Charlottesville to Roanoke

Today began dark, rainy and foggy!  What better way to start out on a Model A adventure!  Before breakfast, we decided to get the tarp off the car and load up our gear. So, out we went at 7:30AM. I think everyone else had the same idea!  There was a great deal of bustle under the portico. Elvis was trying to get his car in good working order, along with about 10 other Model A'ers trying to load their gear under cover. We proceeded to the parking lot and just dealt with the rain.

After loading up the car, we went upstairs for breakfast and to connect with our group. We enjoyed seeing several other friends, as well.  Soon, it was time to make our way to the Blue Ridge Parkway. So, we said our goodbyes and said we would see each other soon..

We had directions to the parkway, but decided that we didn't want to use them, as they would put us on the Interstate highway for 18 miles.  That was just too much high speed traffic to deal with in the rain and fog during rush hour traffic this morning!  So, we put in the coordinates for mile marker 0 of the Parkway and off we went.

We actually backtracked the exact route we had taken into Charlottesville on Sunday afternoon. We got to the beginning of the parkway and decided that we best stop for a potty break - as there is nothing commercial on the road, at all.  It was pouring cats and dogs by that time!  We were very thankful the visitors center was open.  After a quick 15 minute stop, we off.  We did make a wrong turn, but Model A's are great at making U Turns and that was exactly what we did!

Very foggy on the Parkway

Above the clouds on the Parkway

We drove the beautiful parkway in heavy fog for the first 30 miles. Honestly, it was uncomfortable to drive above 30 mph. I couldn't see more than 15-20 feet in front of the headlights!  The bright spots in the woods were the beautiful dogwoods heavily in full white bloom.

At mile marker 46, we got off the parkway for lunch and possibly gas. We chose the Subway in the little town of Buena Vista. After consulting the route and the availability of gas, it was decided that we should gas up, as well. It was an interesting journey getting back up to the parkway. You literally must go down the mountain to get off and you must climb the mountain to get back on!

It was nice that the rain stopped just as we left for lunch.  We took a break of about 45 minutes, but then we were back on making our way to mile marker 86. We were headed for the National D Day Memorial in Bedford, VA.

We arrived about 3:15. They have a beautiful, fully restored 1927 Seagrave Fire Truck on display in the Visitors Center, and we really enjoyed looking it over.  Soon, it was time to go over to the Memorial area for our guided tour.

This memorial is really well thought through and extremely symbolic of the exact happenings of that triumphant, yet tragic day.  Per capita, Bedford, VA lost more young men than any other city of the US on that fateful day than any other.  Therefore, the memorial was built in this tiny little mountain town.   Here is the link for the site.  http://www.dday.org/

We spent two hours here listening to a very knowledgable gentleman. He explain all of the symbolism of the memorial.  It is a wonderful tribute to all who were there on that fateful day in 1944.

After making a few purchases in the gift shop, we decided that we needed to make our way back up to the parkway for our final leg of the day's journey. It was a very steep climb, which we made in second gear!  The rest of the days journey was a bit uneventful, although, the scenery was spectacular.  There aren't as many flowers blooming as I had anticipated, but we were treated to trillium, dogwood redbud trees.rees.  

Red Trillium