My noisy neighbors woke me up at around 0500 and I couldn't go back to sleep. Felt very sore this morning! Spent about an hour going through my backpack and reorganizing (so I could do laundry later). It was very rainy so I stayed in the hotel longer. At 0700, I started some small projects for my job (end-of-month wrap-ups). By 1000, I finished working, checked out of my room and headed out of town. I stopped for lunch at Arby's on the way (1005). Initially, I drove south on US-11 until I was able to get on I-81 and used it to reach Chilhowie. Then, I used VA-107 to drive north to the town of Saltville. Resisting the urge to stop (it looked very historic), I took VA-613 (paved) across a small mountain range and then got on VA-80, which crossed another. It was intermittently rainy but I think I avoided the worst of the weather that was forecast for the area. Since I had no cell signal for most of the drive, it was nice to have audiobooks... Lots of trucks kept me from going very fast and, other places, farm vehicles were actually blocking road to allow cattle to cross! Eventually, I reached US-19 at Elk Garden and then continued north to Rosedale so I could get on VA-80 again. There were more construction delays and more slow trucks in several places but the drive was pretty. My ultimate target was a new (to me) Virginia State unit: The Breaks Interstate Park. This unique natural landmark area straddles the Virginia/Kentucky border and includes some spectacular views of a large canyon. The place had all kinds of adventure sports (ziplining, etc.), water sports, camping, hiking, history (log cabins, stills, saltworks) and engineering marvels (two massive railroad tunnels). Overall, I was impressed with all the things to see and do - definitely a great unit to visit! Temps were in the high 40s, so I took several walks on short trails I encountered in along the scenic drive. I could have done more walking but I didn't want to miss out on time with Mollie later in the day. So, after getting done with the park (1300), I got back on VA-80 and drove northwest to the town of Breaks. There, I changed to VA-693, which took me to where I found a newer looking four lane highway (Google Maps said it was US-460 but there was another one of those on the map several miles north; maybe a reroute?) and continued into Kentucky, where I saw lots of evidence of mountain blasting to build the newer highway). Crossed the border there (to say that I did!) and then turned around and headed east. Next used VA-693 to reach VA-609, which took me (via windy roads) to US-460 at Harman Junction. From there, I continued east (listening to audiobooks on the way). The road had lots of curves but was pretty good overall (very few lights). Saw signs for West Virginia border in a few places but didn't cross until I reached Bluefield. After that, I switched to US-52 and it took me to I-77, which I followed to the north. Got off on US-460 and went back into Virginia at Glen Lyn. Drove the rest of the way to Blacksburg, arriving just after 1600. Checked into my hotel (Holiday Inn Express) and then drove over to the Virginia Tech Campus to pick up Mollie. We then went to dinner at El Rodeo (1710), where we visited and talked for about an hour. We then went to campus again so that Mollie could show me around (we used ParkMobile to purchase a spot right next to the Bookstore). Mollie took me on an informal tour of the College of Natural Resources Building (Cheatham Hall) and the West End Dining Hall (where she works). We also got to see a lot of pretty, flowering trees; Mollie proudly demonstrated her Dendrology skills in identifying them. As it started to show signs of getting dark (1845), I said goodbye to Mollie and went back to the hotel. Spent the evening doing laundry and listening to more audiobooks. Erin texted about tornados in the DC area at one point - it sounded scary! I went to bed at 2230 after an adventure filled day.
