i explored the northern neck of virginia this past weekend. (does that mean VA has a southern neck? google suggests “no.”)

photos to follow within a reasonable time.

a small town between verdigre, ne and mitchell, sd

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town view Close

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buildings in mitchell that aren’t the corn palace

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medical arts building Close

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saturday sunset found me in the back seat of eddie (g in the front passenger seat, more on that later), bumping over FR19 and FR75 in west virginia on our way to dolly sods. we stopped at a beautiful scenic overlook, and continued on to bear rocks, where we watched the sun go down.

the scenic overlook was something like this:

with views along the trail, so:

dolly sods path, dusk Close

flowers on dolly sods path, dusk Close

dolly sods path, dusk Close

and overlooking the valley, the remains of the summer:

berries on dolly sods overlook, dusk Close

branches on dolly sods overlook, dusk Close

vegetation on path to dolly sods overlook, sunset Close

then, continuing on to bear rocks, walking along the bones of the earth. once entirely forested, dolly sods had been clear cut during the civil war. the sun dried out the peat moss, which eventually caught fire and burned away. what’s left is cranberry bog (in west virginia, no less, something that tweaks what little rhode island nature i have), blueberries, and a host of other berries. we saw little, as the sun was setting.

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sunset and moonrise over bear rocks Close	bear rocks, fairy rocks Close	fir and rocks Close

later i’ll put up the photos taken during eddie’s adventure on the canaan loop road. including parking in a stream to snap some shots. ah, eddie. so happy to have been lifted, winched, re-geared, and god knows what else has been done to him.

*looks down*

boy, there are a lot of photos down there. enough to make me finally learn to use the “automate” function in photoshop cs. about time…

cows. elk. mule deer. wind crying along the tops of hills in the evenings. bright stars. few people.

northeastern nebraska.

saturday: kreycik’s riverview ranch (on the lewis & clark trail)

kreycik riverview ranch Close

pulled by a tractor

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featuring elk

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montana sky's sons Close

and buffalo

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and a texas longhorn named boomer.

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boomer... Close

boomer! Close

then a visit to pischelville (no town freer of the priest in knox county),

population: 2 Close

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(founded by anton pischel, pioneer)

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the pischelville cemetery (population considerably larger than 2)

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and the road out of town.

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friday: the sale barn

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not responsible in case of accidents Close

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and a walk

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to a cemetery (the catholic one).

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headstone, st. wenceslaus cemetery Close

statuary, st. wenceslaus cemetery Close

statuary, st. wenceslaus cemetery Close

headstone, st. wenceslaus cemetery Close

wednesday: arrival

thursday: unexpected sightseeing
(yes, that’s exactly what you thought it was. a traveling scale model of the vietnam memorial.)