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 The Blue Ridge Mountains of Southwestern Virginia After leaving Tennessee, I crossed into southwestern Virginia where I stumbled across the pleasant Mt. Rogers National Recreation Area. This area is something like Great Smoky Mountains National Park a few hours south but is a lot less crowded. I drove into the Beartree Campground here on a Tuesday afternoon thinking that I'd camp for a night or two.
I've stayed at hundreds of campgrounds in my life, mostly in the western U.S., and have always preferred campgrounds in the west. My smugness took a hit, though, because Beartree Campground is one of the nicest I've ever stayed at. As an added bonus, it's at over 3,000 feet in elevation so it was a lot cooler here than down in the lowlands. The daily high temperatures here were "only" in the 80s, compared to the 90s or low 100s down lower.
In fact, this campground was so nice that I stayed for four nights, which allowed me to get caught up a bit on my website (updating a travel website like this takes a lot more time than I ever imagined, by the way). During my stay I made a few forays into the pleasant nearby towns of Abingdon, Virginia and Bristol, Tennessee for supplies and fuel. Each night, back at Beartree Campground, I fell asleep to the sound of chirping crickets and the trickling of a nearby creek. Camping doesn't get any better than this.
I left Mt. Rogers National Recreation Area on a Saturday morning and continued driving north for a few hours, then pulled into Roanoke, Virginia (pop. 94,000). Roanoke is a bustling city separated from the rest of Virginia by the Blue Ridge Mountains, making it feel more like eastern Tennessee than Virginia. Since this was a Saturday, I decided not to camp in a campground that evening because it would've been pretty crowded. Saturdays are the worst days to camp for cross-country travelers like me. Instead I opted to head into town and splurge for a motel room.
So splurge I did, at a Motel 6. Actually, it was a very nice Motel 6, certainly the nicest I've ever stayed at and more like a Holiday Inn. To top it off, I bought an eight-piece box of fried chicken at the Hardee's nearby. A nice, air-conditioned motel room with AC outlets to charge my laptop and a box of fried chicken – this was like heaven. Simple man, simple dreams.
Above left: The peaceful Beartree Campground is one of the nicest campgrounds I've ever stayed at. It's in the Mount Rogers National Recreation Area in southern Virginia, an area similar to Great Smoky Mountains National Park but without the massive crowds. Note the power cord running from my cigarette lighter to my laptop. I've learned on this trip never again to take power outlets for granted! Above right: A good candidate for "This Old House," near Abingdon, Virginia.
Above left: The cheapest gas I've seen so far was in Abingdon. Gas is a lot cheaper in the South than on the west coast, averaging about $1.35 per gallon. That's about 20 cents per gallon cheaper than out west. Above center: The New River is a misnomer. Actually, it's the oldest river in North America and has been cutting through the Appalachian Mountains for millions of years. It's only a few feet deep here in Radford, Virginia, though, and I could've waded across. Above right: "Splurging away" at the Motel 6 in Roanoke, Virginia.
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