Saturday, October 29, 2011

An ice storm cometh

Today is October 29th. We awoke today to rain and cold, but by the time breakfast was over we found it had started to clear. We loaded up into Sandy and Drupeys van, and headed for a ride on the Parkway. We traveled our usual route through Ferrum, and over Shooting Creek road and hit the Parkway. In the distance I saw what I thought was snow on the far mountain peaks. As we travelled south...yes south, and climbed up to Rocky Knob, we found ourselves in an icy wonderland !
The sky was brilliant, and it was melting fast with chunks of ice coming down in sporadic spots as we travelled along thinking that the windshield might crack!


Some spots would cloud over and dark freaky clouds would roll over us and then there would come splashes of sun. Very wierd !


The distant mountains were frosted looking, with fields of green in the foreground, then areas of browned grass followed by spurts of color on the trees.






What an odd sight... this went on for miles.




At one point we stopped and used the wayside facilities, and it was blowing and cold. Bob posed in this ice pile that was like huge ice rigatoni pasta. It was loud and we didn't stay out near the trees long for fear of getting impaled!





Sandy was back in the van waving...smart lady.



We had wanted to travel North on the Parkway, but decided to go south and go to Meadows of Dan to the Poor Farmers market to have lunch, but THEY ARE NOT HANDICAPPED ACCESSIBLE. I was never aware of the places we love to go that I hadn't noticed that Sandy could never go and enjoy with us. Very dissappointed with Meadows of Dan stores. We went past to Nancys Candys, and THEY ARE HANDICAP ACCESSIBLE. Kudos to Nancys Candys, and they got a chunk of our money. We also learned at Rocky Knob ranger station that the Parkway was closed above Roanoke, so we did the right thing by going south.




We headed down 58 until we got to the first place that was accessible to Sandy and that was Wendys. Kudos to all the Wendys and shame on so many places for not making their businesses available to the handicapped people who love to travel and sightsee. For some, vehicle trips are their only way to get to do and see what we take for granted.

The icestorm commeth and its not just weather related. I plan to check every place I go to frequently and make sure that they are handicapped accessible, and if they are not, my business will go elsewhere...after I let them know...and a blog will show which ones you are...

the power of the pen, or computer can be very icy...





1 comment:

Greener Pastures--A City Girl Goes Country said...

Very true about the power of the pen. There was an article in the Roanoke Times a few months ago about someone who is disabled who was complaining about all the stores that didn't have access right in Roanoke.

Very beautiful scenery. You can't take that away from Virginia.

About Me

My photo
union hall, S.W.Virginia, United States
Newly retired from Franklin County Public Schools.Prior to that I was a cosmetologist for several years.