Posted by Chris ODonnell

https://odonnellweb.com/pelican/floyd.html

Trip: 54
Nights: 183-184

It's a solid 4 hour drive from RVA to Floyd VA. The forecast was for a complete rain out on Saturday. We came anyway as this was a visit the town camping trip, not a hiking and exploring trip. As I start this on my phone at 3:30PM I'm sitting outside at Buffalo Mountain Brewing enjoy an Irish Red Ale. It hasn't rained all day, although I do think the weather will keep us in the camper tonight. There is a guy doing acoustic rock standards on mandolin at the brewery.

We are camping at Hippie Hollow, which is a Hipcamp. It lives up to its name. The campground is a couple of acres right on the creek. The owner lives on site in an RV and he has 4 or 5 sites for rent. He does have a nice bathroom with a shower in a portable trailer, with a permanent bath house under construction. He mentioned that he was in RVA a couple of weeks ago for the Widespread Panic concert. I've got 50A service and water, camping about 2 miles from town. And about 1 mile from this brewery.

Live music is the reason to visit Floyd. It's a literal 1 stoplight town, but within 1 block of that stoplight last night there were at least 6 live music opportunities. Americana jam sessions on the street are a thing here. There were 3 last night all within 50 yards of each other, guitar, stand up bass, mandolin, fiddle, and washboard players coming in and out of the groups as they played. The artists market had live music too. 2 small "clubs" had touring bands and a cover charge. The population of Floyd at the 2020 census was 440 people. That is one live music act for every 80 people. And I'm told last night was a little slow. Can any place in the world match that live music per capital ratio?

We got in around 3:30 PM on Friday and after setting up camp headed "downtown." We wandering the 1 block each direction from the stoplight checking out some stores and galleries and stopping to enjoy the jam sessions. After dinner at the local Mexican place we enjoyed some more street music before heading back to camp before it got dark. It was raining by 8 PM so Friday night was a play cards and drink beer in the camper while streaming the Red Sox radio feed kind of night. The good guys locked up a playoff spot on a walk off hit and I stifled my desire to celebrate loudly as there was a tent in the neighboring campsite. But I did celebrate, silently.

Saturday morning we slept in until 8, expecting it to be raining. It wasn't raining, and as I looked at the radar I realized the forecast was off and it would not be a rain out today. It was about 2 hours later when the forecast updated. Score one for the humans over AI.

So we spent the late morning and early afternoon on Saturday continuing to explore Floyd. We walked into just about every shop and gallery and had pleasant conversations with every shop owner we encountered. You don't get to browse quietly in Floyd. You at least have to chat with somebody as the price of entering the store. After a late lunch at the local diner we visited the local historical society museum and then went over to the brewery. Rain chased us inside from our front porch spot at the brewery around 4 PM. Once the storm passed we went to Food Lion as neither of us wanted to eat out again, and we had planned on dinner out Saturday night, so we had nothing to prepare for dinner. The rain started again just as we got back to the camper, and it was still raining when I went to sleep shortly after midnight.

On Sunday we went to the local park about a mile from the campground and spent a little over an hour with the local bird population. We identified 26 species, nobody was a rarity or particularly special. But that is fine with me. I'm perfectly happy walking around the woods for an hour with the Robins and Cardinals. #AllBirdsAreSpecial After that we packed up the camper and had an uneventful drive home.

I can't believe I've been in VA since 1998 and that was my first extended visit to Floyd. I did stop in to meet a friend for about an hour a few years back. Floyd is my kind of people. It reminds me of Davis, WV in that it's an enclave of sanity in an area that is mostly in favor of the shit happening in the country right now. I suspect there are more of these oasis' in VA and WV, and now I want to find them.

https://odonnellweb.com/pelican/floyd.html