Our plan was to go tubing on the New River. (Here’s a secret: it isn’t new at all.) Then we woke up. Tubing — that is, sitting or lying in an inflatable tub whilst floating along on the gentle current of the river — just seemed like too much work today. Instead we went into Blacksburg.
Elise had a speaking engagement anyway. Kristie’s son Patrick wanted her to come in and talk to his preschool class. We went with her, but were not needed. She answered questions such as, “Do you have a fire extinguisher?” and traced our route on a big map.
Afterwards we headed back to Kristie and Al’s for a home-cooked lunch. Al biked home and joined us. One of the highlights of living and working in Blacksburg is biking to work and many other places. We spent the afternoon hanging out with Kristie. We went to the YMCA thrift store because they have used books. I bought a hardback copy of Wallace Stegner’s Angle of Repose for two bucks. Elise got an original (1954) copy of a Trixie Belden mystery…for ten bucks! Apparently they are doing a brisk business on Ebay and, thus, even the thrift store is raising its prices.
You may recall, or not, that during the early months of our trip I read a lot of disaster narratives. I’ve read some other things in between, but I’m back to tragedies. I found a cheap hardback copy of Moby-Dick last month (I don’t remember where). A few weeks ago Elise wanted to read it. She read the first page and I read the rest of the first chapter to her. She liked it okay, but didn’t want to hear more on account of the strange, strange language. I, on the other hand, got hooked. I’m lovin’ it. Don’t ask me why, but it’s a great adventure story and a fascinating character study of the monomaniacal Ahab. I’m on page 230 or so and Moby-Dick has been talked about but not seen yet. In fact, no actual whale hunting has taken place. Of course, I know how it ends.
We plan to end our travels more peacefully. Whatever our faults (they are legion), we are not monomaniacs. So we got that going for us. Which is nice. Tomorrow we drive to Shenandoah National Park. We are going to take the scenic route, the Blue Ridge Parkway and then Skyline Drive.
July 26, 2008 at 11:46 pm
Bobby, Angle of Repose was one of the best books I read last year. Hope you enjoy it as much.
July 27, 2008 at 2:54 am
Ah, Blacksburg and home-cooked lunch at the Coopers’! I think I might head through there before I call it quits, too. I hope the shindig at Big Meadows is great.
July 28, 2008 at 5:07 pm
Welcome Back!! We just got back from Maine on Sunday afternoon. Sorry we missed you, but after driving all that way, we couldn’t bring ourselves around to heading out to the mountains. We’re glad you are back “home” and have hopes to see you once you’re settled!