Almost 4,000 feet above sea level: you can smell the horsepower from up here on its way from Michigan. A runway stretches across the top of this mountain in Bath County, Virginia. The road that ends at the door of a small terminal is a snake-crooked trip, hair-pinned into kinks that would give an 18-wheeler heartburn. [...]
We were driving through West Virginia last weekend. The countryside was beautiful, the sun was shining, it was porcelain cold on the other side of the windshield glass, snow stretched to the mountains on our right. Farms with humped barns pressed against the highway. As we topped a hill, we noticed something gray and short [...]
The snow in Virginia continues. People who live in places like Chicago, Boston and Minneapolis see this yearly, and scoff at our confusion and school closings. But, to bastardize the phrasing of Scotty on Star Trek, Virginia is not built to take this kind of punishment.
When I was growing up, we weren’t exactly wealthy, to say the least. For entertainment during the holidays, my family (and sometimes friends) would brew up a Thermos of strong coffee, pile into the old Bel Air, fog up the windows, and ride around Montgomery, Alabama looking at Christmas lights and decorations in the nicer [...]
Rudy loves to eat a big meal, ride around in the car, listen to seasonal music and look at Christmas lights. The sparkling strings hypnotize him into a holidaze. Last night we took him for a little ride through the neighborhood. He sat wide-eyed in the backseat, front leg propped against the armrest, leaning on [...]
We live in a neighborhood ruled by an “association.” Perhaps you know the situation. If not, here’s how it works. You live on a stereotypical cul-de-sac, pay a monthly fee (not a choice for us) and the association keeps up the common areas, landscaping, playgrounds and allows you access to the pool.
I have never had a green thumb; just the opposite. If I plant it, it will die, water and fertilize be damned. There was a time, however, when I could grow a nice stand of grass (not the kind people smoke) by disturbing the ground enough to toss some seeds out and get them to [...]
It is not often that people drive forty miles to get a loaf of bread. We did.
I’ve known Mark McIntyre, the owner, chef and chief baker at Norwood Cottage Bakery for years. His homemade artesian bread was rumored (on Facebook) to be sinful. As I recall, Mark was the one doing the rumoring. After roaming [...]
A local newspaper recently voted the new Bass Pro Shop’s Outdoor World off I-95 north to be one of the ugliest buildings in Richmond. “Hideous,” is actually the word they used to describe the monstrously-glowing, pseudo-timbered ode to fishing and hunting – with a restaurant that features alligator and an appetizer of about an hour-and-a-half [...]
When I was a kid in Montgomery, Alabama, my dad took me to the Montgomery International Speedway on Saturday nights to watch men like Donnie and Bobby Allison race Red Farmer and maybe some shade-tree mechanics from Prattville or Wetumpka or guys from local garages and car dealers or maybe former moonshiners. There I saw [...]
In Virginia we have potholes on some of our highways deep enough to burst a tire and warp the rim.
“Hey, Bob, I think I ruptured a kidney on the way to work this morning.”
We have a car tax that is tantamount to buying a new car every year and paying the sales tax on it, [...]
It hurts to lose a baseball game. It hurts even more to lose your entire team.
During the holidays, Dee Briggs had an idea. “I’m going to go to the grocery store and get a turkey and take it to Extra Billy’s (a local barbecue restaurant). They’ll smoke it. You want me to get you one?”
I was out of town when he called and quickly said, “Absolutely.” It sounded like a [...]
Richmond, Virginia, police may have found a way to Glue police to criminals, a feat not easily pulled off in other cities.
Last weekend, my son Jake and I drove over to the inleted shores of northeastern Virginia, around the York River, the Rappahannock River, the Piankatank River, the Potomac River and the Chesapeake Bay.