Walking out of church today Gene said, “Do you want to go on a Sunday afternoon drive?” Of course I did. We haven’t done that for years and years and years; to just drive for the fun of driving and seeing new country. We went home, changed our clothes and hit the road heading west. Now Gene did have a destination in mind; I saw him browsing the internet before leaving for church even though he made no mention of what he was doing. He wanted to find one of our beef customers in Nelson County.
We took scenic Route 60 west and stopped at Pino’s, a country diner in Buckingham County, for lunch. The food was superb and the variety on the menu was exceptional. We then drove past another beef customer a short distance down the road before heading north on Route 56 towards Nelson County. The rolling countryside was beautiful and there are a lot of cattle farms in Buckingham. Only a farmer can truly understand the beauty of cattle grazing in lush, green fields.
After driving the main road for about thirteen miles, we turned off on a side road at Wingina and wound on a curvy road along the bluffs and foothills. We admired the river bottom pastures and homesteads nestled against the ridge or perched high on the bluff overlooking the James River and railroad tracks. We knew “sort of” where the farm was but was not able to identify it. We knew he usually wasn’t at the farm on the weekends so this was not a business visit. Because it was raining the only picture I took was this train trestle over the Tye River about 400 yards before it empties into the James, from the car window. Otherwise, we still might not be home as I would be along the road or river somewhere taking pictures!
We eventually meandered our way to Route 29, headed north towards Charlottesville before catching Route 6 east towards home, with a brief stop at Walton’s Mountain museum in Schuyler. It was neat driving through quaint towns of yester years; many of which are still thriving with pop and mom businesses. Many towns I knew the names of but had never been through; Lovingston, Scottsville, Fort Union, Columbia and George’s Tavern. It made me appreciate a customer that regularly comes from Scottsville for his horse hay and shavings and now I can’t wait to tell him so.
I remember as a child a favorite Sunday afternoon activity was when our family took a leisurely drive. If you want to really learn to know an area, see where the locals live, figure out how roads connect and where they go; take a Sunday afternoon drive. Time almost stands still as you cruise along without having to be at a destination in a hurry. It was five hours of pure pleasure!
Ruth Hochstetler Said:
on April 20, 2015 at 9:39 pm
After we moved to this area 7 – 8 years ago, our method of learning to know the area, was by taking the long way home from church on Sundays. Several times we would take every side road we would come to, and drive all the way to the end. We explored a lot of the roads in Cumberland, Buckingham, and Prince Edward Counties, and even some in Powhatan. As a result, we feel very much at home. We’ve been to some of the areas that you mentioned. One Sunday we visited a Brethren community up near Palmyra, and went to their church service. and were invited home for Sunday dinner. That was a real treat! I enjoy reading your blog. We have a lot of common interests.