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.

BACK IN SALEM

On July 27th I packed up everything and headed south to Salem. Uneventful trip, beautiful drive. Everything working fine. Arrived at Salem Village Mobile Home Park mid-afternoon and went to see Carol and the kids. It really felt like arriving home.

I spent the next week getting settled back in. Post Office, Banks, etc etc.

Boring.

But very nice to be greeted and welcomed by name. Salem really is home.

Then the weekend was here and I had visitors !

Remember Karen Alley? The incredible young hammered dulcimer player from State College? Well, she and her Mom stopped for a night in Salem on their way to a dulcimer workshop in NC. We had a wonderful talk and dinner at my favorite Salem hangout - Mac and Bob's. Just as I was telling them the story of the place, Bob Rotanz, the owner, came by the table and said, "I thought you ran away from home." I told him it seemed that I was an intrepid "world traveler" - for about 90 days. Then I got so homesick for Salem that it was pitiful.

And that was BEFORE Carol and the kids came into my life.

After dinner, we came back to the Airstream and jammed for a while. Karen had just had four wisdom teeth removed and wasn't completely up to speed. It was hard to tell from her playing. It was fantastic. She just didn't play as long as I would have liked. But, then, I would have happily listened to her for the entire weekend, so I may not be a good judge of her stamina.




I loved accompanying her, but several times I stopped, just to listen.

Although this next video was made later at the dulcimer festival, she played it at my place, too.



I've stayed in touch with her Mom via email.

She just finished reading Tinkerbell Jerusalem and said,

"I finally finished Tinkerbell Jerusalem - she hit on the head so many things about the way I try to live my life. There is just so much around that can be enjoyed if people would only open their eyes. I remember one time in Madison WI, I was cutting through the State Capitol on my way back to work. Madison does really wonderful things with their grounds around the building and this was fall, so there were lots of colorful orange and yellow marigolds (or maybe mums, but that color). On this particular day, a monarch migration was passing through and there was a butterfly on virtually every flower - hundreds of them. I wanted to jump up and down and grab
every passer-by and make them notice. It was so exciting - and sort of depressing watching the number of people (it was a very busy time) who walked by and never even looked.

I have always believed if the only thing we passed on to our children was an active sense of wonder, they wouldn't need much more."


Thanks, daily, for a gracious God Who provides such wonders as butterflies, music, and people like Karen Alley - who appear at just the right time and place, dragging a funny shaped red case on a luggage cart to bring wondrous Joy into our lives.

And "Thank You" to Bonnie Kelley Kaback for writing "Tinkerbell Jerusalem" and being such a good friend.

Life is Good.