WHAT A BEAUTIFUL PART OF THE COUNTRY

I'm settled in with time to go riding! I needed to go about 4 miles to a Goodwill store to buy a suit. But there's a wonderful twisty mountain road that gets you there, and it's just an extra 10 miles or so.

"Twelve O'Clock Knob" was named by farm hands who knew it was lunch time when the sun was over its peak. Our first house, which we purchased in 1969, was the farm house that was built in the 1920's on the farmland at the foot of what became - to us at least - "our" mountain. Lots of good memories and a wonderful sunny ride. I even stopped twice to watch deer. I wasn't quick enough to get pictures of them, but here is a view looking down at Salem.



A great ride, but not as much fun as it would have been if Carol had been on the back.

SO - on a beautiful Saturday morning, WE headed to the Paint Bank General Store, in - of course - Paint Bank, VA. It's a favorite ride for bikers and car drivers as well because of the restaurant that serves buffalo. When I told a friend that we were headed to Paint Bank, he said, watch closely for the overlook about half way up the second mountain. It's spectacular, but the turnoff is very easy to miss. "You'll sit and listen to the bees and an occasional bird." Even with the warning, we almost missed it. What a view - Here's a panorama that I stitched together. Remember you can see a BIG picture by clicking on this image.



For the first few minutes there was total silence, then the bees came back - just like my friend promised. Hard to believe we're less than 40 miles from downtown Roanoke. Really. Look at that picture again.

The restaurant has great food but their forte is definitely marketing, as you'll see if you clicked on the link above. When you arrive from either Roanoke or Lewisburg, WV you don't drive by their farms. But after you enjoy your Buffalo steak, burger, whatever, you can drive down a side road and see the animals who will be on your platter the next time you come.

The big ones didn't have any effect on Carol - they're big, kinda ugly with lots of matted down fur.



But if she'd seen the calves before lunch, I think she'd have ordered a salad.






We continued our ride to Lindside, WV to visit Carol's Grandmother. Then back through Rich Creek to US 460 along the New River, through Blacksburg and home. About 150 miles of some of the prettiest country anywhere.

Here's a map.

The green on the map is National Forest land.

And some Google Earth views -






Life is Good.