* * Showing old friends our area of Virginia and West Virginia

Jane and I had a wonderful weekend with our friends, Charlie and Marti from Seattle.  I lived in Seattle from 1981 until 1991 and Charlie was one of my first and best friends there.  This was their first visit with us since we moved back to Virginia in 1991.

On Friday, we went into Blacksburg and toured the campus of Virginia Tech.  Marti took photos of the campus, including the memorial for the students and faculty murdered in the shooting rampage on April 16, 2001.  They thought the campus was lovely, with the limestone, gothic buildings.

That afternoon, we turned south and visited with Lee Chichester in Meadows Of Dan.  Lee is a the falconer who keeps two hawks.  We accompanied her as she took the red tailed hawk hunting for squirrels and rabbits.  The hawk was able to scare up one squirrel but was unable to kill it.  Lee told us that when a rabbit is killed it admits a loud and sorrowful scream.  Jane was happy when Lee’s hawk was ultimately unsuccessful at killing anything.

We then toured downtown Floyd and had dinner at one of the restaurants there.  Our evening culminated in the attendance at the world-famous Friday Night Jamboree at Cochram’s country store.  After the first hour of gospel music, a bluegrass band entertained us as a crowd of cloggers and tap dancers danced.

On Saturday, we took Charlie and Marti to the hotel at Mountain Lake where the movie Dirty Dancing was filmed.  One of the chapters in The Spine of the Virginias is an interview with Buzz Scanland.  Buzz is the general manager at the hotel.  The hotel itself is grand.  The Dirty Dancing connection is fun.  And the fact that the lake periodically empties itself out and then refills is geologically interesting.

Our next stop was the short hike along the Appalachian Trail to Wind Rick which is an overlook on Potts Mountain of the Little Stony Creek Valley.

Our third stop was atop Peters Mountain where we walked to the Raptor Observatory at Hanging Rock.  Although we only saw one raptor, coincidentally a red tailed hawk, the day was bright, sunny, and unseasonably warm.  It was the perfect day to be atop an Appalachian Mountain. 

Our fourth stop was at the Swinging Bridge Restaurant in Paint Bank.  We had a nice chat with Mikell Ellison who is the manager.  Mikell is also profiled in the book and she is a great conversationalist.

Our fifth stop was with Tracy Roberts who lives on SR 42 between New Castle and Newport.  Tracy lives in a pre-Civil War house that I wanted Charlie and Marti to see.

On Sunday, we drove to Bramwell, West Virginia, where we got a personal tour from Mayor Lou Stoker and her daughter Dana Cochran.  Lou and Dana are also profiled in The Spine.  Bramwell is an enchanting town with many exquisite homes.  Jane had not met Lou and Dana before and everyone enjoyed the tour very much.

Afterward, we drove through Pocahontas, Virginia and Welch and Mullins, West Virginia on our way to the New River Gorge.  We spent the night in a bed and breakfast called the Morris Harvey House in Fayetteville, only 2 miles from the great arch bridge over the New River.  I had a nice conversation that evening with another guest, a retired Mennonites minister from Stanton, Virginia.  He and his wife were there on their 50^th wedding anniversary.  He was very excited about my book and asked to be put on the mailing list.

On Monday morning, Charlie and Marti departed eastward towards the beaches of North Carolina.  They were delighted by what they saw and experienced and the weather couldn't have been more cooperative.

Jane and I took a hike on the rim of the New River Gorge to a place where we had an exceptional view looking to the south at many rapids in the river and the gorge itself.  We sat in the warm, bright sunshine for perhaps an hour watching the buzzards soar on the thermals emanating from the gorge.  We were also delighted to see what I think was a Peregrine falcon.

By early afternoon, I was back in Christiansburg at my office.

* * Research trips to Glade Springs, VA and Monroe Co., WV

Last week I took two interesting trips.  On Monday, I traveled down Interstate 81 to a town called Glade Spring, about 90 miles away, to meet Frank Kilgore, who I profiled in The Spine of the Virginias.  Frank is a lawyer from far Southwest Virginia who has been active in promoting the health, welfare, and economic development of that region.  Frank is one of the founders of the Appalachian School of Law in Grundy which has been tremendously successful in bringing new life to that community.  He is also a founder of the Appalachian College of Pharmacy in Oakwood, which is near Grundy.  Frank is launching a new magazine called Mountain Peeks.  He and I have been discussing potential ways that I can assist with that magazine.

In Glade Spring, Frank and I had lunch with Lee Coburn.  Lee is a young man who ran a successful advertising agency in Atlanta.  Lee has relocated his agency to the tiny community of Glade Spring, hoping to get out of the traffic and rat race of Atlanta.  He has purchased and refurbished many downtown buildings in Glade Spring.  Like many small Appalachian towns, Glade Spring had seen its downtown fall into disrepair in recent decades.  I am planning to return this week to take some pictures and interview him and others to learn more about their efforts to rejuvenate that community.

On Wednesday of last week, I rode my motorcycle to Monroe County, West Virginia.  I met with several old friends including Pete Ballard in Peterstown, Fred and Barbara Ziegler in Greenville, and Craig Moehler, Jay Banks and Rod Graves in Union.  I was able to learn many new things about that community in preparation for my second book, my novel called Union WV.  Rod and I toured the historic Rehoboth Church which is one of Union’s most visited landmarks as it is the oldest church west of the Allegheny Mountains, built in 1786.

I am still awaiting word from a potential publisher for The Spine of the Virginias.  Meanwhile, I am exploring self-publishing options and working on the novel, Union, WV.

Most of the leaves have fallen from the trees throughout the area, but with several bright sunny days, it is still a beautiful time of year.

 

* * Hiking the Appalachian Trial to Angel's Rest in Giles County

Our peak leaf season is a week or two past.  That makes this one of my favorite times of the year to hike the nearby trails. 

The Appalachian Trail has more miles in Virginia than in any other state.  While I have never hiked the trail in its entirety, I often pick off short chunks of it in backpacking trips.  I have hiked in New Hampshire, Vermont, West Virginia, Virginia, Tennessee, and North Carolina.

This week, we had quite a bit of rain.  On a clearing morning, I took a hike on the Trail to an overlook called Angels Rest which is on Pearis Mountain near Pearisburg in Giles County. 

The trail ascends rapidly to the crest of Pearis Mountain.  It took me about one hour and 40 minutes to go from the base of the mountain to the top.  It was a cool and with wet leaves, it was extremely slick walking.  From the overlook, I got a nice view of long straight section of the New River near Pembroke.  I walked on the trail westward for a few additional miles on the crest.  One the return trip, I stopped for lunch at an overlook with a nice view of the Wilburn Valley to the south.  The few trees that still had leaves were bright yellow and very pretty.  I slipped and fell twice and have a purple bruise on my left thigh.

Most of my week was spent writing and editing my second book, my novel called Union, WV.  This week, I will return to Union for more research.  I will stop to see several friends, people met doing the research for The Spine of the Virginias, including Pete Ballard of Peterstown, Fred and Barbara Ziegler of Greenville, and Rod Graves and Craig Mohler of Union. 

 

* * Falconing at Meadows of Dan and motorcycling to Burke's Garden

Last week was an entertaining and educational week.  My father, who is now in his early 80s, is a wildlife photographer in his retirement.  He and I visited with Lee Chichester at her home near the village of Meadows of Dan in Floyd County, Virginia.  Lee is a falconer.  She keeps two birds of prey near her home.  One is a red tailed hawk.  The other is a hybrid true falcon that was grown in captivity.  We took the red tailed hawk to a forest not far from her house where it was able to attack and kill a squirrel.  She also took out her falcon.  It caught some meat that she swung from the end of a string.  This experience was something I wish to write about in my second book, my novel.  Her birds are beautiful, appealing, and intriguing creatures.  It was a wonderful way to spend a gorgeous fall afternoon.  Dad took several pictures.  If you are interested in seeing them, please send me a message at my e-mail, bikemike@nrvunwired.net.

On Wednesday, I met my motorcycling friend Mike Gunther and we rode together to Burke’s Garden in Tazewell County.  I have been asked by Blue Ridge Country magazine to do an article for them about motorcycling there.  We had another beautiful fall day for this trip.  The article will appear in that magazine sometime in the spring.

Speaking of Blue Ridge Country magazine, the current edition is about the Civil War.  One of the articles in it is a profile that I wrote about Bob MacGraw, a Civil War reenactor from Tazewell, Virginia.  Writing this article was a very emotional experience for me.  When I met Bob a year earlier, he was approximately my age, in his mid-50s.  He seemed to be in decent health.  When I called on him a year later, he had a bandage on his ear lobe and said he had had a touch of melanoma that had recurred.  During the week I was involved with submitting the article to my editor at Blue Ridge Country, I made a call to Bob to confirm his permission to have the article printed and to get some last-minute details.  The voice on the other end of the line was unrecognizable to me.  He explained that his melanoma had returned with a vengeance and that he was in hospice care.  Three weeks later, he was dead.  The article in the magazine hit the bookshelves only a week or two later.  His wife, Anita, was very appreciative and she knew he would have been delighted.

My quest for a suitable publisher for The Spine of the Virginias is ongoing.  If you have any contacts in the publishing industry or any suggestions for me, please do not hesitate to contact me.

* * Motorcycling to Paint Bank, Hiking to Peters Mountain

Y'all,

Two days ago, on Saturday, I rode my Honda CBX motorcycle to Paint Bank for breakfast.  It was an overcast day, much colder than typical for this time of year.  The owners of the general store in Paint Bank built on the rear a new building to hose a restaurant called The Swinging Bridge.  This is a wonderfully funky place and with a big fire in the fireplace I was able to warm myself quickly.

Mikell Ellison is the general manager of the general store and restaurant.  I met her about a year ago and interviewed her for my book.  Since then, she has become a good friend.  Her insights into the area are as interesting and profound as anyone I’ve met.  She was very kind to offer me some shelf space in the general store for my book once it becomes available.  She also asked if I would come to the store and do a book signing and read excerpts from the book.  I told her I was certainly happy to do that.

Yesterday, I hiked with Kyle, a young friend who is a student at Virginia Tech, on a section of the Appalachian Trail to the north of us near Pearisburg, Virginia.  The woods are now in the peak of autumn color season and the forest was beautiful. We spoke with a group of three backpackers, a father and his two sons.  They drove all the way from Indianapolis to hike a 90 mile section of our backyard Appalachian Trail.  Kyle and I hiked to the ridge line of Peters Mountain.  At the top of the mountain, there was a light dusting of snow.  In this time of year, mid-October, it is unusual to have our first snow fall.  The trail was beautiful with the white snow covering the colorful leaves.  There was a brisk wind blowing from the north which made the ridgelines quite cold.  However, on our descent back down the south side of the mountain, the weather was much milder and more comfortable.

On the way home, we were driving on US 460 with a pickup truck and a car side-by-side some 100 yards in front of us.  A large doe darted across the highway from our left, narrowly missing oncoming traffic.  Unfortunately, the car in front of us smashed into her horrifically.  The entire front end of this car was destroyed with plastic and glass parts seemingly erupting from the collision.  The car pulled off the side of the road and we stopped momentarily to make sure everyone was okay before continuing on.  There are so many dead deer on our highways these days.  But in all my years here I had never seen one actually hit and have never hit one myself.  Last night I had nightmare visions of the collision.