Travels

My 25th Virginia 10-Miler

| edwinridout

At the top, 2022 with Allen Vaughan (who was first in our age group). Flashbacks: in 1998, Edwin, Walt, Vic, BJ, Connie (and with those flowers in hand, did both Vic and BJ get an age group place that year?); in 2006, Elspeth and Edwin; in 2009, Tim and Edwin; 2010, Edwin, Sharon, Walt (night before, and after the race); 2011, at the finish. This year, 2022, I ran faster than the year before but placed 4th instead of 2nd in the age group. Should have trained more.

Wishful thinking

| edwinridout

Here’s what my desk will look like after I get organized. Meanwhile I’ll keep this handy as a reminder of Belmont’s July 29th field trip to the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts in Richmond. A few other snaps from, in, or outside:

What we really went to see, a day or two before the exhibition closed July 31st:

Pics from a drizzly run May 26th

| edwinridout

Above, one of a pair of pre-Civil War catalpa trees in front of Chatham Manor, facing Fredericksburg on the far side of the Rappahannock River. Below, 1, the Fredericksburg railroad bridge seen from the Chatham bridge, and 2, the city dock with Gary the white goose supervising his adopted Canada goose family.

Meyersdale

| edwinridout

The old Western Maryland Railroad station at Meyersdale is now the Meyersdale Historical Society and a great rest stop for cyclists, walkers, and runners on the Great Allegheny Passage Trail. That trail (which Trudy H and I bicycled three years ago) runs 156 miles from Pittsburgh to Cumberland, where it connects to the C&O Canal trail for another 184 miles to Washington DC (I haven’t done that leg yet). Only about a mile from the Meyersdale Station is the Salisbury Viaduct, 1900 feet long, and 100 feet above the Casselman River and US Route 219. The viaduct selfie below is from April, when I had a run from Linda McD’s house a couple of miles towards Pittsburgh and back, then a couple of miles towards Cumberland and back. This view of the viaduct I snapped from the car on our Export trip in May.

On the Bloomery Pike

| edwinridout

How times change: on the Bloomery Pike from Paw Paw, West Virginia, towards Winchester, Virginia.

When we Export Ridouts first explored Appalachia in 1963, naively unaware of the practice of chewing tobacco, we were amused to see ancient and decrepit barns, freshly painted and exhorting “Chew Mail Pouch Tobacco — treat yourself to the best.” Gareth’s comment this week: “Eschew Mail Pouch Tobacco?” Commissioned photo by Jan G, at speed, looking backwards from side window. More about Bloomery and bloomeries.