

Day 11 – April 14

True to our plan we were on the road by 9:00, yes that is early. Our plan was to get back on to the Blue Ridge Parkway by the ‘back roads’ and then cross over to a town called Floyd which, according to the travel info we had, was in interesting spot. Back roads was no overstatement of our route, we drove though some beautiful country along a road than more often than not was not even blessed with a centre line. My only real concern was if my NRA sticker was big enough. We found Floyd, and true to the guide it proved to be a very interesting location. We ate at the ‘Oddfellows Cantina’ where two guitarists entertained us.

We then went two doors down to a cafe/ice cream store. At the back of the store a permanent stage with audience seating was being used by a group of local musicians who were playing bluegrass music. As we watched more musicians with instrument cases drifted in. It appeared to be a regular informal jam session. Before long there was an upright bass, several banjos and guitars drawing an ever increasing audience of Sunday shoppers.

Bluegrass in Floyd