WHAT · IRKS · ME · TODAY

I got the marvelous pussy cat as travel companion, because it was Laura’s intention to go directly to campus, pick up the books she's using to teach her Rhetoric courses this semester, and secure a parking pass (which one cannot do by phone or on line). This, of course, left me to go alone to her apartment to see what might fly out when the door was opened. My vivid nightmares notwithstanding, the refrigerator had NOT exploded, nothing smelled awful, and no frightening creatures seemed to have moved in in her absence. I dealt with the Most Awful Set of Outside Stairs one must navigate to get to her apartment, several times, toting things IN from the car, and OUT to the dumpster. These stairs were designed and set at an angle that increases the force of gravity by a factor of 7 or 8. Laura accomplished her on-campus chores, and arrived home about an hour behind me. We did have to go get in some groceries, but we made an early night of it, and then spent the next two days doing odds and ends of things, many of which were totally pleasurable. I did some Mom-type stuff in the apartment (cleaning things that had gathered a lot of dust during her absence, and maybe one or two things that might have been slightly neglected by the regular cleaning crew before she left…you know.) We went to Salsa Rita’s for lunch, visited the marvelous McKay’s bookstore,

played with the cat, watched ridiculous British comedy (both high and low), read a bit, and relaxed ourselves.

Then, Monday morning, without too much wailing, I set out for home. I made up my mind to see a thing or two on the trip, and so I did. Mid-afternoon on Monday I began to see “Antique Mall” signs every few exits. I randomly chose one, and ended up in the unbelievable small town of Buchanan, VA, where I visited a marvelous used book store called Fireside Books, located in a lovely old brick house.

Every rooom on the first floor was FULL of used books. Most of them in quite good condition. Arranged in sections. Alphabetized. Orderly. And naturally, it came with a friendly, talkative, interesting proprietor who knows almost to the volume what he has and where it is, and has probably read 97% of the books in there. A self-proclaimed Jefferson scholar who would have been happy to go on til dinner time on that subject had I not managed to convey that I really did want to check out some of the antique shops before getting back on the road. What had been advertised on the highway signs as a “mall” turned out to be another very large house of many rooms, with intricate curved hallways, populated with all sorts of antiques offered by multiple vendors (hence, “mall”, I guess.) So Buchanan, VA, occupied me most delightfully for close to 2 hours. And I still meant to stop at the Natural Bridge, about 10 miles up the road, before reaching my overnight stopover in Staunton, VA.

I remember being at the Natural Bridge some time during my childhood on a family vacation, but it must have been at least 40 years ago. The nice thing about such places is that they don’t fundamentally change. It’s still big, breathtakingly beautiful and awe-inspiring. I didn’t complete the entire trail, because I was getting a bit tired by then, and had another 45 minutes of driving to do. But ‘twas a fine day.

Tuesday I left Staunton fairly early, and arrived at New Market Battlefield around 9:30 a.m. I spent a fascinating hour and a half there, walking the battlefield, looking at the Bushong farm,

and strolling through the woods overlooking the Shenandoah River Valley. (I got my feet wet, but I did not lose my shoes.) If you have any interest in 19th century farm life, U. S. military history or the Civil War, (or if you want to know what losing one’s shoes has to do with anything) explore this website carefully.

There is a lot to absorb there.

I arrived home around 4:30 Tuesday afternoon, a bit tired, but quite pleased with myself and the way things worked out. I do love a road trip. Now, of course, my husband wants us to visit all these places I discovered so that he can see them for himself---I won’t have any objection to that.