Thursday, February 25, 2010

December 21, 2009

Crossing the Blue Ridge Mountains

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Buck's Elbow Mountain in Crozet Virginia.

Over on the other side of the mountains, my daughter had been without power for a couple of days. She hadn't been plowed out either so my son, his girlfriend and I set out to get her and bring her back to our house. The interstate was pretty clear by then. Rockfish Gap looked like something out of Colorado. We made our way to the Crozet exit and turned off onto route 250.

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Heading North on route 11...

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...and East on route 262...

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...onto 64 East, headed toward the mountains.

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Interstate 64 in Rockfish Gap.

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Going under the road to Scott's Castle.

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Is this Rockfish Gap or Loveland Pass?

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The piles of snow are as tall as the rockslide barriers in some places.

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The view from the top.

We were surprised by what we saw next. Turning onto Miller School Road we saw a narrow plowed path and VDOT crews hard at work trying to open the road. The road goes down into some valleys and rises again and in these places we saw abandoned cars that couldn't make it.

The plows had pushed around these obstacles as best they could. A crew was working to take snow off of the bridge over Interstate 64. We continued up the road to a point where trees were bent over the roadway. We decided to stop and consider the next dip in the road carefully before we proceeded. Getting stuck ourselves would not be a good option.

We pushed on to Dick Woods Road where my daughter and her English coonhound climbed into the car and we turned around and headed for home.

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A plow works to clear the bridge where Miller School Road crosses the interstate.

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Right before Miller School Road descends to meet Dick Woods Road trees begin to bow over the roadway.

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We got out of the car to check things out. Then an SUV appeared making its way through the bowed trees. We got back in the car and pressed on.

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The final descent to Dick Woods Road.

It was great to get back home again. Thoughts turned to Christmas and time together.

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It looks like a white Christmas is assured.

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The snowboard awaits.

Next: Winter in Europe [click to read]

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