Blue Ridge Parkway

Hey there! Surprisingly, I'm back! We've been on the road for a couple of days, and last night, we left the Blue Ridge Parkway in search of a nearby KOA. The KOA was supposed to be open until the 15th, but it was closed for the season when we arrived. No problem. I checked one of my apps and found a nearby RV park in Hillsville, Virginia, that claimed to be open all year. It was about ten miles down the road, and we found the gates closed when we arrived, along with a sign instructing us to register using "after hours" procedures. It appears they've left a portion of the park open, and they're charging just $25 per night to stay here...which is cheap, given what we've been paying at other places. It includes full hook-ups! And here's the best part...there's no cell signal, and so I didn't think I'd be able to blog this morning. But then, we discovered the wi-fi is up and running and it's banging in like nobody's business! So, hooray! Here I am! I missed you guys so much! [My excitement here was short-lined...read on, my friends.]

So here's what's been going on. We left Luray, Virginia, and drove south to the southernmost exit of Shenandoah National Park. Along the way we saw a few barns.

And then we were there...cool! The Blue Ridge Parkway. Ever since we realized it was on our way, we've been excited to see it.

Just after arriving on the parkway itself, we pulled off at one of the first overlooks. Whoa. What a view.

Driving on a little further...

And that, my friends, is as far as I got with this post, started four days ago. After I uploaded those pictures above, the wi-fi crapped out. There was no cell service, and the wi-fi did not return. We asked at the park office about it, thinking they might have booted us off for some reason. Nope...it was just down and out and it didn't come back. So, we've been Jonesing to be in touch with folks, and with no cell service either, it's been an internet and communication blackout. Our hands are trembling. Our heads are aching. We're weird, nervous, and thirsty, and words are exploding out of my head. Yes, it's true. I'm walking around like a figure in a comic book with a word balloon over my head, and a crowded one at that. The font keeps getting smaller and smaller as the words accumulate.

So let's just catch up, and then back up, shall we? As I'm writing this, we are near the entrance to Great Smoky Mountains National Park, but we have not yet visited the park. We're staying at a KOA in Cherokee, North Carolina. (Yes! Another new state for the side of the RV!) And I have to say something nice here about KOA because these folks have been ever so friendly and welcoming. I requested a spot with good wi-fi, because we still have no cell service. They obliged, and now I'm writing to you...purging myself of words and pictures. It's practically an emergency, let me tell you. Also, we'd accumulated enough points that we got $25 off our stay. And here's something else. You North Carolina and Virginia people have accents that are downright contagious. It's almost impossible to talk to you without picking up that charming southern bluegrass twang.

Okay, so now you're caught up with today's adventures (sort of)...let's back up now. I'm backing up all the way to when we first got on the Blue Ridge Parkway. We kind of freaked out when we saw this tunnel, but we passed under with no problem...good thing because we didn't freak out until we were actually passing underneath.

The parkway was very slow going with our big rig. Even without it the speed limit is just 45 mph. We were traveling along at about 35 mph most of the way. When you consider it's 469 miles from end to end, we weren't sure we were going to live long enough to go the whole distance. Because of that, we decided to exit when we approached Virginia's Natural Bridge State Park. We found another of Yogi Bear's parks at the bottom of the hill and pulled in there for the night.

Of course, the kitties want nothing more after a day of traveling than to get out on the catio. They looked this way.

And that way.

And this way.

And that way.

It was around 3:30 when we were all unhooked and set up, and the state park was closing at dusk. We wasted no time getting on our way to see it. When we left the kitties, they looked like this.

From the RV park, it was just a few minutes to the state park. The visitor center is housed in this colonial building.

We were put off by the $8 each it cost us to get in (because we're cheap that way), but it turned out to be well worth the money...no regrets at all about that. And at 215-feet tall, it's YUGE! It was once owned by Thomas Jefferson and is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.

It's a limestone gorge carved over the course of centuries by the flowing water of Cedar Creek.

You can walk through it, and from the other side, it looks like this. There are benches set up like church pews on both sides, and I have it on good authority (from a quilting friend who's actually done it) that it's possible to get married here.

Also, a sign told us legend has it that George Washington climbed up the wall about 20 feet and carved his initials there. You'll have to decide for yourself whether you believe it...I'll just say that I'm skeptical.

And, of course, we took the requisite selfie. What else could we do?

From there we returned to the RV park and spent the night, heading out again for the Blue Ridge Parkway the next day. Since it was such slow-going, we determined that we would decide to visit certain areas of the parkway, traveling between it and the interstate. On the second day, we were on our way to Mabry Mill. We drove some down the interstate until we were south of Roanoke, and then headed up to the parkway near Christiansburg.

In the image below, you can see the overpass of the Blue Ridge Parkway, but we were so freaked out by the sight of another tunnel that we completely missed our turn just to the left of the frame below.

We missed the turn, passed under the tunnel, and then dropped down, down, down, in elevation for about five miles until we came to a little place where we could turn around. When we got headed back in the right direction again, we saw this little church. Pretty, huh?

When we finally got back to the parkway and headed in the right direction, it looked like this. You can see that most of the leaves have fallen from the trees now, although there are a few hangers on.

There are many structures along the way the look like the one below. This area has been homesteaded and occupied for centuries. We're kind of in the heart of Appalachia here.

The object of our desire on this day was Mabry Mill, which sounded very interesting. You can read more about it at that link I've given you, and I'll include some of the informational signs we encountered.

For the most part, the Blue Ridge Parkway has been RV friendly, and Mabry Mill was no exception, providing plenty of RV and bus parking. It was mostly abandoned during our visit since it is closed for the season. Still, it was a nice place to stop for lunch, and we were able to stroll the grounds and peer in windows, even if we were not able to go inside.

We first encountered this contraption used in the making of sorghum.

Here's a close-up of the gearing.

Also, we loved this. We figure Mr. Mabry made as much money selling moonshine as he did grinding grain.

Here's the "recipe" if you're interested.

Walking on...

 Here's one of the log cabins that remains there.

Above that was the blacksmith shop.

I peered in the window and took a picture, but it's hard to see much in here.

Eventually, we came to the mill itself. Here's some information about it, and I've included the diagram below the sign.

The millstones were lying outside the structure.

Here's how it looks. That's a flume that feeds water to the water wheel.

Peering inside...again...it was hard to see much of anything.

Walking around to the far side. It looks like this:

This is the most photographed spot on the entire Blue Ridge Parkway, and it was lovely. Wasn't it nice of Mr. and Mrs. Duck to swim there in the water, adding to the charm of the place? The photograph above is going into my sketchbook, but I haven't decided what one word to use to describe this One Word Wonder. "Gristmill" or "Millstone" are the only things that come to mind. What ideas do you have? Remember: one word only. It's harder than it sounds.

Moving on down the road, we passed by another pretty church.

And then we headed to our final destination for the day. Along the way we passed this barn. I'm sorry I didn't get a better picture of it, but I knew you'd want to see it anyway. It has a quilt block!

And that kind of brings you up to date on our travels except for today's journey and some of the sewing I've been doing. We ended up staying an extra day there so that Mike could do some trailer maintenance, and I had a day of sewing. Also, we ran a bunch of errands and got in a trip to the grocery store. I'll finish catching up in tomorrow's post.