From Richmond to Charlotte (Sorta) to the NC Outer Banks-March 2026
Spirituals in Richmond I had been invited to be a panelist for a discussion of spirituals for the 2026 Society for American Music (SAM) annual conference in Richmond, Virginia, so I decided to add a side trip to the Outer Banks of my home state, North Carolina. It would be only my second visit to the area, when my mother and I made it as far as Buxton, NC, in 2017. Shortly before the trip was scheduled to begin, I saw a Facebook notice that the American Spiritual Ensemble (ASE) was scheduled to perform in Charlotte, North Carolina, the Sunday after the conference. As the departure date neared, however, two events caused me to debate whether I would complete the trip as planned. First, I got an email notification that a different conference had just experienced numerous confirmed cases of COVID. While I had gotten my annual COVID vaccine a…
Blue Ridge Parkway, Pt. 2
I woke up really early Friday morning and decided to get underway. The sky at that hour was so dark and clear, I finally had an unobstructed view of the stars. Since I didn’t have my telescope, I got a few shots with my phone. The part of the Blue Ridge Parkway near Smoky Mountain National Park was empty of traffic, but I still needed to drive carefully because I was concerned that the cool weather had made the leaf-covered roadway slick, plus I occasionally had to evade fallen tree branches. I chose the faster, most direct drive (Rt. 19 to I-40 East) to Asheville, rather than taking the part of the parkway I’d already driven. By the time I reached the parkway’s visitor center, it had opened for the day. I was very glad to be able to talk to the ranger on duty because, as I suspected, there…
Return to Smoky Mountain NP-103025
My audio tour, Shaka Guide, gave me the option of starting at either end of the Smoky Mountain National Park tour, from Cherokee, North Carolina, or Gatlinburg, Tennessee. Since I had just returned from Nashville the day before and would be working my way back east, Gatlinburg was the logical beginning for me. The weather forecast wasn’t ideal–still some rain expected and cloudy–but it was vastly better than the day before. On my previous trip to Smoky Mountain NP, it was my first time in the park. I pretty much meandered my way through, sometimes to popular spots and sometimes off the beaten path. For this trip, the audio tour would probably cover the most popular routes in the park. The map to the right shows the vast spread of Smoky Mountain NP. From the park entrance near Gatlinburg, the audio tour directed me towards Cades Cove, the remains of…
Blue Ridge Parkway, Part 1
Tuesday morning was, as forecast, cloudy but with a far lower chance of rain in the Asheville area. I checked out and got a relatively early start. On Monday, while driving around Asheville, I noticed directional signs indicating that the famous Biltmore Estate was nearby. I wasn’t really interested in a tour of the estate this trip, but I decided to take a chance of getting close enough to the house to get a picture. Based on the appearance of the gatehouse, the grounds have already been decorated for the coming Christmas holidays–more than a month away at that point. Unfortunately, though, I was unable to get past the ticket booth for more photos without buying a ticket. Instead, I headed to the North Carolina Arboretum, where I had planned to begin the audio-guided tour of the portion of the Blue Ridge Parkway that would lead to the Smoky Mountain…
“Romeo and Juliet” Comes to Staunton, Virginia, and Musical Moments
From living in Iowa, I’d become quite familiar with driving distances (Chicago, Omaha, Kansas City, etc.) to attend events. So, it was not at all unusual for me to use the planned drive to Winston-Salem, North Carolina to divert somewhat and attend a performance of William Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet. My original plan was to attend the Music Library Association (MLA) chapter conference jointly organized by the Atlantic and the Southeastern chapters and use the opportunity to visit my aunt in Greensboro, then drive back to DC via the Blue Ridge Parkway. This post will cover through the conference, with other posts addressing the rest of the trip. As it worked out, I had added the conference to my calendar a week too early. Fortunately, I learned of the error before I made the drive. However, I did need to adjust my trip so that I would instead make the…
Richmond, Kamala Harris Book Tour and Upcoming Trip Thoughts–October 2025
A Stop in Richmond I have been back to Greensboro, North Carolina, since my last post, but it was for the memorial service for my older brother. I’m feeling no need to share comments or pictures except for my decision to exit I-95 in Richmond, Virginia, during my return drive. I impulsively decided to see the rest of the Clock Tower I’ve seen so many times over my life. I’ve never visited Richmond other than driving through, so I was surprised there was a toll machine at the exit. Additionally, I suspect that the area was an older part of town, based on the stonework used on the streets in the vicinity. I had already learned that the Clock Tower was part of Richmond’s Main Street Station, so seeing a train station was expected, yet it was still interesting to see. Some of the pictures are below, with the rest…
Heading Home for 45th Class Reunion
I hadn’t planned to post about my trip to Greensboro, North Carolina, to celebrate my 45th class reunion at Bennett College since it was a driving trip to my hometown. However, I recently saw a post on Facebook that brought back memories of my days as a student, and I decided that sharing those memories, combined with my return 45 years later as an alumna, made sense. First, the now,… Graduation and class unions at Bennett College tend to occur during Mother’s Day weekend, sometimes with Commencement scheduled on that Sunday. This year, events for returning alumnae attending Reunion Weekend began Thursday before Mother’s Day. Not surprisingly, I chose to drive down because I wanted to be able to have transportation throughout the weekend. I drove through Greensboro’s downtown and the college campus, taking advantage of quiet grounds to get pictures of the classroom buildings, student union, administration and dormitories…
Backtrack: Pilot Mountain State Park 050715
I found these pictures posted on my Facebook page in May 2015. As mentioned in the brief post below, I was driving to my 35th college class reunion when I decided to take advantage of the opportunity to visit the Pilot Mountain State Park in East Bend, North Carolina. I had to save the compressed photos from Facebook until I find the originals, so the quality is not so good. Still, I find them worth sharing. BTW, RB is my dearly departed Red Barron car. The post and pictures follow: RB and I heading to North Carolina for my 35th class reunion. Sunrise over the mountains is so beautiful, even looking past the dead bugs on RB’s windshield. Then, I realized that, with all my journeying through the great American west, I hadn’t visited the Pilot Mountain State Park in my own home state. So,… why not now? Before 8…
April and May Travel Update
I’m hoping for a very active travel summer in 2025. This has been made easier by an award I recently received. The Music Library Association (MLA) bestowed its 2025 Vincent H. Duckles Award–given for the best book-length bibliography or other research tool in music–for my second book, Recorded Solo Concert Spirituals, 1916-2022. With their monetary award, I was able to fully prep the Silver Bullet for distance travel, pay for registration and hotel for the upcoming Association for Recorded Sound Collections (ARSC) conference in Tulsa, Oklahoma, and have funds left to register for next year’s MLA conference. The fun is scheduled to begin with a full day in Baltimore consisting of a road tour of the city, my second visit to the National Aquarium, and a dinner cruise that evening. This is contingent on my full recovery from whatever bug I brought back (in addition to the Kong-sized shot glass and…
A Family Fourth,… A Wedding,… and the Outer Limits… Well, Banks
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Between the rehearsal, the wedding (oh, yeah, I sang the Schubert "Ave Maria"), and staying on Friday and Saturday nights with my sister and brother-in-law's timeshare an hour away in Williamsburg, I didn't see much of Virginia Beach nor more than a glimpse of the beach. On Sunday morning, Momma and I got back on road. Neither of us had seen the Outer Banks of North Carolina, so instead of driving directly back to Greensboro, we headed due south.: //singin1.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/07/map3.jpg" alt="" width="884" height="484" />
We made our way down the Carolina coast first to Kill Devil Hills and the : //www.nps.gov/wrbr/index.htm">Wright Brothers National Memorial , through Nags Head and finally down the Cape Hatteras Seashore to the Cape Hatteras Lighthouse. It was a beautiful but warm day, and neither Momma nor I were inclined to climb either structure. So, we drove around and took pictures of the parks.
[Best_Wordpress_Gallery id="166" gal_title="outerbanks1"](As usual, most of the pictures I took are available on my : //www.flickr.com/photos/singinone/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Flickr page.)
We headed north again to get to the highway that led back to Greensboro. It made for a long day when we finally pulled into the driveway. My original plan for Monday had been to run around town to get RB washed and waxed and to buy different foods to take back to Iowa with me. Instead, I rested and prepared for the long drive back.: //singin1.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/07/20170711_014305-300x225.jpg" alt="" width="300" height="225" />I left Greensboro for Iowa on Monday night. The route set was the one I've driven many times, and I was in drive mode, which normally means best speed with minimal stops only for gas and restroom breaks. As it worked out, between a missed direction that routed me on state roads to Cincinnati--instead of the interstate highways through Lexington and Louisville, Kentucky--and several bouts of intensely heavy rain that forced me to get off the road, the trip home was extended by several hours.
Oh, RB turned 150K. Happy b'day, RB!!I made it back to Grinnell just after 6 p.m. Central Time. This was quite a trip!! And, believe it or not, I was at my desk at work on Wednesday at 8: 30 a.m.!
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