urban bicycle journeys

When my son Henry was about five years old we drove through the North Carolina/Virginia town of Virgilina.   He could not stop saying that word, “Virgilina.”

Forty miles north of our hometown of Chapel Hill, Virgilina is not really much of a town.   Until recently there was only about one small store there.   The town has rebounded a little in the ten or so years since I last went here, now there is a pizza place and a Family Dollar store.

I parked our white Honda in Virgilina, in front of a store turned distillery which I think is now out of business.

For the fifteen miles to South Boston I passed through tobacco fields.

These were lovely country roads.

And fields with abandoned junk and tobacco barns.

South Boston, Virginia, population 8,000, is a small town in a remote location, a town founded on tobacco.   While not trendy it does not feel particularly downtrodden.    It has some nice older neighborhoods.

The downtown is mostly empty but it does have two or three restaurants.     Southern Plenty is open just for lunch but it was quite busy, with chicken salad sandwiches and various knick-knacks as well.   I sat there and read my kindle.

There are so many country roads around here that I was able to make it a loop, another lovely ride back to the car in Virgilina.