Back in the day...

There were quite a few remaining cabins and mills along the Parkway's route. We enjoyed stopping to check them out and get a sense of what it would have been like for the early settlers who chose to homestead in this part of the wilderness back in those days long ago. The first picture above is of Mabry Mill. This was the orginial structure where the Mabry's lived and ran this saw mill and grist mill. The inside of the mill is quite small and claustrophic. but I'm sure this was a very valueable business to have in this remote area.

The last picture is of a cabin lived in by a couple named Puckett. The woman's name was Orelena Hawks Puckett. She was born in 1837 and married at age 16 and lived to be 102! She became the midwife in this area after the age of 50 and she delivered more than 1000 babies during the next 52 years. She delivered her last baby the year she died, 1939. She was typically paid about $1 for a delivery or $6 if times were good. Otherwise, she took her payment in food or chickens or whatever the family could provide. She herself gave birth to 24 children but tragically none lived past infancy. You really had to be hardy souls and very self-sufficient to survive the harsh conditions of this life. We were very happy to be able to return to our car and everything we have in our 21st century lives and keep on rolling down the road. Do you think someday people will drive past what is remaining of my life and wonder how I survived? Interesting....

Mr & Mrs Hawk-Watchers

The whole time we traveled the Blue Ridge Parkway we noticed big beautiful birds soaring above the trees. They were very impressive with their wings spread out and the way they just seemed to navigate the sky so effortlessly. One afternoon as Jill and I rounded a bend in the road we saw this couple and their gear set up in a small meadow. They peaked our curiousity so we stopped to check them out. Their car was parked out in the grassy field with the back hatch wide open and this easel set up with all kinds of charts and displays on it. The guy had a camp chair complete with a sun umbrella attached to it and he was sitting there with his binoculars locked on the sky. His wife had been down the "pike a piece" and she was just coming back to check in with him. Turns out they are originally from Florida where he taught science in high school and they moved to a tiny town just off the parkway a few years ago so they could do this work. They volunteer their time to this project (even his license plate reflects his interest). Each day for the next 3 months from about 8:30 am - 4:30 pm they will be out here trying to spot all the hawks, eagles, falcons and other big raptor-type birds as they migrate south for the winter. I guess there are some pretty knarly warm thermals that pass over the parkway and the birds find them, hop on and just get carried along for miles and miles. When a bird is spotted, they tally it on their whiteboard. They had a dozen or so birds tallied there so far but it seemed like you would have to have unbelievable patience to sit there hour after hour and day after day and hope to spot something flying by! I'm afraid I do not have the attention span for this hobby.

Friday Night Jamboree

Welcome to the little town of Floyd, VA and the one and only Floyd Country Store, home of the world famous "Friday Night Jamboree". Unfortunately we weren't there on a Friday so we totally missed out on this time-honored tradition. From the outside, this store looks like any other small town store. Inside it starts out typical with small town goods for sale but at the back of the store is a raised stage full of microphones. In front of the stage is a good sized dance floor and then surrounding the dance floor are rows and rows (well, at least three rows on each side) of these mix and matched chairs all covered in every rendition of chair cushion you could think of! So adorable and inviting!

Each Friday night people converge on this tiny town to be entertained with some good ole' bluegrass and pickin' and strummin'. You can see from the "marquee" who was playing last weekend. Hanging below the chalkboard was a piece of paper that further explained the cost of admission: Tickets $3.00 a person unless: 1. you are under 6 years of age 2. you are a musician bringing along your instrument or 3. you are a great grandma!

I loved the overalls display that hung on one of the store's walls. I know they sold these right there in the store but I wasn't sure if they weren't also displaying the dress code.

This was a highlight of my trip! Truly a glimpse into authentic Americana!

"We rednecks!"

We were gasing up our cute little minivan in Buchanan, VA (pronounded "buck cannon" according to these two residents) when this truck pulled into the gas station. We couldn't help but notice since the truck was very loud and the paint job was very eye catching?! We just had to get a closer look so we approched these guys and asked about the custom camoflauge. They told us they just ripped branches of leaves off of a tree and layed them down and spray painted away. They said it took about "15 minutes and $5 worth of spray paint" (complete with a deep southern redneck twang). We loved it! What great creativity and resoursefulness. As we were talking and joking with them, that is when they told us "we rednecks". When we asked if we could take a picture of them and their truck they were very willing to accommodate us but then they asked "when ya'all get that film daveloped, could ya'all please send us a copy". Paul got out a pen and paper and began to ask what their email address was and then he rethought the question and just asked for their regular address! Just another highlight of our adventure along the Blue Ridge Parkway!