This is a retrospective blog of my seven-week exploration of Virginia along with a journey through the Shenandoah National Park and on down the Blue Ridge Parkway to Cherokee, North Carolina. 'Retrospective' means simply that it wasn't written during the trip, but is being written after-the-fact, a little over a year later. Baaswell Sheep accompanied me and is writing the blog in the way he's done my later blogs, since he's so good with the color commentary. Unfortunately, since I didn't plan for this blog back when I was doing the trip, my pictures are limited to the major attractions, but I'll try to make those galleries a little larger than I do in my later blogs.
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Today we drove home from Dillard, and I almost didn't include a post for today, except that we did come across one last rather interesting roadside attraction that I wanted to mention:
Situated in an old warehouse building behind an antique mall, with another antique mall and a bowling alley in the remaining building space, Miles Through Time houses at least a hundred vintage automobiles, along with a few motorcycles, bicycles, and other surprises. For better or for worse, my companion is old enough that he now sees cars from his childhood on display in places like this, but he tries to just revel in the nostalgia. There was actually one similar to his first car, but the sedan version rather than the station wagon version that he had. One of the most interesting special exhibits was a collection of all-wood full-scale car models. They were obviously not functional, but still highly impressive. There was even a similar all-wood full-scale model of a steam locomotive. It's amazing what people can do when they have a powerful imagination and too much time on their hands. Definitely a nice finale to our trip.
A Very Ornate Circus Bus
Toy Car, 1927 Chrysler 70 | 1920 Dodge Brothers Model 30 Roadster | 1930 Model A Coupe Deluxe
1930 Ford Model A Couple Deluxe | 1949 DeSoto S-13
Mostly Wooden Full-Size Model Cars | Mostly Wooden Full-Size Steam Locomotive | Buick Century
→ The locomotive is a model of "The General", famous for the "Great Locomotive Chase" through northwest Georgia during the Civil War. The actual General is on display in the Big Shanty Museum in Kennesaw, Georgia.
1958 Studebaker Goldenhawk
Original 1981/2 DeLorean | 2004 Volkswagen Beetle
→ The DeLorean was made famous with its use in the move 'Back to the Future'. Many have taken DeLoreans and customized them to look like the time traveling version, so it's rare to see a normal DeLorean on display.
→ This Beetle was one of the very last original Beetles made, one of the last 100 held back at the Mexican factory where it was produced and released a year later in 2004 so the factory could celebrate its 50th anniversary. The car has less than 60 miles on the odometer and is 100% factory original!
1963 Cadillac DeVille
Unknown Make and Model
1963 Chevrolet Corvette
Well, I'm sorry to say that this wraps up our trip. Seven weeks and one day on the road, forty-nine nights in hotels, lodges, and bed-and-breakfasts, 1,070 pictures taken for the blog (and countless more that didn't make the cut), and 3,147 miles put on the old van. It's been perhaps the grandest adventure we've ever had, and possibly the grandest one we'll ever have, but only time will tell. It's time to sign off and put this blog to rest, but hopefully there'll be another adventure in the not too distant future.
Be sure to check out our next travel adventure blog, following our 2025 Culinary Journey Through North Carolina!
Please note that all restaurant and product names are used simply for referential purposes and links provided as a courtesy. Reviews are the sole opinions of the reviewer: no restaurant has paid to be listed here, and no restaurant is being explicitly endorsed. In other words, go out there, try them all, and form your own opinions!
All original content ©2025 Kevin Pittman and may not be reused without permission