We woke up late, 11:26 to be exact. Despite the rain that fell again, we both slept considerably better than we had in the Smokies, with only a small rain leak 'round 3 that was fixed within five minutes. Well rested, we were ready to escape the spider-infested campground.
It was surprising to witness the change in the landscape. From the rolling countryside farms, we ascended to about 4000 feet, driving virtually on top of a narrow ridge. Both sides of the parkway held breathtaking views of the farmland valleys below. The smell of fresh grass mixed with the panoramic views reminded me of my home country, Switzerland, except this wilderness felt a lot less tamed, perhaps more adventurous. This was reflected in the people we ran across. One example was this man driving an old, orange Volkswagen bus. We noticed him because we had stopped at one of the many viewpoints on the road and saw one of the old man bikers that had taken a seemingly deep fascination towards the bus. I approached it to see what the commotion was all about. Inside sat a man in his early 40s, on his laptop. He explained all the features of the bus to us, from its two shower heads to the fan he had proudly installed from his sailboat. After finding out he'd been on the road since 2004, I had to ask what he did for a living. He answered nonchalantly with, "software programmer," then, "I'm actually doing work right now." God knows how he does what he does; he left me in admiration.
For lunch, we stopped at an Arby's in Roanoke, where we ate free turkey sandwiches because of some promotion they must've been having... lucky us. We needed to make distance, so right after lunch we headed out towards Shenandoah National Park.
The mountains at Shenandoah seemed to reach even greater heights and views than those earlier, however, the sun was setting and we needed to set up camp. We decided to stay at Lewis Mountain Campground, which was bordered on one side by the Appalachian Trail. This was the closest we'd get to an AT camping experience, especially since the grounds were just about empty.
The little company we had, however, approached us from the get-go. An old, nomadic man living out of his van, with a face like that of Robert E. Lee and a beard that could only be matched by Walt Whitman, lectured us on anything we would ever want to know about soil, farming, population overgrowth, egalitarian philosophy, an imminent apocalypse... well you get the idea. And to make this even better, his parked van was blasting a Grateful Dead concert (from '76, as he specified) throughout the course of our talk, or rather, his talk. To go along with his hippie, vegan lifestyle, he told us his name is spirit (he made a point of saying it's spelled with a lower case "s" because he didn't want to come off as anything above human). Despite offsetting looks, this man's knowledge and quick witted speech was truly exceptional. He is the most interesting character we've met and may be the most interesting man we will ever meet. He reminded me of a gruffer, more extreme version of my old Environmental Science AP teacher, Ben Smith. Being an ex-programmer and clearly very educated as a whole, his words were not to be taken lightly. Clearly we humans have caused extensive damaged to this planet, but I think (and pray) that technological advances will someday be able to undo those damages and carry us into a brighter future. He didn't seem to have much faith in that idea. Anyhow, not to steer off course, we parted ways around 11 to head to bed.
The night was filled with noises, but we fell asleep eventually.
Stay posted.
It was surprising to witness the change in the landscape. From the rolling countryside farms, we ascended to about 4000 feet, driving virtually on top of a narrow ridge. Both sides of the parkway held breathtaking views of the farmland valleys below. The smell of fresh grass mixed with the panoramic views reminded me of my home country, Switzerland, except this wilderness felt a lot less tamed, perhaps more adventurous. This was reflected in the people we ran across. One example was this man driving an old, orange Volkswagen bus. We noticed him because we had stopped at one of the many viewpoints on the road and saw one of the old man bikers that had taken a seemingly deep fascination towards the bus. I approached it to see what the commotion was all about. Inside sat a man in his early 40s, on his laptop. He explained all the features of the bus to us, from its two shower heads to the fan he had proudly installed from his sailboat. After finding out he'd been on the road since 2004, I had to ask what he did for a living. He answered nonchalantly with, "software programmer," then, "I'm actually doing work right now." God knows how he does what he does; he left me in admiration.
For lunch, we stopped at an Arby's in Roanoke, where we ate free turkey sandwiches because of some promotion they must've been having... lucky us. We needed to make distance, so right after lunch we headed out towards Shenandoah National Park.
The mountains at Shenandoah seemed to reach even greater heights and views than those earlier, however, the sun was setting and we needed to set up camp. We decided to stay at Lewis Mountain Campground, which was bordered on one side by the Appalachian Trail. This was the closest we'd get to an AT camping experience, especially since the grounds were just about empty.
The little company we had, however, approached us from the get-go. An old, nomadic man living out of his van, with a face like that of Robert E. Lee and a beard that could only be matched by Walt Whitman, lectured us on anything we would ever want to know about soil, farming, population overgrowth, egalitarian philosophy, an imminent apocalypse... well you get the idea. And to make this even better, his parked van was blasting a Grateful Dead concert (from '76, as he specified) throughout the course of our talk, or rather, his talk. To go along with his hippie, vegan lifestyle, he told us his name is spirit (he made a point of saying it's spelled with a lower case "s" because he didn't want to come off as anything above human). Despite offsetting looks, this man's knowledge and quick witted speech was truly exceptional. He is the most interesting character we've met and may be the most interesting man we will ever meet. He reminded me of a gruffer, more extreme version of my old Environmental Science AP teacher, Ben Smith. Being an ex-programmer and clearly very educated as a whole, his words were not to be taken lightly. Clearly we humans have caused extensive damaged to this planet, but I think (and pray) that technological advances will someday be able to undo those damages and carry us into a brighter future. He didn't seem to have much faith in that idea. Anyhow, not to steer off course, we parted ways around 11 to head to bed.
The night was filled with noises, but we fell asleep eventually.
Stay posted.
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