Magical Place.
Last week Banjo Boy and I went to Southwest Virginia. We pilgrimage there every year when the leaves begin to change. Sometimes we camp. Sometimes we stay in rustic cabins built by the CCC. The closest town consists of a few buildings clustered around a single intersection. There's a general store, a hardware store, a lawyer's office, and a barbershop. All buildings from the 19th century. There is also a courthouse, a few antique stores, and a diner where they serve biscuits and gravy and grits.
There's no cell phone service. No internet. And it's perfect. We go down there and disappear.
Ten years ago, Banjo Boy began to come to this tiny place to play music with the old folks. He befriended Elzara, the keeper of the general store, who is a lively old hag well into her 80s. He also befriended her boyfriend Hubert, who arm wrestles at the store every Thursday night for money... and wins. And this is also where Banjo Boy found himself a Banjo Mentor, who lives in cabin by himself and comes out only once in a blue moon to play music.
And there are other characters, too. It seems like everyone in that small place knows Banjo Boy, has played music with him, let him camp on their property, or fed him.
When we visit this place, we say hullo to some folks, but then we run off and adventure. We spend days exploring trails and back roads. And taking pictures of abandoned farmsteads and interesting buildings. This time I found an old house that had burned. The vinyl siding had melted away to expose a rough hewn timbers beneath... an early single pen log cabin. There were other interesting sites, too, that we discovered on this trip, and we even found an overgrown cemetery deep in the woods.
We did our traditional "Apple Hike" that brings us through an abandoned apple orchard. Once again, we filled our packs with as many apples as we could carry.
We had two special encounters that were almost too freaky to explain.
And I hope to share picture and stories soon....
Here's one quick picture. I have one of me sitting on the same rock, four years in a row.
There's no cell phone service. No internet. And it's perfect. We go down there and disappear.
Ten years ago, Banjo Boy began to come to this tiny place to play music with the old folks. He befriended Elzara, the keeper of the general store, who is a lively old hag well into her 80s. He also befriended her boyfriend Hubert, who arm wrestles at the store every Thursday night for money... and wins. And this is also where Banjo Boy found himself a Banjo Mentor, who lives in cabin by himself and comes out only once in a blue moon to play music.
And there are other characters, too. It seems like everyone in that small place knows Banjo Boy, has played music with him, let him camp on their property, or fed him.
When we visit this place, we say hullo to some folks, but then we run off and adventure. We spend days exploring trails and back roads. And taking pictures of abandoned farmsteads and interesting buildings. This time I found an old house that had burned. The vinyl siding had melted away to expose a rough hewn timbers beneath... an early single pen log cabin. There were other interesting sites, too, that we discovered on this trip, and we even found an overgrown cemetery deep in the woods.
We did our traditional "Apple Hike" that brings us through an abandoned apple orchard. Once again, we filled our packs with as many apples as we could carry.
We had two special encounters that were almost too freaky to explain.
And I hope to share picture and stories soon....
Here's one quick picture. I have one of me sitting on the same rock, four years in a row.