Martinsville, Virginia

 

A short run to Martinsville Virginia

Sunday May 10 2026

The campers are gradually dispersing, which is nice because if everyone tried to leave the park at the same time it would be grid lock on the narrow gravel roads that wind thru the forested campground. 

We departed the Farm Park at 11am and except for a very short section of I-73 we traveled local roads from Denton NC to Martinsville VA. We arrived at Indian Heritage RV Park around one-ish and quickly set up on site 76, which sits high on a bank overlooking the Smith River.

Indian Heritage RV Park on the Smith River


Besides being a travel day for us, today is Mother’s Day and also Millie’s birthday. We had decided we would travel to our next destination before going to a restaurant to celebrate Millie’s day. 

Soon we were ready to eat, and I asked Millie to choose which restaurant she wanted to go to. She picked my favorite eatery in Martinsville, Jerry’s Pizza. We enjoyed half of a large Hawaiian pizza and brought the other half home for tomorrow. As we were finishing our meal, Millie read me a text message from her grandson Marcus wishing her a happy Mother’s Day and Happy Birthday. One of the restaurant staff happened to be walking by and heard the birthday greeting. He gave Millie a large slice of blueberry cheesecake for her birthday. We were touched by his thoughtful gesture.

Birthday cake at Jerry's Pizza


Monday, May 11, 2026

We stayed in Martinsville for the next two days; we didn’t really have any plans we’re just taking our time moving west in the state. We have tickets to Floyds Country store’s Friday night dance and it’s not that far away.

I did cook breakfast outside this morning on our Cuisinart grill. But the weather soon turned cold and rainy and we spent most of the day inside. We did venture out in the afternoon for a trip to Walmart for a few groceries. On the way home we stopped at one of those old-fashioned DUI spray wand car washes. It may sound foolish to wash the truck in the rain, but it was mud splattered from Denton and really needed it. $1.50 for the wash and an extra quarter to get it rinsed off.

What happened to the Propane Grill? We still have the Pit Boss griddle and use it at home; we actually use it more there than we did in the RV. I just think the small electric Grill/Panni Press will be used more often in the RV. The Cuisinart is smaller and easier to store and still has adequate capacity for the two of us.

I had tentative plans to ride the ten-mile, Dick and Willie Passage Rail Trail here in Martinsville, but I cancelled because of the weather. 

Tuesday May 12, 2026

Our 2nd objective while in Martinsville was to ride out to Axton and check on the Bray Family Cemetery. Millie had suggested that I could ride the trail in the morning and we would still have plenty of time in the afternoon for the cemetery. When we woke up to outside temperatures in the low 40’s I said no thank you. 

We waited until after our lunch of left over Jerry’s pizza before going out for the day. First stop was to the farm store down the road for a bag of composted cow manure. I wanted see if it will enrich the soil in a small area of concern at the cemetery. 

Bray Family Cemetery in Axton Virginia


The cemetery looked very nice, and we will not be back until fall to do any branch trimming necessary.

Beings that we were halfway to Danville we decided to ride out and see the new casino. I expected it to be a prefab metal building like we’ve seen in the construction of many small Indian casinos. The new Caesar’s Casino/Hotel is definitely not that, it is very impressive on the outside. We don’t gamble so we did not go inside.

Danville Virginia


Of course, we had to ride by Millie’s old house on Westover Drive. This fine brick home is not being kept up very well. This is the 2nd time I’ve driven by and it’s not looking good, mostly because of the overground shrubbery and trees around it.

Millie's former home in Danville Virginia


On the way back to Martinsville, we took a little detour by way of Irisburg Rd and drove by her old homeplace, which I thought looked to be well taken care of. Her daddy’s store on the corner is still just being used for storage.

I cooked Fried egg sandwiches for dinner on the Cuisinart. So far, its working well for us. An evening walk to the end of the road in front of the campground ended our outside activities. 






Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Denton Bluegrass and Country Music Festival

Image
  Wednesday May 6 2026 I don’t know why I procrastinated until the last minute, but I worked two full days getting the house ready to leave and the RV ready to transport us on another journey. It’s not like I didn’t know the trip departure date was right around the corner, I made some of our reservations back in February. Besides the normal departure check list, I had to add to our irrigation system. Besides the lawn, we irrigate our blueberry patch and flush the birdbath every morning. The new addition is for tomato plants and some flowers, both which are being grown in pots. It required its own control system because of the different water requirements. I don’t use big box store irrigation plumbing, it’s cheap junk from China and doesn’t hold up well, plus the Chinese don’t seem to adhere to any standard plumbing size. I use PEX tubing, its tough stuff and I have the tools and a stock of fittings. It just makes everything easier for me. I even fabricate my own spray heads, each s...
Read more

24 Miles on the creeper trail

Image
  Fries VA to Troutdale VA Tuesday May 19 2026 This morning we departed Fries Virginia and drove to Raccoon Branch Campground near Troutdale Virginia. This is a continued journey on Hwy 58; The road we’ve been traveling since Martinsville and a road we’ve traveled many times before. Our purpose for coming to this far western corner of Virginia is to visit Millie’s sister Betty. We had reserved our favorite site (#10) in the campground and set up the RV quickly. The day was still young, so we drove over to Betty’s house and visited with Betty and her son Jason. We sat outside in rockers on the long porch and caught up with family news. Jason has recently had a major operation, and we were glad to see he was on the mend. Soon we were discussing world problems and our solutions for them.   Each of us had some good ideas, none of them could be repeated under oath of course. lol Ai generated picture Back at the RV, we used our Starlink internet for the first time at this loca...
Read more

Meadows of Dan, Virginia

Image
  Nice ride through some Virginia mountains Wednesday May 13 2026 Moving day today, we don’t have far to go so we took our time packing up. We left the campground and drove the truck and camper to the nearby Planet fitness and exercised for an hour. I can honestly say I do not enjoy going to the gym, but it does make me feel better afterwards. Leaving the gym, we saw it was lunch time so before we left the parking lot, we ate the last of the leftover Jerry’s pizza. Oh, the irony, exercise and pizza, what a combination! It's a joke Planet Fitness! We then drove to Meadows of Dan Virginia on highway 58. We got to travel on some of the new realigned highway at Lovers Leap. It’s going to be a great improvement to travel through the mountains. We are staying at the Meadows of Dan Campground; it is our first time here. It’s a pretty basic campground, gravel roads and campsites, it has one bathhouse, a few pull-thru sites on the hill and about twenty back-in sites in a holler below the pu...
Read more