The Shenandoah Valley lives up to its reputation for quiet beauty. The less-travelled roads are wonderful cycling routes.
I stopped today in Lexington, a very pretty town that positively reeks
of history. I took an interesting tour of Stonewall Jackson's house.
He lived there before the Civil War when he was a professor at
Virginia Military Institute.
VMI has been much in the news lately with its (unsuccessful) efforts
to keep out women.
Right next to VMI is historic Washington and Lee University which has a particularly beautiful campus.
SR681 on the way into Newport is unpaved.
I camped at
Natural Chimneys State Park. I have noticed that at most state
and local parks, tent campers are treated as second-class citizens. For
example, at Natural Chimneys the only showers are in the RV area, over a
half mile away from the tent area. The tenters' rest rooms don't even
have hot water. The RVers' restrooms have showers, all the hot water you
want, sinks with counters and even a Coke machine outside. My tent site
had no trees or picnic table (someone had moved it). RVers do pay $17,
vs $10 for tent spaces, but they also get electricity and water hookups.