Well Wednesday was a fun day as we traveled some never before roads and byways, visited some unique small America towns with the Tracy's our friends from Florida. We were gone from about 11'ish until nearly 7 o'clock with stops for an early supper in Galax, Va. at Macadoo's eatery and then a stop at the super Wal-Mart for some goodies. The weather was perfect with bright sunshine and we had an enjoyable day traveling the back roads, meeting interesting folks and finding a place in Cripple Creek, Va. called the Mule Hell Trading Co. where one lady along with an assistant make soaps, lotions, deodorants and lip balms with very distinct names and aromas.
The day started with my usual wake up around 6'ish to the dew dripping onto the tin roof from the upper dormer and a lonely crow cawing for his fellow crows. There was just enough break from darkness to make out the backwoods from the kitchen windows. Fall is coming and the lack of daylight is evident of that seasonal change with summer quickly slipping away. I did my usual morning routines that started with my handful of supplements washed down with a cup of hot green tea laced with the spice turmeric. I posted this ramble for posterity and for the enjoyment of those who find our mountain living fascinating and who live vicariously here with us in this natural part of God's creation. Afterwards I spent some quiet time in humble thanksgiving and prayer with that Creator lifting up those I know and love.
We decided to have a semi mountain breakfast with one of our favorites; a ripe banana in a buckwheat pancake batter, yeow. I slathered mine with real butter and honey from a local vendor. Two of those pancakes held me until about 4 o'clock when we had a delicious meal of the Mexican flavor at Macadoo's. I had a quesadilla with the southwest flavor of grilled chicken. Very tasty and on this night salsa and chips were free with meal. The others dined on one of their giant sandwiches and Nancy had tacos. Very tasty dining and plentiful.
We headed out to Sparta and made a few stops before meeting up with The Tracy's to ride together for our adventure(s) for the day. Nancy had a doctor's appointment in Independence, Va. where our local doctor from Sparta moved to a couple years back. We still use him when necessary when here in the summer months. We headed north towards Speedwell,Va. where we met with some gravel roads and some very narrow roads as well as we ventured towards Cripple Creek which is just a road sign stop. We found the part of town that boasted of having a mercantile shop which was closed on Wednesday but it looked as if it was about to fall down. We stopped and spoke with a feller who said that was their equivalent to a mall but that most folks avoided shopping there because his prices were too high. This old timer enlightened us about this town which at one time was a booming iron ore producing place back in the 1700's just after the Civil War. A rail road ran through the area and there were houses everywhere but that has since changed since the ore rock was mined out and the railroad no longer runs through the area. There are a few nice rather elegant older houses still there in this creek bottom splice of land that runs along a stream of water called Cripple Creek. As we were leaving we saw a rather small sign along side a rather old nondescript old building indicating this was the Mule Hell Trading Co.
Last year when we were in Christiansburg, Va. for lunch at the Due South eatery we ventured into a small shoppe next door and picked up some hand soap with a distinct aroma with an unusual name produced in Cripple Creek by the Mule Hell Trading Co. Well we stumbled onto a jewel in the rough as we stopped and visited with Crystal the owner and producer and her assistant Doug who by the way is from Edinburg, Va. that is next door to sister Dee's place in Woodstock. We had a lively conversation with Crystal who learned soap making after being exposed to one of her grandmothers homemade soaps and who now lives on her old home place on Mule Hell Road. She now makes these all natural body care products in this small building and she showed me around in her production area where she imports some natural flavors from countries such as Bulgaria and eastern Europe. Check out her products at; www.mulehelltradingco.com. She has some unique names for her products such as "dirty hippie" and others.
We asked about the name Mule Hell Road and during the heyday of the mining industry mules where used to pull the ore wagons from the mines and during the Civil War mules were in such demand that the locals hid their mules in a hollow on Mule Hell Road to keep them away from the Yankees who stole them from the locals. Such interesting local history. We headed on towards the larger small town of Fries where once this was a mill town on the New River. Here you will find the small mill houses along the banks of this river that was dammed up to give the mills their power to run the factories. This town is also unique in its setting in the mountains. Beautiful country. We got into Galax around and had a nice meal before heading over to the super Wal-Mart.
We made an ice cream stop on the way out of town for the other three as I'm still trying to slim down the tummy. It was after 6 when we got back to Sparta to pick up the truck then we headed to the cabin to unload our goodies. We settled into the Fox Cable News channel then listened to Trumps take on illegal immigration and how he proposes to do something to stop the illegals and the crimes that are so rampant to the USA and how this inept administration has failed to enforce the laws already on the books. Just about the time we got ready for bed the skies opened with a down pour that was very hard and forceful. We could hardly hear the TV for the rain on the tin roof.
Nancy forgot to bring her camera to show the day's adventure but the Tracy's took several pictures and tagged us on FB, LATER
