Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SUNDAY, July 30, 1995 TAG: 9507310010
SECTION: CURRENT PAGE: NRV-2 EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY
SOURCE: PATTI LOOP
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
Both roads are naturally beautiful. Wildflowers abound in the summer: tiger lilies stalk about while black-eyed Susans watch. Queen Anne's lace graces the most unlikely places. Crown vetch spills liberally down steep hillsides.
But these roads evoke different experiences.
The interstate driver succumbs to highway hypnosis brought on by roadway monotony. He rushes through a state, not really noticing if he is in Virginia, North Carolina or Maryland.
But when traveling between Blacksburg and Portsmouth on U.S. 460, I am keenly aware that I am traveling in Virginia.
After Bedford, a road sign directs the way to Poplar Forest, Thomas Jefferson's octagon-shaped retreat home. If Jefferson needed a retreat from the world of yesteryear, surely we need to take time out for renewal today. I recognize the need for a quiet place to read, to write, and to reflect on life's lessons. When I think of Jefferson as someone who also needed time and space for re-creation, it causes his historic halo to slip just enough so that he seems more human and approachable. Like Jefferson, I travel seeking respite.
Appomattox comes into view after passing numerous hay fields dotted with neatly rolled bales. This is where the union reunited after the Civil War. Whenever I pass this way, I reflect on reconciliation: what fine and rare human quality! I tend to personalize the concept and begin asking myself questions. Am I teaching the children I love to reconcile their differences? What example am I setting as an adult? Do I need to lay down my sword and "come to table" with someone?
U.S. 460 also passes by numerous Civil War battlefields and burial grounds, especially around Petersburg. Today it is difficult for us to comprehend the vast and significant losses families bore on both sides. That War seemed so long ago until recently, when my brother investigated our family tree. Both our great-great-great-grandfathers served in the Civil War. One came home. One didn't. Difficult to comprehend, but important to remember!
After Petersburg, the road no longer rides like a piece of Christmas ribbon candy. Next come Waverly, Wakefield, Ivor and Windsor. When I pass by the "Old Myrtle Road" sign in Isle of Wight County I recall times when my father and brothers set out to hunt there on the old family farm. Portsmouth isn't far from Myrtle. But, by this time in the trip I'm wondering why I didn't try to save time by taking the interstate.
Truth be told, U.S. 460 may take more time. But, in reaching my destination, I have also made a passage. A four-lane road edged with kudzu causes me to reflect on how vital the sacrifices of people I will never meet. In traveling the "old road" I choose to remember rather than try to forget, and for me, that's better than highway hypnosis.
Fortunately, the people who love me and who live at either end of this road understand if I run a little late.
Patti Loop is a Blacksburg resident and a guidance counselor at Eastern Elementary School in Giles County.
by CNB