Squeezed in a little ride on Sat...........

[3fan4life]

Several of us got out on Sat for a little ride.

We were able to successfully dodge the rain (always a good thing).

Our first stop was for some eats in Christiansburg, VA at a place called, Fatback Soul Shack.



I had never been there before.

The food was really good and so was the service, I'll definitely be back.


Looking at the radar we decided that Mt Airy, NC would be a good and dry ride.

Along the way we took a detour to visit the homeplace of a Confederate Civil War General:



Laurel Hill in Ararat, VA is the birthplace of of Gen James Ewell Brown (JEB) Stuart.

www.jebstuart.org/history.cfm


Like Gen Robert E. Lee, JEB Stuart was an officer in the Union Army that resigned his commission when Virginia succeeded from the Union.

He would become the commander of Robert E. Lee's Calvary.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/J._E._B._Stuart  

My affinity for Gen. JEB Stuart comes from a comic book that I loved as a kid.

It was called "The Haunted Tank".

It was about the crew of an M3 Stuart tank that was protected by the ghost of Gen JEB Stuart.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/M3_Stuart

Commissioned by the spirit of Alexander The Great, Gen JEB Stuart protected the tank named after him and the tank commander Lieutenant Jeb Stuart also named after him.



https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Haunted_Tank


After our stop at Laurel Hill we headed to Mt. Airy, NC to step back in time and visit, Mayberry.

Snappy Lunch


Floyd's Barber Shop


After exploring for a little while we went for some Ice Cream



It turns out that they have Moonshine infused ice cream:



A treat that I now highly recommend.

Leaving Mt. Airy we rode US 52 up Fancy Gap Mtn. (another treat that I highly recommend) and took the BRP back towards Roanoke.

That's where I discovered that a section of the BRP is getting covered with "chip and seal".

It was easy to avoid by jumping onto US 221 and riding it into Roanoke.


All in All it was a good day.

[The emperor has no clothes]

Sounds like a great ride   

[hubcapsc]

Thanks for the comic book and chip-seal heads-up... 

-Mike

[Oss]

Thanks for the ride report

Although I think  Britman covered it, do you know if any chip seal is going on NORTH of Roanoke?

My recollection is that was only in North Carolina area

[Valkorado]

Moonshine ice cream, ay?  Hope you limited yourself to a single scoop!     Good report.

[Jess from VA]

Thanks for the ride report

Although I think  Britman covered it, do you know if any chip seal is going on NORTH of Roanoke?

My recollection is that was only in North Carolina area

Evan, the weather in NoVA and Roanoke appears to be drying out (finally), but both my and Roanoke weather reports for next Sunday are 80% rain.  That may change, but if it stays, you may want to stay on I-81 rather than BRP if it's raining.  I will. 

[msb]

Great report...thx for posting it up 
One of the best shows ever on network TV...Andy Griffith. Would like to make it down to Mt Airy one day to see where it was based.
Wow...The Haunted Tank....now there's a real blast from the past. Can't remember exactly what period as a kid, probably late 60's, but I do remember reading those very comics and thinking how cool they were. I did have some basic knowlwdge of the US civil war and the Confederate army, etc. growing up and those comics were popular even up in small town BC.

[NewValker]

Thanks for the ride Mark, I stopped in Mt. Airy last year on the way to meet Whiskey for the eclipse.
Had a great time there, ate at Snappy Lunch too, best stop was Wally’s Service Station. Spent a couple hours bs-ing with the guys that give the police car tours. Put me behind schedule, but was worth it.
See ya next week,
Craig

[3fan4life]

Thanks for the ride report

Although I think  Britman covered it, do you know if any chip seal is going on NORTH of Roanoke?

My recollection is that was only in North Carolina area

None that I know of north of Roanoke.

This map doesn't show anything either:

https://www.nps.gov/maps/full.html?mapId=e212fcb5-4ff9-4787-bbe4-3d40cc0d0daa#9/37.4476/-80.0464

[Farside]

 :cooldude:I enjoyed every bit of that report. Very nice! See you in Roanoke,