Central Blue Ridge

Camping in Fancy Gap, Virginia

Less than a mile from the Blue Ridge, MP 199.4 entrance. We’re definitely in the mountains. At 2,914′, it got Cold at night, below freezing the first night! And Fancy Gap KOA, besides providing us with Eclipse sunglasses, provided a Weather Rock. It was quite accurate. Yes, that is Lizzy off to the right. [Click on Pic to expand.]

We were on the Blue Ridge Parkway for the Solar Eclipse on Monday…where it was to reach ~85%, but was mostly cloudy all day. BUT…miracle of miracles, the sun peeped out of the clouds, for about 5 minutes, RIGHT about halfway during the time of the eclipse. AND we were not driving, but walking around Mabry Mill. So we got to see what was probably the smallest sliver here and Gail managed to grab a picture, with her solar glasses over her phone lens.

Clouded over at height of Solar Eclipse in SW Virginia

Continuing visit to 1 National Park site:

Blue Ridge Parkway (#245), continuing north toward Shenandoah National Park (MP 0). On two days this stop, we drove on 55 more miles, for 128.3 total (27.4%):
- First day we drove south on the Blue Ridge from Fancy Gap, back across the Virginia/North Carolina state line, to MP 222, where the Parkway was closed for bridge repair. Rather than detour around farther south, we exited east for other touring.
- Second day we drove north on the Blue Ridge from Fancy Gap to Rocky Knob, MP 167, where we lunched before returning south. Driving north, other key stops were Puckett Cabin, MP 189.9, Meadows of Dan, MP 177.7 (where we exited for coffee & shopping) and Mabry Mill, MP 176.2.

Lots of Agriculture along this part of the Blue Ridge
Lots of Rhodies along this part of the Blue Ridge, too
Puckett Cabin, long time home of Orlean Puckett, Midwife
About Orlean Puckett, Midwife, although biography Gail bought has slightly different details
Mabry Mill

And…that other touring in North Carolina???

Mayberry RFD

Yep! We visited Mt. Airy, NC, birthplace of Andy Griffith, inspiration for the town of Mayberry, home to the Andy Griffith Museum, and…

…home to North Carolina Granite , which made Mt. Airy famous, before Mayberry. It is the world’s largest open-faced granite quarry, encompassing about 60 acres, on the surface. The mother mass is about 7 miles long, 1 mile wide, and 8,000 feet deep. The granite is some of the finest white granite in the world.

Last stop on the way back to camp, less than a mile over the border, in Ararat, Virginia, was Laurel Hill, Birthplace of Major General J.E.B. Stuart, CSA.