We started the morning by writing blog entries for the last two days but were unable to post them as we didn’t have a fast enough internet connection. Our plan was to drive as far as possible today but the idea of going to the Roanoke visitor center changed the entire day. The visitor center is located at the former Norfolk and Western Railway station which now houses the permanent exhibition of O. Winston Link’s photographs documenting the last steam trains in America. We had a fascinating tour of the exhibit, including seeing his cameras and lighting equipment (flash bulbs!) and details of how some of his images were created, followed by a movie on the photographer’s life. We were so impressed that we bought a book about the exhibit.

The visitor center staff suggested we drive up the nearby mountain to see the large star overlooking the city and then take the Blue Ridge Parkway south.

The parkway has a speed limit of 45mph and is quite curvy which meant we didn’t make it very far. At the beginning there wasn’t much to see so we took a suggested detour to visit the town of Floyd which feels a bit like a hippy town from the 1960s and is quite well known for its live music festivals.

Back on the parkway we stopped at the Mabry Mill, built about 1910 and used to grind corn and saw lumber. In 1945 the National Park Service restored and landscaped the mill. Today is it the most photographed feature on the Blue Ridge Parkway.

Now it was time to find a place to sleep. The first option was a state park but it didn’t appeal to any of us. Pepsi even nipped the nose of the park ranger who stuck his face too far into her personal space. The second option, Meadows of Dan Campground was much nicer and we settled in for the night after having had dinner outside, going for a short walk and then reading outside until it became too dark.

Total distance covered: 268kms