Along the Blue Ridge crest

Wednesday, July 8  Day 4  Meadows of Dan, VA to Laurel Springs, NC  76 miles, 6030 ft

"The most photographed spot on the BRP" is what they say about Mabry Mill, which was just three miles from where we stayed last night. Jeff took this picture of me early this morning. It was a fabulous day (no rain!) with tons of beautiful scenery and "only" 6000 feet of climbing. So many times we were right at the crest of the Blue Ridge mountains, when we could look both east and west to the valleys below, at the same spot on the road.

A few of us spent 30-40 minutes at Mabry Mill because they had several historical exhibits to view. Interestingly, when we rode past this picturesque spot in 2008, no one stopped because it was pouring rain. I do, however, have a photo of the mill with me in it from 1978 when Penny and I were on a driving vacation across the country. The photo above shows the flume for the water to turn the mill wheel. Water was apparently scarce, so Ed Mabry had three flumes from different sources to ensure enough water.

 An old cart.

 Inside his home.

 Outside shot of his home.

In the background is the back of the mill and the BRP. Anyway, it's always interesting to see the way our pioneers lived and worked. The mill was from early 20th century, abandoned and fallen into ruin in the mid-30s, then restored.

 Rhododendrons! The parkway was decorated with rhododendrons all morning and some of the afternoon. They were all flowering, although a week or so past their prime. Made for much beauty today as we rode along.

Chuck got his 2nd flat of the trip. At least HIS CO2 cartridges were still good. I still cannot believe I carried an empty cartridge for a couple years.

Anyone want to live and work a farm on the BRP? The price could be attractive!

 An old fort along the parkway.

Old Ma Puckett lived in this cabin in her older years. She died at age 102. She was well known in these parts because she was a midwife who delivered about 1000 babies. She had 24 herself, although none lived past infancy. That's Terry (left) and Mark.

And here are Mark and Terry again, chugglin along up yet another hill. As we've said, we like the downhills, but they also mean you're just going to have to climb a hill again.

 This was interesting. A set of cabins for visitors, built in a ring on the hill.

And here we are having breakfast/lunch in Fancy Gap, VA. Alvin had told us there was a restaurant that served pie at our mile 25, so we decided to give it a try. It was just off the parkway. When I got there, everyone was eating a full breakfast, even though we'd had breakfast back at our motel. It turned out, they decided that this would be our lunch. Still, I was set on pie as a snack, so I ordered a large slice of coconut cream pie. YUM. A bit later, after watching everyone else eating a full meal, I ordered a cheese/egg sandwich.

 This was the restaurant, and I love all the bikes lined up there.

 It was raining when we began the BRP on Monday morning, so we decided to get our group shot in Fancy Gap as we got back on the parkway. We were missing only Jeff who had gone on before we decided to gather the group for this photo. L to R: Chuck, me, Mark, Bryan, Jill, Terry, Alvin.

 This was just off the BRP on a parallel road, so I just HAD to go over and get this photo.

There's a Music Center on the BRP! I was riding along merrily enjoying the scenery when I saw a sign for "Music Center". As I got to the left turn, there was a temporary sign saying "music today". I decided to investigate. It was a full-fledged Blue Ridge Mountains music museum. I decided to listen to the two performers, and then I toured the museum and also visited a temporary exhibit on banjos.

The banjo exhibit was really interesting. It was the history of banjos, and the fellow there had made all of them based on people's memories and drawings of what they looked like. We could see their evolution dating since the slavery days when slaves recalled what they had looked like in West Africa. I loved the whole visit, and I saw Jeff there too.

 At about Mile Marker 217, just before one of our rest stops, we crossed into NC.

Nearby was this sign saying that the construction of the BRP began near there in 1935. Tomorrow we are going to see where it was completed, in 1987! (52 years later!)

 One of dozens of photos I took today of the vast views into the valleys below,

This was a telephoto shot of Stone Mtn, a huge slab of granite on this hillside.

This was our rest stop at Mile Post 236. The day had warmed up enough for me to remove my vest. It was supposed to rain, but never did today.

 Another great view to the west in my final 12 miles.

 A roadside exhibit of the old Brinegar Family home from the early 20th century. He and his wife were completely self-supporting.

A memory from my 2008 trip. It was raining all day back then, and we stopped at this restaurant for lunch after 69 miles of riding that day, when the total was 125 miles (today we had only 6 more miles to go). It was such a welcomed stop then since we could shed our wet clothes and warm up with hot cocoa and a hot lunch. It's all written up in my book. Unfortunately, it went out of business a few years ago. The bad part that day was having to put back on the wet clothes and go back into the rain for our remaining 56 miles.

This set of five photos shows a spectacular spot in the descent from the summit where the out-of-business restaurant was. Rocks on the left in a wide sweeping curve, with a drop-off cliff on the right.

 

 

 I stopped in the middle of the curve to take this photo of the lake at the bottom of the steep drop.

This is looking back at the end of the curve, with Bryan who also stopped to take photos. In 2008, I remember numerous waterfalls coming over those rocks after all the rain that day.

This was my best attempt to get a picture when the parkway was at the very crest of the mountains. There were numerous places where that was the case, but it could never be captured in a good photo. But I loved it when you could look east or west at the same time, down into the valleys on either side.

If you look closely on the right, you'll see a small cemetery. We've seen many along the BRP, usually small family plots.

There was another magnificent view at this Basin Cove overlook, but I thought the big tree was more interesting.

I've been saying for years that the BRP is either going up or going down - there's no level roadway for the entire 469 miles. But by golly, here I was going level for about two miles as I approached Laurel Springs, our destination at Mile Marker 248.

Just as I was about to turn right off the parkway into Laurel Springs, this old broken-down ranch was on the left.

And here we are! Just a few yards off the parkway is our Freeborne's Motel and Restaurant.

Here's Suzette posing inside, where we enjoyed our "recovery" beverages. In my case, an ale and an IPA! We later ate dinner here, and talked about tomorrow's ride.

One final photo: Directly across from our restaurant/motel is the Jail/Wedding Chapel!! Too much!

Tomorrow we will ride 88 miles to Little Switzerland, with 9462 feet of elevation gain. Time to hit the hay.