Saturday, August 18, 2012

a drive to the Tower

While I was at the auto shop getting my brake pads replaced (the front brakes were worn down to their inners, i.e., the next step would have been the rotors), a friendly old gent at the shop started talking to me about where he lived: a few miles off, in an area called Woodstock Tower. It's apparently deer country, along with being bear, bobcat, mountain lion, and wolf country as well.

So I decided to give my new brakes a little workout, and made the drive to Woodstock Tower up on Mine Mountain, which forms the northern border of Fort Valley and looms above the Seven Bends area of the Shenandoah River. The trip is gravel road over the final four miles, and I slipped and slid along the switchback in my tiny Honda Fit, hoping for a good view of the Seven Bends (closer to thirty-four bends, actually). I never got that view-- too much foliage-- but it was one hell of a fun ride. I may have to go back that way and explore some more.

I'll tell you this, though: it's a bad, bad place for your car to break down or for your tire to go flat. Every single car I encountered on that road today was an SUV. You need a tough vehicle if you plan to live in that area.


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