Most people think of Wytheville, Virginia only as a stop along the interstate. There’s a great Cracker Barrel there and it’s easy to get in and out of quickly.
Venture off the interstate exit and you’ll find a beautiful small town with a college, lots of history and culture. There are murals, some good restaurants, gorgeous old churches and a great antique mall too.
Check out the giant pencil outside the office supply store.
Plus this paint can on the paint store sign.
There’s a lesson to be learned here. As you travel through this world, remember to take those interstate exits and explore the small towns across this fine country of ours. That’s where the living is done – not at the cookie cutter interstate exits with the truck stops and the Cracker Barrels but along the byways and village streets.
Those signs are great, and a ’59 Edsel is a pretty good catch as well.
Reminds me of the Old US 27 Tour. For the last 15 years, a group has taken a week in August to put on about a dozen car shows in small towns from Indiana up the middle of Michigan to the top of the lower Peninsula with the intention of bringing some excitement to the places off the interstate.
Now that sounds like my kind of fun! I’ll have to look for it. Small towns, car shows, road trips- could it get any better?
People who don’t take the exit and check out the town behind the gas station aren’t my people. After all, that’s where they keep all the good stuff!
This is the webpage for the event.
http://www.old27tour.com/
and some video I did a couple of years ago.
I have never seen anything like this. It looks amazing! Two questions. If someone were to hit just one or two towns to see the cars and explore the area, where do you recommend? Also, what kind find car do you have?
I try to only drive interstates when absolutely necessary. I’m a backroads, small-town traveler, for sure! Those are great promo pieces, the pencil and paint can.
I hate the interstate but consider it a necessary evil at times. I get so distracted in my backroads travels I would never get anywhere without the occasional straight line of an interstate. lol.
The answer to the easy question is that I have a 1965 Chrysler.
I don’t know that I have a preference of the cities, but to get a taste of the tour, I would try some of the Thursday stops. That day covers the route basically between Dewitt (suburb of Lansing) & Clare which means you are right in the middle of the Lower Peninsula. It is about 80 miles, but they stop for a couple of hours in St Johns, Ithaca, Alma & St Louis, so it takes all day, ending with the biggest show of the week in Clare in the evening. The video shows the first half of this.
Depending on what else you had planned in Michigan, Lansing is the capital, and is kind of a crossroads of highways to the other major cities and Clare is kind of a gateway to “Up North”
This is a huge help. I’m going to keep notes and try to go next year. It sounds like wonderful fun and a fantastic excuse to preview the area.
I know it sounds stupid but the sound of your turn signal in the video made me happy. Lol.
Thanks for the advice!