Day 11, April 26, Getting Off the Beaten Path

When we were planning for this trip, we told ourselves we would feel free to wander, to get off of the beaten path, to keep our plans loose each day, so that we could explore the previously unknown or unexpected. Today was just such an occasion.

On the road from Salem, VA near the Dixie Caverns to our next planned stop outside of Harrisonburg, VA, we saw a sign which grabbed our attention, It was a local attraction called the Natural Bridge, and it was located in a state park. We immediately agreed, "what the heck", let's take a detour and see the Natural Bridge. A "natural bridge" is a rock formation has been carved from a mountain by water and wind over time into a bridge shape. This one is 215 ft high, has a span of 90 ft and is estimated to weigh about 72,000,000 pounds or 36,000 tons.

This natural bridge was a sacred site to the area's indigenous Americans, the Monacan tribe. George Washington is credited with the European "discovery" of the formation, about 1750, as he was surveying parts of Virginia and Thomas Jefferson subsequently "patented" it. (I did not know you could patent what nature had created, but there you have it.) The patent was issued in 1774, after Jefferson had purchased 157 acres of land in the general area, which included the Natural Bridge. Jefferson described it as "the most sublime of nature's works." He built a retreat nearby and would often host guests there and show them the formation.

So we took this detour down the road less traveled and found this beautiful part of our country's natural history. Here are several pictures taken during our excursion.

(Patrise in front of Natural Bridge Sate Park Visitor's Center)

(Patrise admires the beauty of Natural Bridge.)

(Part of Cedar Creek, downstream of Natural Bridge, which is responsible for carving the bridge formation out of rock hundreds of thousands of years ago. What cannot be detected in this picture are the hundreds of butterflies flying over and around the creek.)

(A view of Cedar Creek, upstream of Natural Bridge.)

(The view of Natural Bridge from upstream of Cedar Creek.)

(Patrise and Doug pose in front of the Natural Bridge.)

After seeing Natural Bridge State Park, we attempted to visit the Natural Bridge Caverns nearby. To our chagrin, this attraction is only opened on Wednesdays through Saturdays, so we could not visit. N the resigned look on Patrise's countenance.

After we left the area, we continued our journey north toward Harrisonburg, only we had to make another stop shortly outside (south) of Harrisonburg, in order to take the RV for a maintenance check. We'd been having some uncomfortable incidences with the electrical system and generator, and we wanted an expert to assess it and make repairs if needed. We had called ahead of time and had a scheduled appointment for about 2pm, but we arrived much earlier, about 12:30pm. So we sat in the RV and had leftovers for lunch while awaiting the arrival of Dennis the RV technician who was coming after his lunch to evaluate our situation.

Dennis and his colleagues were wonderful, very courteous, friendly, and after looking things over, he took pains to carefully explain what he had found. The good news was that the repair would not be expensive; the bad news was that he did not have all of the parts he needed in stock. So the shop ordered them and they will be shipped to the store, See-Mor Service and Repair, tomorrow. We plan to return to the shop, once we are called, to get the repairs done. There was another nagging problem which they helped us solve, but it did not require repair: just a bit more knowledge about the operation of the vehicle than we knew.

As we were talking to Dennis, we learned more about him and the shop. See-Mor's primary business is sales of parts and repair service for trucks, largely 18-wheelers. However, Dennis had proposed they start an RV repair service six years ago and it has been a successful addition to the business since then. What we also learned was that he is a walking miracle. He fell off of an A-frame ladder in July of last year: broke or fractured his neck in two places and his spinal column in three locations. He managed to crawl back into his house and notified his wife to call the rescue squad. When they came, for awhile they did not know the best way to stabilize him, since moving him at all could potentially cause catastrophic damage. Thankfully, with some medical assistance, they figured it out and he was subsequently life-flighted to Charlottesville (home of the University of Virginia), where surgeons and nurses were able to stabilize, treat, and repair him. Once he was discharged, it tool several months for him to learn to walk again. As he says, he walks very differently now. It is a miracle that he can walk at all. He had just returned to work about two months ago.

This is Dennis our lead RV repair technician:

Before we left to head to our campground, Dennis told us that he had relatives in New Brunswick, Canada, and he recommended a great place to eat if we plan to make a stop there. I recorded the name of the place and certainly plan to visit if our time will allow. After all, we have to go through New Brunswick on our way to Prince Edward Island and Nova Scotia. He also described the extensive tidal action -- the greatest tidal change on earth, actually, which I know form my engineering days working at Georgia Power. He said when the tide was out, the locals have a tradition called "periwinkling." They go out among the rocks on the beach and collect periwinkles, which are whelks, or sea snails, and then cooked them up and eat them. A handy, easy way to have your escargot, without the restaurant prices. (LOLOL).

We left See-Mor, confident that our problems would be resolved after tomorrow's repair. After we got off of the exit for our campground, we made a quick stop at a Burger King -- trust me, it was the only option available at this truck stop -- then made our way to the Kampgrounds of America (KOA) site. We set up and prepared for the evening. This site is wooded and very well run. I think that we will enjoy the quiet and peacefulness of this site.

A note of a trip milestone that we reached today. About mile marker 243.2, we hit 1000 miles on our trip thus far. We wonder what the final mileage tally will be. Patrise is guessing 6,000. I haven't a clue, but we are enjoying every mile of discovery and learning so far!