Virginia mountains

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It's been a week since I left LA. I arrived in Bristol on Monday night and have explored the entire panhandle region. It's similar to West Virginia state, but the people seem nicer, the roads more developed, etc. Maybe I'm just a bit more seasoned of a traveler these days and I'm not noticing certain things.

Tonight I'm in Roanoke, in the central-west area of Virginia. I spent a couple hours on the Blue Ridge Highway and couldn't find the turnoff I needed. Many of the smaller roads are not labeled, change numbers, or don't match paper maps. I intentionally left my GPS in California, but there have been a couple occasions when I wish I hadn't. When there aren't errors, I've found it just as easy to get around with just a paper map. Anyway, the Blue Ridge Parkway is a destination for motorcyclists and tourists, but isn't so special considering how many other similar roads snake through the mountains. For me it was just a pain in the ass- I would rather have connecting roads marked than a few turn-outs with informational signs and cannons.

Most of these pictures are from the towns in the far panhandle, much more remote than the Blue Ridge Parkway. As in, the most remote towns in the continental US!

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