Country Roads and driving through Virginia and remembering a childhood fear
In my blog post dated July 25, I mentioned the song "Country Roads" and how it inspired me to drive through West Virginia on this trip. I also mentioned that I learned that the song was actually inspired by a drive on Clopper Road near Gaithersburg, Maryland. That's not very far from where I was staying in Rockville, so I went for a drive to see what it's like these days. There is quite a bit of suburban sprawl in the area, but there's also a state park and quite a bit of mature forest along the road, so I find it easy to imagine that in the 1960's, it could inspire the song.
When I hit the road for my trip back home, I fled from the freeways leading out of the Washington D.C. area as soon as I could. Even driving in the slow lane it was hard to relax because the people in the lane next to me were all aggressively and relentlessly tailgating each other.
Once I got off the freeway, the roads of Southern Virginia are wonderful. Everyone else is still on the freeway trying to get where they're going as fast as possible. Around every bend is a beautiful landscape with sloping hills, farm houses, livestock, and at this time of year -- green, green green. I had finally found the kind of country I had expected ]in West Virginia. I even crossed over the Shenandoah River three times (another reference to the song "Country Roads").
The little town of Strasburg, Virginia has a well-preserved Nash dealership that was fun to see as I rounded the corner into town. I didn't stop to take a photo; this one comes from: http://www.strasburgvaheritage.org/nash-bldg.html
At one point I saw a street called Quick Sand Circle. I passed two street signs for it, because it circled around and joined the road I was on a second time, so it really caught my attention. I hadn't thought about quicksand in a long time, but I remember being terrified of it as a kid. According to what I saw on TV, a person could encounter quicksand at any time, and once you stepped in it, you needed help from someone else to avoid a terrible death. But was that really true? I decided to consult Google when I got to my destination for the day, and I found this article that talks in considerable detail about how quicksand works and what the dangers are: http://www.bbc.com/future/story/20160323-can-quicksand-really-suck-you-to-your-death
After I got back on the freeway near Lexington, I was well out of the D.C. metropolitan area. Traffic was sane, the scenery was beautiful, and the roads were well-maintained.
As soon as I crossed the West Virginia border, I started seeing road construction signs again. 😁However, with recent experience in D.C. traffic to contrast it with, this time I found the West Virginia freeways to be a piece of cake. I did venture onto side roads a bit for variety, and the ones that were lightly traveled were lovely. Then there was Daniel Boone Parkway between Racine and Hwy 119. The official definition of a "parkway" is a broad, landscaped highway. Daniel Boone Parkway on the other hand is a narrow, winding 2-lane road that passes through what I would have no trouble calling a "holler." It would have been gorgeous and very pleasant at 40-45 mph, but the speed limit is 55 and the line of gigantic pickup trucks on my tail wanted to go 65. There was almost no place to pull off that I could see far enough in advance to take advantage of, and when I did pull off to let the line behind me go by, 15 seconds later I had a new line behind me. Perhaps I timed my trip down that road shortly after a factory let out for the day... 😳 Next it's back to the freeways. 😎
When I hit the road for my trip back home, I fled from the freeways leading out of the Washington D.C. area as soon as I could. Even driving in the slow lane it was hard to relax because the people in the lane next to me were all aggressively and relentlessly tailgating each other.
Once I got off the freeway, the roads of Southern Virginia are wonderful. Everyone else is still on the freeway trying to get where they're going as fast as possible. Around every bend is a beautiful landscape with sloping hills, farm houses, livestock, and at this time of year -- green, green green. I had finally found the kind of country I had expected ]in West Virginia. I even crossed over the Shenandoah River three times (another reference to the song "Country Roads").
The little town of Strasburg, Virginia has a well-preserved Nash dealership that was fun to see as I rounded the corner into town. I didn't stop to take a photo; this one comes from: http://www.strasburgvaheritage.org/nash-bldg.html
At one point I saw a street called Quick Sand Circle. I passed two street signs for it, because it circled around and joined the road I was on a second time, so it really caught my attention. I hadn't thought about quicksand in a long time, but I remember being terrified of it as a kid. According to what I saw on TV, a person could encounter quicksand at any time, and once you stepped in it, you needed help from someone else to avoid a terrible death. But was that really true? I decided to consult Google when I got to my destination for the day, and I found this article that talks in considerable detail about how quicksand works and what the dangers are: http://www.bbc.com/future/story/20160323-can-quicksand-really-suck-you-to-your-death
After I got back on the freeway near Lexington, I was well out of the D.C. metropolitan area. Traffic was sane, the scenery was beautiful, and the roads were well-maintained.
As soon as I crossed the West Virginia border, I started seeing road construction signs again. 😁However, with recent experience in D.C. traffic to contrast it with, this time I found the West Virginia freeways to be a piece of cake. I did venture onto side roads a bit for variety, and the ones that were lightly traveled were lovely. Then there was Daniel Boone Parkway between Racine and Hwy 119. The official definition of a "parkway" is a broad, landscaped highway. Daniel Boone Parkway on the other hand is a narrow, winding 2-lane road that passes through what I would have no trouble calling a "holler." It would have been gorgeous and very pleasant at 40-45 mph, but the speed limit is 55 and the line of gigantic pickup trucks on my tail wanted to go 65. There was almost no place to pull off that I could see far enough in advance to take advantage of, and when I did pull off to let the line behind me go by, 15 seconds later I had a new line behind me. Perhaps I timed my trip down that road shortly after a factory let out for the day... 😳 Next it's back to the freeways. 😎
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