A woods encircled knoll high above town adorned with bright white stones engraved with names and dates of young Confederate soldiers who died just as their lives had begun.  We came upon a ceremony today.  Each year the town of Huntersville sets two markers for Confederate soldiers who were buried in unmarked graves on the hill above town.  Re-enactors in full Confederate Uniform stood watch over the newly marked graves as descendents laid roses and in one case even sprinkled soil from the home farm in Tennessee then the American Legion Honor Guard fired their salute.  Together they honor the fallen.  It is a wonderful, locally borne, heart felt tribute.  Beautiful.

The day was bright and crisp, perfect for Huntersville Tradition Day.  Women in 1800s attire mingled with the crowds.   Demonstrations abounded: black smithing, broom making, cider making, ice cream making (both with tasting!), Civil War re-enactments (Unionand Confederates both), wool spinning, and others.  There were wagon rides and tours of great old buildings including two 1800s churches and a jail.   Half a dozen picker groups played at various spots in town so we were rarely out of earshot of some really good foot stomping music.

And the food, oh my gosh.  We sampled soup and beans and ham with cornbread and a perfect apple dumpling.  The biscuit ofKent’s country ham biscuit was actually made with bacon grease.   If we were still eating we couldn’t have possibly tried everything.

New for me.  I got to fire a black powder muzzle loader.  45 caliber with 60 grains of powder – I know only because the great guy who owned it showed me exactly how to load it.  He says it is so accurate that he can hit the stick of a lollipop at 250 yards.   You wouldn’t know it based on my shot.  I said, “I missed”.  He said, “No, you hit the dirt.”   The targets were set back in a cut out in the hillside.  I am not much of a gun person but there is something intriguing about the black powder weapons.

Another classic West Virginia drive with steep grades and hairpin curves up the side of Spruce Knob.  A bit of haze hung on most of the day but the view was still awesome.  Ridge after ridge of fall color stretched out for miles.  I am sure we saw the Virginia peaks that carry the Blue Ridge Parkway that we head for next.

Marvelous.  You have to tune in on the web sometime.  It is all we can get here in the Quiet Zone.  It is all local and unbelievably informal.  They loose stuff, forget stuff, ask other Djs over the radio to call if they know where something is.  Local festivals are announced in detail as well as deaths and funerals and all things that may be of interest to any local.  It has been great fun to listen to.  Live play by play coverage of local high school football was a little more than we could take tonight.  We will tune in again in the morning.  I will miss it when we drop over the mountain intoVirginia.

The images created from capturing these invisible waves are amazing.  The National Radio Astronomy Observatory (NRAO) is nestled between the mountains in Green Bank WV.  The Green Bank Telescope (GBT) is huge.  It weighs over 17 million pounds and the 2.3 acre dish is made up of over 2004 individually movable panels to allow it to be precisely focused.  A very impressive piece of machinery.  Unfortunately, when it is working it looks like it is doing nothing so it doesn’t make for a very exciting tour.

The exhibits that show images of the galaxy, stars and nebulae collected at all sorts of different wavelengths are the best part.  They can create spectacular 3D images…same way the Hubble images are created.   The physics of the birth, life and death of stars and behavior of pulsars is a cool too.  A fun couple hours.

There is a National Radio Quiet Zone (NRQZ).  Oh yeah, we are in it!  No public cell phone towers.  Only small, low power, local radio stations.  No local TV stations.  The observatory has a hot spot truck that they send out to snuff any tramp radio freq source within 10 miles.  They track the source of the signal.  Walk up to the door, ring the bell and fix it.  At the NRAO’s cost.  Mostly they fix shorted out electric fence…this is farm country after all.

Why do leaves change to so many fantastic colors?  Why is it that the human eye can see all these colors?  Why are we able to perceive beauty in the display?  What was God thinking?

We tromped through crunchy leaves.  Watched them swirl and twirl on their journey from the treetops.  Gazed off rocky ridges and swung the Miata around corners on the scenic drive that brought us panoramic views of entire valleys draped in every shade of red, orange, yellow and green you could imagine.  Discovered blue, purple, white, and yellow fall wildflowers that rival any spring display.  This is a beautiful valley.  Fall along Rte 150 WV, spectacular.

Rural West Virginia.  Everyone is friendly, really chatty, and full of advice on what to see and what to do while we are in their space.   We tried a recommended café, A+.   We plan to take in a local festival Saturday.  It came highly recommended by a local we met on the street in Marlinton.

I think that the deer know that there is no hunting in the campground.  I saw at least ten on an early morning walk.  I probably walked by a lot of others since they seem pretty unfazed by my passing by and they camouflage really well unless those bright white tails pop up when they run.  The ground is covered with acorns so both the deer and grey squirrels are stocking up.