9/28 Blue RIdge Parkway - Rocky Knob to Julian Price Campground

I got only about an hour sleep last night, so was very tired today.  Luckily, this middle part of the parkway is relatively flat and less curvy then the northern chunk, so it was an easy drive. Did see a couple of interesting things along the way, but much of the drive looked like this!

Weather has been terrific--sunny and a bit cool because of the altitude.  Nights are good for sleeping.

Hope you can read this, but this sign tells you about the cabin owned by "Aunt Puckett."  She was a midwife who lived to 102 and was said to have delivered at least 1,000 babies, all safely.  The photo shows her holding the last baby she delivered. 

A small cabin, but typical of those built in the 19th Century in the mountains.  Note that there was only one window.  The door is also quite short. 

What I found interesting, as I posted in yesterday's posting, is that the logs have large cracks between them, so the spaces are filled in with split logs.  This gives a better picture of the detail than yesterday. 

The back of the house.  There was a partial attic, but it was probably just used for storage.

Also notice that there is a gap between the chimney and the log home. That was done to lessen the danger that the heat from the fire would catch the logs on fire.  Sometimes, if there was a chimney fire, they would pull the chimney down, away from the building.

This is the parkway in front of Aunt Puckett's home.

Just more scenery.

 

 

A gift shop and ranger information building. 

This is supposed to be a restaurant, but it was closed.

This lone tree is beginning to turn to fall colors.

And more scenery!  Love these long distance views.

 Arrived at Julian Price Campground about 4:00 pm, so had time to relax.  Nice thing was that there was very good cell service here, so I was able to catch up with online stuff using my mobile hotspot.  The camping sites in the first two campground on the parkway were tight and very unlevel--typical of very old campground built mostly for tenters and small camping equipment. I have learned that the photos of the campsites on recreation.gov were misleading.  Each time I have arrived at a campground, the registration person has suggested a different campsite than the one I had chosen, based on it being too small for my rig.  This one was large enough and perfectly level!!