Day 17 - Radford, VA to Shenandoah National Park - 222.4 Miles


Shenandoah Valley

There was virtually no traffic.

When you drive the Blue Ridge Parkway it's slow. So slow it took us 7 hours to cover the 222.4 miles today. It was worth every second.

The Appalachian Mountains run from northern Alabama to Newfoundland and Labrador in Canada. Between the Blue Ridge Mountains, closest to the Atlantic, and the Allegheny Mountains of West Virginia and Virginia lies the Shenandoah Valley.

The spring green of Virginia is breathtaking. Rolling hills and farms that look manicured.

The drive on the Parkway has turnouts every quarter mile or so. On one side the coastal plain running to the Atlantic. The other side has the Allegheny's ans the Shenandoah Valley.

Chalk my interest up to Walt Disney.

Back in 1965 I saw the movie Shenandoah, and it stuck with me. A tale of the Civil War which so haunts this country still.

Dogwoods in bloom. If anything that symbolizes what this trip through the South has been.  Beautiful blossoms to remind us that each year things become new again.

Dogwoods and a Great View

Blue Ridge Parkway
We spent the night at Skyland Lodge in the national park, at about 3,500 ft in elevation.

We had a nice 30 minute rainstorm complete with thunder and lightning. Nice!

Tomorrow we head to D.C to prepare for Saturday's March for Science, which may be wet too.

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