We woke this morning in Natural Chimneys Park near Mt. Solon, VA. There was absolutely no noise last night, unlike our former lodgings down in Buchanan at Middle Creek. We got to watch the fireflies turn our camp spot into a tiny light show last night. We felt we were prepared for some more exploration today so we took off for a cruise into Mt. Solon, a nearby community with some great old houses.
We also were on a quest to get some propane for our onboard system in our trailer so we started looking for propane vendors on the phone and found that although there are many outlets that allege they sell the stinky gas, virtually none around Mt. Solon actually do. We finally settled on a Tractor Supply store in Staunton, about 20 miles from Natural Chimneys. We got the cylinder mostly filled due to Tractor Supply’s policy of not filling cylinders to capacity. For some reason, they will only put 27 pounds into a 30 pound cylinder.
Since we were so close to Staunton, we decided to give it a sniff and ended up being delighted with our decision. Staunton is a very old town and the birthplace of Woodrow Wilson. It also is the location of an amazing number of fantastic buildings, both municipal and residential. There are some colleges here, including Stuart Hall which was the first college for women in the South. Unfortunately for photograph seekers, Staunton also has a form of rural electrification that results in irregular webs of conductors obscuring almost every angle available for photos. Today’s photos are a testament to the thorough coverage of phone and electrical conductors that fill every view of the beautiful structures.
On the way back home this afternoon, we spotted a five-legged horse that looked like it was made from papyrus reeds and a very comfortable bunny lurking under our trailer.
We took some photos of the great stuff around Mt. Solon and Staunton. To see ’em, click here