Wednesday, April 19

Woke up to a light rain that stayed with us most of the day.  Due to the weather we left the campground by 8 AM, and only remained on Skyline Drive for another 15 miles.  The fog was heavy, so there was really nothing to see, and the danger of hitting a deer was high so we were didn’t mind descending off the ridges of the National Park and into the valleys.  All in all we covered 65 of the 100 miles on Skyline Drive.

We searched for a good diner go breakfast.  Grits were on my mind, but when we spotted a Krispy Kreme in Harrisonburg, home of James Madison University, we were happy to stop.  I had 5 of their original recipe donuts; Joni only two.  They are very light…so much for our “no chain” rule.

We drove on through the rain to the town of Bedford, Virginia to visit the National D-Day Museum.  It’s a fascinating memorial and our private guide, Paul Coleman, Korean War veteran really made the shrine to Normandy invasion come to life.  Paul shared many anecodotes about both the generals and the GI’s.  We were worried that he might not make it through our tour, but he was fine.  Bedford was selected as the site for this memorial because 30+ soldiers from Bedford participated in the invasion on June 6, 1944, and sadly 20+ were killed on that day.  No other town in America suffered such a high casualty rate.

We had lunch at a great place that Nick & Chetty had visited two years ago.  The restaurant was located inside what must have been a 19^th century private home.  The sandwiches were delicious and the atmosphere a unique treat.

Leaving Bedford, we continued our journey south, stopping in Mt. Airy, North Carolina, which is the hometown of Andy Griffith and the inspiration for Mayberry.  I had been planning on getting a haircut at Floyd’s barber shop, but sadly it was closed.  We walked up and down Main Street, where every other store had a photograph or life size cutout of Andy or Barney.

From Mt. Airy we head to Boonville, and a vineyard for dinner.

Sadly, their dining room was closed, although the owner recommended a restaurant in nearby Elkin, where we both had a great steak dinners.  All day long we have been driving by cattle farms, so we figured the beef in these restaurants must be good, and our assumption proved correct.

Lastly, we had a twenty minute ride to Stone Mountain State Park Campground where we arrived just before dark.  Overall, we travelled 340 miles today.