Southwest Virginia Blogs

That strong or irresistible desire to travel must be something that is in your genes.  If that is not the case, then perhaps all those vacations back in my youth, when people actually took two weeks off, instilled a love of travel.  In those days it was the magic of a swimming pool or beach at your door step with restaurant meals instead of home cooked fare. From a very early age, I was in charge of the maps.

That I am one who has wandered far is undeniable.  I was born in North Carolina, went to military high school in Tennessee, college in Massachusetts, and bought an old farm on the shores of Nova Scotia's Bay of Fundy. That eventually led to my first career on a wilderness farm north of Fredericton, New Brunswick.

Only marriage stopped me from homesteading in Newfoundland.  I guess for the seventeen years that we have lived in Roanoke, Virginia, the continual trips up Interstate 81 have kept my wanderlust at bay.  Even during those years, I can remember one of my most enjoyable trips being one where I tracked down what at the time was an impossible to find Acura MDX.  Then I flew to Tallahassee to pick it up and then had a leisurely drive up the many back roads to Roanoke.  Now that I rarely travel to Washington, I have spent a lot of time on the North Carolina coast.  However, mostly getting there has involved a lot of Highway 220 and Interstate 40, neither of which is a favorite road of mine.

One of the most recent trips down to the coast happened to coincide with the Durham to Raleigh rush hour which added nearly an hour to our travels.  I swore that I would find a new way.

My next trip I cut off of Route 220 at Ridgeway and followed Route 87 then Route 14 to US 29.  Eventually I crossed Interstate 40 on the east side of Greensboro about an hour and forty five minutes after leaving Roanoke.  I worked my way onto Route 421 and headed to the coast.   I made a short stop in Sanford to visit Chatlee Boat and Marine. (There might just be a post or two on boats soon.)

I picked up Interstate 40 at exit 341 near Newton Grove.  That meant the whole trip of 315 miles only had a little over thirty miles of Interstate travel. Around six o'clock in the evening, I rolled into Swansboro.

The distance traveled was a few miles less.  I did spend some time on two lane roads, but I cut my teeth on the twisting two lane roads in the foothills of the North Carolina mountains so I will take a lightly traveled two lane road over and an overloaded Interstate anytime.   My travel time with the boat shopping removed was shorter than I have ever managed before and that also includes a stop for a few photos.  Then there was the added bonus that my MDX got well over 23 mpg on the trip which was about 2 mpg better than on the Interstate.

You don't get to see many cotton fields when traveling along the Interstates.  Even the ones you see would be pretty hard to capture with a camera.  The trip to the coast with the exception of the Durham-Raleigh area was already more stress free than a ride up truck overloaded Interstate 81 to Washington, DC.  This new route even removes the North Carolina version of Northern Virginia from my path.

On the way I even figured out a few tweaks that I could make to the route to save a few more minutes.  Now that they have started ripping up faulty concrete in Raleigh area, I just might make Route 421 my default way of getting to the Crystal Coast.

I feel lucky to be alive in days of GPS while real maps are still around.  It is hard to get the kind of overall perspective you need from a small GPS screen so I build my trips on a paper map, and then let the GPS guide me most of the time. I don't mind if the GPS gets upset with me if I find a better way. It can still easily get me out of a jam. More than once I have pulled off of Interstate 81 and gotten around a blocked highway with the help of my GPS. 

I find GPS invaluable.  It took me right to Chatlee's doorstep just as it had faithfully directed me to many far more complex locations where I had appointments in my career in federal sales.  I recently read an article by John C. Dvorak.  I might write a response to his article, "Overrated GPS Annoys Dvorak." If I do, I suspect the title will be "Overrated Dvorak Annoys Experienced GPS User."

I am not above asking for directions, but with a map and the great GPS on my Acura MDX, who needs other directions.  It is the perfect combination for a guy with wanderlust in his soul.

More details on GPS in my post, "GPS a great road warrior tool."

That strong or irresistible desire to travel must be something that is in your genes.  If that is not the case, then perhaps all those vacations back in my youth, when people actually took two weeks off, instilled a love of travel.  In those days it was the magic of a swimming pool or beach at your door step with restaurant meals instead of home cooked fare. From a very early age, I was in charge of the maps.

That I am one who has wandered far is undeniable.  I was born in North Carolina, went to military high school in Tennessee, college in Massachusetts, and bought an old farm on the shores of Nova Scotia's Bay of Fundy. That eventually led to my first career on a wilderness farm north of Fredericton, New Brunswick.

Only marriage stopped me from homesteading in Newfoundland.  I guess for the seventeen years that we have lived in Roanoke, Virginia, the continual trips up Interstate 81 have kept my wanderlust at bay.  Even during those years, I can remember one of my most enjoyable trips being one where I tracked down what at the time was an impossible to find Acura MDX.  Then I flew to Tallahassee to pick it up and then had a leisurely drive up the many back roads to Roanoke.  Now that I rarely travel to Washington, I have spent a lot of time on the North Carolina coast.  However, mostly getting there has involved a lot of Highway 220 and Interstate 40, neither of which is a favorite road of mine.

One of the most recent trips down to the coast happened to coincide with the Durham to Raleigh rush hour which added nearly an hour to our travels.  I swore that I would find a new way.

My next trip I cut off of Route 220 at Ridgeway and followed Route 87 then Route 14 to US 29.  Eventually I crossed Interstate 40 on the east side of Greensboro about an hour and forty five minutes after leaving Roanoke.  I worked my way onto Route 421 and headed to the coast.   I made a short stop in Sanford to visit Chatlee Boat and Marine. (There might just be a post or two on boats soon.)

I picked up Interstate 40 at exit 341 near Newton Grove.  That meant the whole trip of 315 miles only had a little over thirty miles of Interstate travel. Around six o'clock in the evening, I rolled into Swansboro.

The distance traveled was a few miles less.  I did spend some time on two lane roads, but I cut my teeth on the twisting two lane roads in the foothills of the North Carolina mountains so I will take a lightly traveled two lane road over and an overloaded Interstate anytime.   My travel time with the boat shopping removed was shorter than I have ever managed before and that also includes a stop for a few photos.  Then there was the added bonus that my MDX got well over 23 mpg on the trip which was about 2 mpg better than on the Interstate.

You don't get to see many cotton fields when traveling along the Interstates.  Even the ones you see would be pretty hard to capture with a camera.  The trip to the coast with the exception of the Durham-Raleigh area was already more stress free than a ride up truck overloaded Interstate 81 to Washington, DC.  This new route even removes the North Carolina version of Northern Virginia from my path.

On the way I even figured out a few tweaks that I could make to the route to save a few more minutes.  Now that they have started ripping up faulty concrete in Raleigh area, I just might make Route 421 my default way of getting to the Crystal Coast.

I feel lucky to be alive in days of GPS while real maps are still around.  It is hard to get the kind of overall perspective you need from a small GPS screen so I build my trips on a paper map, and then let the GPS guide me most of the time. I don't mind if the GPS gets upset with me if I find a better way. It can still easily get me out of a jam. More than once I have pulled off of Interstate 81 and gotten around a blocked highway with the help of my GPS. 

I find GPS invaluable.  It took me right to Chatlee's doorstep just as it had faithfully directed me to many far more complex locations where I had appointments in my career in federal sales.  I recently read an article by John C. Dvorak.  I might write a response to his article, "Overrated GPS Annoys Dvorak." If I do, I suspect the title will be "Overrated Dvorak Annoys Experienced GPS User."

I am not above asking for directions, but with a map and the great GPS on my Acura MDX, who needs other directions.  It is the perfect combination for a guy with wanderlust in his soul.

More details on GPS in my post, "GPS a great road warrior tool."

One of the neat things about the North Carolina's Crystal Coast is that everyone has a favorite restaurant and they're all different.  One of our neighbors had mentioned to me a while back that the Red Barn Grill in Hubert, NC was a great spot to get reasonably priced, very fresh seafood. He had described the directions from the gate at Camp Lejeune.

On one of our recent trips to Swansboro, I saw a sign for Route 172 which leads through Camp Lejeune.  On a whim we decided to see if we could find the Red Barn Grill since it was after 5 pm.  Since the roads didn't look like my neighbor's description, we stopped at Camp Lejeune's gate and asked directions from a youthful and clean cut Marine.  He had never heard of the Red Barn Grill, but on his advice we headed bad towards Route 24.

It was then I decided to try my favorite gadget on what I had at one time labeled "my new portable computer" which turns out to be my heavily computerized Acura MDX.  That  favorite device would be my GPS which I often describe as  a "Great Road Warrior tool." On the trip down from Roanoke to Swansboro I had discovered a neat feature which actually tells you the names of the services at a particular Interstate exit.  It also will list restaurants ranked by distance in an area where you're traveling. 

We've used that feature successfully before on trips to the NC coast when the hunger for barbecue struck us. Since we were a few miles from any known restaurant, I guessed that the GPS would have a listing for the Red Barn Grill.  A few taps on the touch sensitive screen and my guess was proven correct.  Without even slowing down or changing direction, we were off on a culinary adventure.  The GPS had also shown the distance to the Red Barn Grill as eleven miles so the trip was going to be short.

In just a few minutes we were pulling up in front of the restaurant where I noticed a hand lettered sign that said "Fresh Local Oysters."  I was sold immediately, and we started walking towards the building.  It was pretty obvious from the GPS that we were at the end of the road and a later look at another map confirmed it.

Once inside, we eventually figured out that you needed to order at the counter and then go wait at your table for your food in what appeared to be a converted general store.  Of course I went for the fried oysters, and my wife, Glenda, decided to try the flounder fillet.  It wasn't long before our food arrived.  It was fresh, tasty, and came with the fried seafood restaurant standard of "fries, slaw, and hush puppies."  The oysters were small but very good.  Glenda opined that her flounder hadn't been out of the water very long.  It was a very good meal at a reasonable price and was even served on a red-checkered table cloth.  The hush puppies were better than average but not up to the standard of the Sobotta Family Hush Puppies.

Of course it is pretty hard to beat home cooking, and I still favor fresh caught flounder either from the local sea food market or my own hook and line.  That way I can do my own cooking and end up with what something really special, "A Southern delicacy, pan fried flounder."

However, don't let that stop you from trying the Red Barn Grill in Hubert. It's a interesting experience with good seafood.  The other food must be pretty good also since they were out of their spaghetti special before 5:30 pm.  They also seem to be open for breakfast, but it's a little far us to give that a try. 

We didn't have great cell phone coverage in the area so if you're calling for directions, do it before you get on the road.  Their phone number is (910) 326-1163.  The address for the Red Barn Grill is 101 Red Barn Rd, Hubert, NC.

One other note, if you're out shopping for an auto GPS, they are not all created equal.  I find the one on our Toyota Avalon to be of limited usefulness while the one on our Acura MDX is something that I use all the time.  The rule for GPSs would be try before you buy.

One of the neat things about the North Carolina's Crystal Coast is that everyone has a favorite restaurant and they're all different.  One of our neighbors had mentioned to me a while back that the Red Barn Grill in Hubert, NC was a great spot to get reasonably priced, very fresh seafood. He had described the directions from the gate at Camp Lejeune.

On one of our recent trips to Swansboro, I saw a sign for Route 172 which leads through Camp Lejeune.  On a whim we decided to see if we could find the Red Barn Grill since it was after 5 pm.  Since the roads didn't look like my neighbor's description, we stopped at Camp Lejeune's gate and asked directions from a youthful and clean cut Marine.  He had never heard of the Red Barn Grill, but on his advice we headed bad towards Route 24.

It was then I decided to try my favorite gadget on what I had at one time labeled "my new portable computer" which turns out to be my heavily computerized Acura MDX.  That  favorite device would be my GPS which I often describe as  a "Great Road Warrior tool." On the trip down from Roanoke to Swansboro I had discovered a neat feature which actually tells you the names of the services at a particular Interstate exit.  It also will list restaurants ranked by distance in an area where you're traveling. 

We've used that feature successfully before on trips to the NC coast when the hunger for barbecue struck us. Since we were a few miles from any known restaurant, I guessed that the GPS would have a listing for the Red Barn Grill.  A few taps on the touch sensitive screen and my guess was proven correct.  Without even slowing down or changing direction, we were off on a culinary adventure.  The GPS had also shown the distance to the Red Barn Grill as eleven miles so the trip was going to be short.

In just a few minutes we were pulling up in front of the restaurant where I noticed a hand lettered sign that said "Fresh Local Oysters."  I was sold immediately, and we started walking towards the building.  It was pretty obvious from the GPS that we were at the end of the road and a later look at another map confirmed it.

Once inside, we eventually figured out that you needed to order at the counter and then go wait at your table for your food in what appeared to be a converted general store.  Of course I went for the fried oysters, and my wife, Glenda, decided to try the flounder fillet.  It wasn't long before our food arrived.  It was fresh, tasty, and came with the fried seafood restaurant standard of "fries, slaw, and hush puppies."  The oysters were small but very good.  Glenda opined that her flounder hadn't been out of the water very long.  It was a very good meal at a reasonable price and was even served on a red-checkered table cloth.  The hush puppies were better than average but not up to the standard of the Sobotta Family Hush Puppies.

Of course it is pretty hard to beat home cooking, and I still favor fresh caught flounder either from the local sea food market or my own hook and line.  That way I can do my own cooking and end up with what something really special, "A Southern delicacy, pan fried flounder."

However, don't let that stop you from trying the Red Barn Grill in Hubert. It's a interesting experience with good seafood.  The other food must be pretty good also since they were out of their spaghetti special before 5:30 pm.  They also seem to be open for breakfast, but it's a little far us to give that a try. 

We didn't have great cell phone coverage in the area so if you're calling for directions, do it before you get on the road.  Their phone number is (910) 326-1163.  The address for the Red Barn Grill is 101 Red Barn Rd, Hubert, NC.

One other note, if you're out shopping for an auto GPS, they are not all created equal.  I find the one on our Toyota Avalon to be of limited usefulness while the one on our Acura MDX is something that I use all the time.  The rule for GPSs would be try before you buy.