Blogs from Virginia, United States, North America - page 2

First Welcome to our newest Blog, Sorry for the change in hosting sites, but Off Exploring looks like it is no longer being supported. During our Great Loop Adventure, Angel and I decided to buy a RV so we could contiune our adventures. No we are not gving up our boat. We will continue to boat during the summer, and travel by RV during the winter. We both have decide that we like the warm weather much better the the cold. (In fact right now I am typing this from St Petersburg, FL and I am outside wearing shorts, flipflops and a teeshirt, and it is 7:30pm!) I will get the blog caught up as soon as possible. We left New Jersey December 26th at 10am. It was a little difficult getting everything transfered from the ... read more

A drive northeast on Route I-81 took us next to Sugar Hollow Campground, a gorgeous heavily wooded leaf-covered city park facility. Bristol sits on the border between Virginia and Tennessee. We enjoyed the Birthplace of Country Music Museum and learned how emerging music recording technology brought mountain music to the masses. We learned that June Carter’s (Cash) parents were famous country music singers. The museum’s karaoke sound booth allowed you to make a (thankfully) temporary recording of country music songs. The next day we hiked the campground’s Ben’s and Cliff’s trails down to the picnic area and back.... read more

Wednesday 14th Out of Christiansburg we were immediately onto a freeway for around 20 miles to re-link with the route. Then, off the freeway onto the BDR route where we were soon into Jefferson Forest. Immediately we saw a sign to a an old covered bridge. This one was quite ordinary but very old. The Eastern States have a lot of these and some are very old and ornate. The purpose of covering the bridge was to protect the timbers from the elements. Seems a lot of work but the fact that many have lasted hundreds of years is proof it works. The trees here are, (according to Google) primarily Appalachian hardwood and mixed pine-hardwood. At this point it was a nice winding sealed road through these forests and after probably 20 miles we came to ... read more

Tuesday 13th We rode to the local bike shop we had found last night to see if they had any front tyres as ours were approaching there use by date. As it turned out they had in stock, four perfect fronts so we could get all bikes fitted up. The shop was shifting to a new bigger, brighter premises. The proprietor Terry gave us the address of the new premises and arranged for his Techs to fit the tyres and do an oil change. The shop is called Gearhead Junction. We were the first customers at his new shop which has a Royal Enfield franchise plus SWM and a couple of other brands. We met his staff and the Techs immediately started working on our bikes. While we were there, we told them where we stayed ... read more

There is so much interesting history here in Colonial Williamsburg. Colonial Williamsburg is a living history museum and you'll feel like you are living in the 18th century. Jamestown was the original capital of the Virginia Colony and was the first permanent English-speaking settlement in the new world founded in 1607. In 1699 it was petitioned to make Middle Plantation, later rename Williamsburg the capital in honor of King William III. Today I met Patrick Henry and George Wythe, both amazing historical figures. Patrick Henry was the first and sixth Governor of post-colonial Virginia. He is the orator of the "Give me liberty or give me death". He fought for independence from England and he opposed the US Constitution because he was afraid of a strong central government without a Bill of Rights. George Wythe was ... read more