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Streaming On The Parkway, Part 9: A Wet Visit To Galax, Virginia

EDITOR’S NOTE: This guest blog series is being provided courtesy of members of the Wally Byam Caravan Club International (wbcci.org) who recently participated in the 2019 Taste of the Blue Ridge Caravan between late May and mid June. Their 500-mile journey began in Cherokee, N.C. and ended outside the historic towns of Charlottesville and Staunton, VA. We hope you’ll enjoy following along!

We knew it would happen sooner or later while we were on the 2019 Taste of the Blue Ridge Airstream Caravan. It started raining when we parked in our campground near Galax, Virginia. 

It was hard to be disappointed over the rain because many people from the area told us how much it was needed. Besides, we were able to complete most of our caravan’s outdoor activities before we crossed over into Virginia. 

While it is easy to picture Tennessee or Kentucky as the home of bluegrass music, the Galax area made a strong claim to be the heart of this music. Members of our caravan enjoyed attending the HoustonFest, an all day bluegrass music festival in Galax. 

Another popular place to visit was Mount Airy, the town that actor Andy Griffith grew up in and used as the model for Mayberry. We stopped by Mayberry’s jail and saw the cell used by Otis, rode in the Mayberry squad car, sat in Floyd’s barber shop and stopped by Wally’s filling station. This was a wonderful place to visit and was close to the Blue Ridge Parkway. 

How much rain fell while we were in Galax? The rain gauge in our campground said that 4 inches of rain fell within 24 hours. While it was wet outside, our Airstream trailers kept us nice and dry. 

After two days in Galax, it was time to make another journey on the Blue Ridge Parkway to our next campground. 

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