Day
19 Sunday August 19, 2019 We departed at 9AM and headed for Fries,
VA to stay the remainder of August at Fries New River RV Park. We
arrived at 12:05 PM and set up in site 9, the same site we had last
year.
This
is our third year coming to this RV park and it is one of our all
time favorite places to stay. It sits down in a small cove and has16
sites that are situated along a small mountain stream and is about in
the center of town. The grounds and bathhouse are kept immaculate and
the owners are some of the nicest people you will ever meet and they
always provide you with two home made muffins on the first day of
your stay.
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| Site 9 |
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| Site 10 |
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| Site 9 |
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| Site 10 |
The
town of Fries is an old mill town. It sits on the high banks of the
New River. Most of the houses on the end of town nearest where the
mill was are smaller homes that are probably around 1000 sq. ft plus a basement and
this appears to be the older part of town. Some are maintained really
neat and others not so neat. The houses along this part of main
street sit just the width of the sidewalk off the street.
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| Old train Caboose - now an ice cream shop |
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| New River view from Fries |
Day
20 Monday August 20, 2018 We did a morning walk around part of town
along the street overlooking the river then back along main street
before breakfast. Other than Lena doing laundry and me doing some
minor maintenance on the motorhome we just relaxed today and enjoyed
the cooler mountain temperature.
Day
21 Tuesday August 21, 2018 We drove to Galax to get our Latte and
Cinnamon Bun fix at Briar Patch Coffee shop. From there we got some
groceries and returned to the RV Park for the day. When we got back I
discovered the power was off to the motorhome. I contacted the owner
and he checked and the power was off to the entire park so he called
the power company. The power came back on a couple of hours later. We
got several light rain showers throughout the rest of the day.
Day
22 Wednesday August 22, 2018 The temperature was 66 degrees this
morning at 8AM. Other than a morning and evening walk around some of
the town streets we didn't do much today except enjoy doing almost
nothing except read, relax and enjoy the nice cooler temperature.
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| Hydro Electric Dam near site of old Fries textile mill |
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| Hydro Electric Dam near site of old Fries textile mill |
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| New River view from Fries |
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| Hydro Electric Dam near site of old Fries textile mill |
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| Hydro Electric Dam near site of old Fries textile mill |
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| Hydro Electric Dam near site of old Fries textile mill |
Day
23 Thursday August 23, 2018 53 degrees was the temperature at 8AM.
Mid morning we drove to the Gambetta parking lot on the New River
State Park Trail. In years past we have ridden different sections of
this 57 mile trail. In prior years it was the bed of railroad track.
It was converted to a trail for bicycle riding, walking and horseback
riding. We rode our bicycles from the Gambetta parking lot to
Chestnut Falls and back for a total of 8.5 miles. Not bad for a
couple of “old farts” that will be 70 in a few days. Along the
way we came up on a man and women that was doing some fishing in the
Chestnut Creek that runs along this part of the trail. They commented
on our bicycles as we approached them so we stopped to talk to them.
Somehow the conversation went from our bicycles to fishing and then
an abrupt switch to when they had a job in Florida working for a
funeral home picking up dead people. Not sure how that happened but
it was kind of weird.
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| Cleveland Falls |
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| Cleveland Falls |
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| Cleveland Falls |
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| Cleveland Falls |
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| Donkey in pen beside the trail |
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| Farm along trail |
We
had a good ride and saw three deer along the trail and a lot of
beautiful scenery.
We
returned to the RV Park to rest for a couple of hours before driving
to Galax for a good brick oven pizza at the Italian Garden
Restaurant. Then we went to the Rex Theater to watch the preview of a
newly released documentary film on the music, the people that play it
and make the instruments in and around the Galax VA area. It is
amazing to us how many people in this area play at least one
instrument. I have said it is in the water but I think I am wrong
because we have been coming to this area for few years and have drank
a lot of the water and we can't play a note but we do like the music.
One
tidbit from the movie: Wayne Henderson is a well known Master Luthier
(musical instrument maker) that lives in the area and is basically
self taught in his skill. He has a 10 year waiting list for one of
his guitars. His 30 year old daughter has a college degree in a
completely different field and she wanted a guitar so Wayne told her
she should make it herself. She sold the first one she made for
$25,000. So it seems she has the skill also.
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