For Part 4, I am again sharing a family trip in my 1979 Dodge Aspen Special Edition Station Wagon. The year was 2018, and for that summer’s vacation, we decided to travel to the Blue Ridge and Shenandoah Valley Regions of Virginia and wrap up our week’s vacation in the middle of West Virginia with a Steam Train Ride.
In case you missed my previous entries on this Dodge Aspen, Part 1 appears HERE, Part 2 HERE, and Part 3 HERE.
We began with a ~6-hour drive taking us through the elevation, mountain ridges, and high county of both West Virginia and Virginia. We were traveling from Westmoreland County, PA to Blacksburg, VA. To start our trip, which as the crow flies is just due south, but the fastest routes take us to the interstate a bit to the west when leaving PA and getting into WV to make “crossing the ridges” a bit less “grady”.
Our destination and home base for the week was my buddy’s house in Blacksburg, VA. Blacksburg is a fantastic college town near I81, US Route 460, and the Appalachian Trail. It seems like there are hikes for days in the region! I never get tired of visiting there, and it is also very easy to bike or walk just about anywhere in Blacksburg.
On our way to Blacksburg, VA we took the typical routes, US 119 South, then I68 West, I79 South, US 19 South to I77 South. At that point, I decided to put a “good driving road” in the route before our arrival. We routed onto I64 heading to VA Route 311 for the last leg of our trip. The wife prefers the intestates instead of the twisty mountain roads and passes that I love to rip around on with one of my lighter Darts or Valiants. The cushy, subdued interstate routes with minimal turns and grades are more her style.
This route runs into the George Washington and Jefferson National Forests and crosses 2 prominent ridges between I 64 and Blacksburg. I love driving these sorts of roads and in past trips have encountered spirited sports cars as well as 2 wheeled friends enjoying the route as well.
As I get older, if I have the time and am not towing a giant car trailer, I will take these back roads to explore the countryside to see more of America and drive over the mountains. The idea of really seeing America is in my opinion minimized when driving along at ~70-80 Miles per Hour on the interstate and fighting with large trucks on graded sections. Even with the 2.41:1 rear axle ratio and soft suspension in the Aspen Station Wagon, it was still fun. We saw a baby black bear up in the forest around one of the zig zags near the top of a ridge.
For keen-eyed readers, you’ll notice the pictures above leading to and on VA Route 311 are not from the correct season of the year. I stole these images from another trip when I used the same route but in early springtime, before the green had arrived on the trees. (Please forgive me, as in 2018 I did not know that I was going to write this article.)
After our VA Route 311 jaunt was complete, we arrived at our host’s house. We visited for a while and then after we got settled in, we decided to take a stroll a few blocks to the Virginia Tech campus.
There is a nice pond there where my daughter was able to interact with some wildlife. She loves animals, so this part of our vacation was a good treat for her.
For the next day, we decided to head up to Luray Caverns. This was my daughter’s first trip to a cave.
She had a great time and is a fan of rocks, minerals, and geology, maybe even more so now that she will be turning 11 soon. We have to buy the mining rough at almost every campground and attraction we go to. When she dumps that little bag of sand and rocks into the sluice, it’s gem time, and she knows what the gems and minerals are and where they can be found. At times she is like a little human mineral and gem computer – she will forget more about minerals than I will ever know!
I took a lot of cave pictures inside. Here is one of the best-developed ones. Luray Caverns is large and expansive, by far the largest cave by volume I have been to. If you have an extra hour or 3 along I81 in Virginia, it is worthwhile to stop and explore if you have never been there.
Luray Caverns also has a Car, Carriage, and Caravan Museum on the grounds.
I enjoyed looking at the automotive and mechanical offerings at this museum and I feel that I could have spent an extra 4 hours to appreciate it all. My wife and daughter were probably entertained for about 15 minutes in the automotive part of Luray Caverns, so we decided to continue to Skyline Drive and take the route south back towards the Roanoke and Blacksburg area.
This was our view out of the front door of Luray Caverns. It was a semi-rainy day, at times showering and other times sunny and seemingly bone dry. It’s time to head out onto Skyline Drive, as an entrance is just around the corner from this location.
Here are some sights we encountered along Skyline Drive:
I appreciate the Art Deco Font that the NPS uses for these signs within the Shenandoah National Park. It’s a small detail but it seems to remind me that this was a product of the New Deal and the CCC.
Our trip occurred in June, and for the few days we were in the area it was wet at times. The hills and mountains were green and lush. There are many vistas like this along Skyline Drive which evolves into the Blue Ridge Parkway once you exit Shenandoah National Park.
This was our second bear sighting in as many days. The first time was in the Washington / Jefferson National Forest along VA Route 311. This time, a little cub was exploring along Skyline Drive and we got some good “Bear Paparazzi” photos.
A few examples of the fantastic signage we encountered on our route.
Now that the font and the colours of the signs have changed, you know that we are on the Blue Ridge Parkway and out of the National Park system.
A few pictures from various outlooks along the way. Many of them have this general vibe in the upper Blue Ridge Parkway area, as our travels never ventured much beyond the VA/NC State Line.
The next day I went on a morning hike to Cascade Falls near Pembroke, VA off of US Route 460 with our host, who is also a fellow Slant 6 and MoPar enthusiast. He is a great local guide for the area.
The hike climbs up the creek valley for about ~1.8 Miles.
There are peaceful sounds of rushing water along the entire hike.
The reward at the end of the hike is the ~60-foot-high Cascade Falls.. nestled in the Washington and Jefferson Forests.
We took the rest of the day to travel to the Blue Ridge Parkway by way of Floyd, VA which was our access point to the parkway. It was rainy, cloudy, or foggy for most of that day.
This picture was taken at Mabry Mill, A well-known and historical stopping area on the BRP south of Floyd, VA.
Not far past Mabry Mill is the Mayberry Trading Post.
…
Well, it had been a good week with the Aspen on vacation in 2018. No mechanical issues and everyone was happy. We had one last sight to see on our itinerary. It was ~3 Hours due north of our Blacksburg, VA homestead for the week. That meant Skipping I 81/64 and Running VA State Route 311 again in the opposite direction. That made me smile again even in the somewhat “broughamified”, soft, and cushy Aspen Wagon.
We headed towards the glorious hills, green space, and sparsely populated heart of the NRQZ for a Steam Train Ride in Cass, WV. I would have liked to make a stop at Green Bank to see the Telescope or the Observatory, but it did not fit into the itinerary this time.
Cass is an old, small town just past the popular Snowshoe Ski Resort area. The old Railroad, the engines and rolling stock, etc. are part of a West Virginia State park.
We took our steam train ride in an open-air car. There was soot from the smoke stack that would fly through the air on our open-air journey up the mountain.
Here is a good picture of what makes a Shay Locomotives different. the way the steam cylinders are arranged and the outboard driveshafts to power the coal box behind the locomotive as well.
More Shay outboard crankshaft detail.
After climbing a few switchbacks, and what seems like railroad sidings –where the train drives up or backs into a seemingly dead-end track– a switch is thrown and the engineer continues on the other fork of the track; in the reverse direction as the previous travel to gain our steep ascent (for a train) to Whittaker.
Some old Relics of this region’s railroad history are at the top of the mountain knob at Whittaker. We traveled back down the same route, and the brakemen had some work to do to keep track of the train on the descending part of the ride.
This brings us to the end of our 2018 vacation with the family and the Aspen Wagon. Stay tuned for more adventures in upcoming installments.
Awesome article! I’ve taken the Cass railway numerous times and have always loved the ride and the whole area.
My Daughter is now 10, soo to be 11, and she is still scared of the steam whistle from Cass RR
What a great trip – especially in this car!
If you’re in that part of the country again, and are looking for a unique destination, I suggest looking at Breaks Interstate Park. It’s out of the way of pretty much everything, so it’s not as widely known as other destinations, but is absolutely beautiful and has scenery and hikes that are rather unique.
Also, if you have a chance to visit the Green Bank Observatory, I highly recommend it. In addition to the overall neatness of the observatory, when we were there (about 10 years ago) there were some very interesting cars in the Green Bank fleet. Any thing that creates electrical interference or radio waves is prohibited from the inner part of the Observatory grounds, and that includes gas-powered cars because the electrical burst produced by spark plugs can interfere with the telescope. So all the vehicles that staffers use to move around the facility are stripped-down diesels. Some of them were quite old when I was there – I saw a VW Quantum and a Ford Tempo diesel, among others. Unfortunately, this was shortly before I began writing for CC, so I didn’t take pictures. I have no idea if those types of vehicles are still there, but if you visit, keep your eye open for unusual diesel cars!
For sure, I do want to go there.
Maybe a Quick weekend Jaunt down to Blackwater falls, then a Trip to Green bank with the Camera for some CC Documentation. I would love to check out all of those old groovy Mechanical fuel-pumped diesels.
Great trip! I’ve done several runs through the BFP and hadn’t heard of Cass Scenic Railway. That might warrant another pass.
Yes, I would say so!
My Dad bought an Aspen like this in 1977. How my mom hated the color! It had the brown vinyl seat that were murderously hot in the sun. I remember Dad signing the deal with our family in tow. As we headed to the new car, I turned back (as a nostalgic 8 year old) and walked over to our trade in – at 1970 Dodge Coronet RT, and hugged its rear fender where the white stripe was, and said goodbye. Funny how that long ago memory is still in my head so clearly.
That brings back a flood of memories. In October of 1972, having just been gifted a ’63 Corvair Monza 4-speed, I packed up and headed to Skyline Drive and the BRP, which I drove the full length, camping and hiking along the way. I’m sure it’s very different now, but in 1972, it was almost deserted. I pulled off the BRP into local towns to buy supplies, and it was an immersion into a different time and place. One favorite memory is a very grizzled oldtimer selling honey from a ramshackle roadside stand. I stopped and bought a jar and chatted with him. I felt like I was in the 19th century, talking to him.
It was a fabulous driving experience, but it was my immersion into the tail end of the old Appalachian culture that really left a lasting impression.
And a bear sauntered into my campsite one evening and swiped the liver and onions I was cooking right out of my frying pan, with a swipe of his paw. I followed him and he went right into a trailer where a woman was cooking. She shrieked and jumped up on the bunk bed while it stole the food out of her frying pan, and then came sauntering out. Quite the show!
Wow, what a memory and and adventures you had there. Thanks for sharing.
That sounds like a great trip. I love that part of the country. My dad went to grad school at VA Tech (he immigrated to the US in order to attend) and so much of my early years revolved around this part of VA. My parents met when he was at VPI (as it was called back then) and she was at Radford. We lived in Roanoke when I was in early elementary school. Somewhere there are pictures of me in Lurray Caverns when I was about the age of your daughter (in 2018)….marveling at the constantly advertised “Fried Eggs in Stone”.
Then, during high school in the DC area in the late 1970s, Shenandoah National Park as well as the GW and Jefferson National Forests were pretty much a constant destination for me and my friends to head out to for weekend camping. All year ’round. Often we’d leave on a Friday after school, and if we got a late start during the winter, we might not make it further that night than 5 or 6 of us sleeping in my friend’s 1970 Valiant overnight at one of the overlooks trying not to freeze to death. Good times. 🙂
Your article reminds me that it’s been too long since I’ve been back there.
Terrific ! so much information and of course the great photos .
You’re showing your daughter the world, this will help her have a happier life in decades to come .
I especially like the flying Motocyclist warning sign .
-Nate