Day 40: Virginia

Blue Ridge

Today was all the Blue Ridge Parkway, with one detour. The last time I was in Asheville I went to the Blue Ridge Parkway visitor center and watched the movie but couldn’t drive the Parkway because of ice in the tunnels. The Blue Ridge Parkway, if I remember the movie correctly, was a public works project during the depression and it winds through Virginia and North Carolina for 470 miles.

I had planned to head to Kentucky, but had trouble finding a hotel available near where I wanted to stay so, I decided to drive almost exclusively on the Blue Ridge Parkway from Asheville to Roanoke Virginia. I will hit Kentucky tomorrow.  The Parkway is spectacular, a two-lane road, top speed of 45 miles per hour. It winds through the Appalachians and offers many pull outs for amazing views over the hill into the valleys.  About 100 miles north of Asheville, it got really busy, cars parked everywhere, every lot full.  People all taking pictures of the foliage. It was a beautiful fall day, temperatures in the low 60’s at the most.

My one detour was to Mt Airy, North Carolina. Mt. Airy is the birthplace of Andy Griffith and is where the TV Show Mayberry RFD, drew its story lines.  As you can image, the town has embraced this and become a tourist stop all based on that TV show.  There is an Andy Griffith Museum, a replica Floyd’s barbershop and many other references to the TV show.  My generation is the last generation that is going to remember that show.  I wonder if the town is prepared for a loss of interest built around a TV sit-com from the 60’s.

Song of the Day: Virginia, Whiskey Myers

Podcast: How I built this: Two stories of Black Women running companies, The Dallas Mavericks and Bossy Cosmetics.

Book on Tape:  Talking to Strangers, today Amanda Knox and how she was wrongly convicted because her telling of the truth did not fit her actions

Beer of the Day:  Ramble On, Star Hills Brewing

Total Miles: 315