Instead of camping...

Hotshot Eastbound by O. Winston Link

  Well, we'd planned to see the synchronous fireflies this weekend in the Great Smokies Park, but the truck and trailer are in the shop for routine maintenance, and in this age of COVID shipping delays, waiting on parts. So Ruthie and I decided to find other fun. 

Having previously mentioned Greg's infectious passion for trains, he had wonderful books of train pictures taken by O. Winston Link and others. Norfolk & Southern was the last American railroad to run steam engines. They had their own shops and had the expertise to run their engines efficiently long after others had switched to diesel, but all good things come to an end and they hired Link to document the end of steam as the last trains were converted. Link was a master of lighting, using banks of flashbulbs and planning his photographs with exact timing and a remarkable depth of detail. A collection of his works is housed in the old Norfolk & Southern station in downtown Roanoke, VA, across the tracks from the art museum, a wonderful train museum, and the restored historic market area. Ruthie, a former lab manager for Polaroid and hobbyist photographer, was familiar with none of this, so off we went.

 

Hotel Roanoke

Art Museum across the tracks

Doggie bags inside the skywalk?

Historic Market

Train yard behind the museum

What replaced steam

 

From Roanoke, we wandered the Virginia mountain backroads through communities like Burnt Chimney, where we stopped at the Boone Country Store, soaking in the scenery and checking out the local merchandise. We hit Old's Cool in Rocky Mount, VA and took a trip down memory lane. We ended up (by intention) just outside Prospect Hill, NC, in Shangri La. This really is folk art at its best. Shortly after I moved to NC back in the 1970s, I found myself living in Graham with a Volvo station wagon that could only be service in Danville, VA. I would take old NC 86, a narrow, winding, shoulderless backroad, and be delighted with this little village created by a retired tobacco farmer who spent his last years sharing his imagination in these charming buildings. Since I was sharing happy memories with Ruthie, this had to be on the list.

Boone's Country Store, Burnt Chimney

Old's Cool Rocky Mount, VA

Old's Cool Rocky Mount, VA

Plate reads "Rustee", Rocky Mount

Saw it in a theater, I'm that old...

On old NC 86

 

The day before, we'd ventured down to Concord, NC, with a new friend from Sisters On The Fly, to

The Depot at Gibson Mill

explore an extensive antique mall in a former textile Mill. The Depot at Gibson Mill is a fabulous collection of the curious, the odd and the old. We even found a sign from Pekin, NC, the home of my son Ben and his wife, Sydney, and a fabulous set of 1950s shelves only my daughter could love. We barely scratched the surface so I think we'll be back. And they have a great little café when it's time for a break.

 

The truck parts are in and should be installed tomorrow. The trailer should be ready by Monday. We will be on the road again soon. In the mean time, have fun exploring and Happy Juneteenth!