A royal front

From what was old British settlements we drive toward what seems like old British landscapes. Britain at one time was completley covered in trees and now we've arrived at Shenandoah National Park it seems this is what it could have looked like.
We stop overnight in a small town with an odd name, Front Royal, which is said that it took it's name from a royal oak tree in the centre. As the car's brakes have taken a hammering over the past 5 months I enquire about a price for fitting new brake pads. I thought £80 was a bit steep so buy some pads for £10 and decide to fit them myself in the next couple of days.
Steep winding roads take us up above town and into the start of what is an extremely long road. This road connects the Appalachian Mountains that make up Shenandoah National park and beyond with the Great Smokey Mountains around 750 miles away. The shear extent of a place like this is what America is all about, massive distance like that is hard to get into perspective.
Just in the Shenandoah National Park alone there are 75 viewpoints that enable you to pull over and take in the endless green mountain landscapes.


We soon learn after a few of these viewpoints that they're all pretty much the same for a good few hours. The landscape is excellent viewing but stopping at each of the 75 viewpoints would be mundane insanity. The hills seem to just roll on forever.
After hours of small towns and endless scenery we drop down into another American sprawl that is Roanoke. It seems that some of the people in our motel are actually living there and sure enough the next morning large black women are hanging around complaining whilst their scrawny partners are trying to lug all their belongings into a hired removal van.
I attempt to change the brake pads on the car in the heat of a deserted car park. After discovering we have been sold the wrong pads, can't find the receipt and struggling with overly tight bolts things don't appear to be going to well. But, luckily the car parts shop we bought the pads from are a national chain and there is one store in town that exchange the pads without a receipt, very helpful they are to. We've wasted most of the day by now and after sorting the breaks we need to get some gas for our cooking stove. Another task that takes forever as no place seems to have the correct one. We end up driving to a few stores all across town before we can finally head up to the Blue Ridge Parkway and to a camp site just as night falls. Maybe we should be worried about bears again but the camp ranger tells me none have been spotted just yet although they are due.
The Blue Ridge Parkway is the road that links the Shenandoah National Park with the Great Smokey Mountains and in itself is a long road and not that different than the parks themselves. A couple of postcard style shots can be taken along the way.

The picture above has been used in advertising material for other states like Connecticut and Maine, which is a lie for starters. The fact that this water mill was moved from another site and completely reconstructed for tourists doesn't stop it being one of the most photographed buildings in the country. On to the Smokeys!