Drive Across the United States: Day Seven Creeper Trail and Virginia
Our last day of driving across the United States was technically only a 5-hour drive. However, adding in a huge bike ride on the Creeper Trail and a massive traffic jam it turned out to be much longer. This drive took us up the western edge of Virginia.
We spent the night in Abingdon, VA near the Tennessee border because we wanted to hit the Creeper Trail. The Creeper Trail is a 34-mile bike trail following an old railroad track.
Almost everyone trail starts at the top of Whitetop Mountain. The trail goes downhill from here to the small town of Damascus 17 miles away. Riders can continue the final 17-miles to Abingdon.
We decided to only do the 17-mile section from Whitetop to Damascus. This is a very simple procedure. You rent bikes in Damascus and a shuttle takes you to the top of the mountain. Bike the trail down back to Damascus.
After the bike ride we were hungry for lunch and tiny Damascus has several paces to choose from. We picked the Damascus Diner. It was a classic small town diner and we were not disappointed.
After lunch we got back on the I-81 to head up through Virginia. The plan was to drive through Shenandoah National Park. Unfortunately, a massive traffic jam destroyed our plans.
An accident completely closed the north bound freeway. This is an example of where you should always be checking Google Maps for road closures. Unfortunately, the accident happened where there was no exit for miles. The nearest exit was three miles back.
We ended up crossing the highway on a dirt road and driving several miles south to exit 11 towards Lexington, Virginia. Unfortunately, by this time everyone else realized they needed to get off in Lexington.
We did get to spend a good amount of time checking out the back roads of Virginia and downtown Lexington. We didn’t stop but Lexington is the home of Washington & Lee University and Virginia Military Institute. Maybe worth a future stop.
Back on the freeway our goal now was just to make it to the DC area. Instead of back roads, we took the I-81 to the I-66 towards Washington D.C.
For dinner we did our second fast food stop of the trip at Roy Rogers restaurant outside the entrance to Shenandoah National Park. I had visited here only a few months earlier on our trip to Shenandoah.
Roy Rogers holds a special place in my heart because the first restaurant opened near my home in Falls Church, VA in 1968. Some of my first memories are going here, including one-time when Roy Rogers himself made an appearance.
In 2018, Roy Rogers was celebrating its 50th anniversary. Unfortunately, the chain was bought by Hardees in 1990. There are now only 48 locations across five mid-Atlantic states. This is down from a peak of over 600.
From this point it was only an hour drive to my brother’s house in Vienna, VA. This was basically the end of our cross-country road-trip. My son was moving to Virginia, so I spent a few days here getting him settled before flying back to San Diego.
For our day six trip across Tennessee go here.
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