When the blogger's late parents were young and driving around North America, they stopped at places like these for gas and food. They sure were a lot homier than WalMart Super Centers.

Washington not only slept here, he was born here. After well-intentioned people recreated what they thought his birthplace and ancestral farm looked like, archeologists discovered the newly built main house was in the wrong place and looked nothing like the real thing. The blogger is deeply impressed to have trod the ground where George Washington was born and grew up. People come and go, but the land endures.

Five photos to make one point! Is that blog abuse? If Robert E. Lee were alive today, would he find irony in the fact that the Grant Methodist Church is directly across Route 3 from the road leading to his birthplace?

While policies like these are laudable, there's a certain irony here. How many people do the policies — found at many state and federal campgrounds, but more so at federal — impact? Maybe a few thousand a year? If state and federal governments would foster this consciousness in urban and suburban areas where hundreds of millions Americans live, there would be a significant beneficial effect.

No doubt you're wondering where the term "Mom & Pop" as applied to a family-owned small business originated. Well, the blogger has found the source. It's in the historic town of Irvington on the Northern Neck of Virginia between the Rappahannock and Potomac rivers. Regular unleaded was $2.499 — pay at the pump with a credit card — on June 13, 2009.

The Civilian Conservation Corps, known as the CCC, was established in 1933. It put many young men to work doing worthwhile projects across the USA. The CCC:

• Restored 3,980+ historical structures

• Developed 800+ state parks

• Built 28,087+ miles of trails

• Built 38,550+ vehicle bridges

• Built 3,116+ lookout towers

• Built lodges and museums

• Worked on national parks

The CCC was disbanded prior to WWII. In these times, or for that matter, any other time, it sure seems like a good idea to bring the CCC back. Better than paying unemployment insurance or welfare to people for doing nothing, eh?

Friday, June 12, 2009: The blogger's present location, on his third cup. The cafe is a converted service station, complete with two bays and remnants of the lifts. The coffee is excellent as is the background music, which is the coffee house channel on satellite radio. Be sure to stop at The Art of Coffee in Montross if you're traveling in the Northern Neck of Virginia.

Every time you've heard the song, you've wondered, "Hmm, just where is Tobacco Road?" The blogger has solved the mystery. Tobacco Road is within the boundaries of Westmoreland State Park near Montross, Virginia. 

Potomac River from the south side in Northern Virginia. The river is so wide here, you can barely see the other side; it's more like a huge lake. Westmoreland State Park, Virginia.

James River bank opposite Jamestown, Virginia, founded 1607 (bottom, above). Aboard ferry from Surry to Jamestown (middle, above). Ferry crossing James River (top, above).

The river house on the Chippokes Plantation, Surry, Virginia (top, above). Casting a long shadow, the farm has been continuously worked since 1619 (middle, above). The upland mansion (bottom, above).

Here's lookin' at you, kid. Chippokes Plantation, Surry, Virginia.

According to two apparently authoritative Web sites, there are nearly 1.6 million known and described species of plants and animals on Earth, and 20 million is a good guess for how many unknown species also share our planet. The blogger suggests that to believe an unseen entity called God created all that life in its infinite complexity is naive and simplistic to a mind-boggling degree.

Distant and close views of the monument atop Kill Devil Hill commemorating the Wright brothers' earth-shaking achievement, Outer Banks, North Carolina.

"From Kitty Hawk to the moon in 66 years." —Buzz Aldrin, observed with appropriate astonishment.

A local man named John T. Daniels shot the classic photo (top, above) of the world's first controlled, powered, heavier-than-air flight, which was achieved by Orville and Wilbur Wright on December 17, 1903. Two guys (middle, above) followed the suggestion in the caption beneath the Daniels photo and got a shot like the blogger's (bottom, above). Kill Devil Hills, Outer Banks, North Carolina.

Economy of language and purpose, Outer Banks, North Carolina,

Ferry wake and distant storm between Cedar Island and Ocracoke Island, Outer Banks, North Carolina.

Grafitti on the tile in a men's room shower stall, Cliffs of the Neuse State Park, near Seven Springs, North Carolina.

Neuse River, Cliffs of the Neuse State Park, near Seven Springs, North Carolina.

There are some things you don't expect to find in rural North Carolina.

Jones Lake, one of the Carolina bays, near Elizabethtown, North Carolina.

"I conclude, therefore, that as fortune is changeable whereas men are obstinate in their ways, men prosper so long as fortune and policy are in accord, and when there is a clash they fold. I hold strongly to this: that it is better to be impetuous than circumspect; because fortune is a woman and if she is to be submissive it is necessary to beat and coerce her. Experience shows that she is more often subdued by men who do this than by those who act coldly. Always, being a woman, she favours young men, because they are less circumspect and more ardent, and because they command her with greater audacity."

"Prudence consists in being able to assess the nature of a particular threat and in accepting the lesser of the two evils."

"Being on the spot, one can detect trouble at the start and deal with it immediately; if one is absent, it is discerned only when it has grown serious, and it is then too late."

"The fact is that a man who wants to act virtuously in every way necessarily comes to grief among so many who are not virtuous. Therefore if a prince wants to maintain his rule he must learn how not to be virtuous, and to make use of this or not according to need."

"There is nothing so self-defeating as generosity: in the act of practicing it, you lose the ability to do so, and you become either poor and despised or, seeking to escape poverty, rapacious and hated. A prince must try to avoid, above all else, being despised and hated; and generosity results in your being both. Therefore it is wiser to incur the reputation of being a miser, which invites ignominy but not hatred, than to be forced by seeking a name for generosity to incur a reputation for rapacity, which brings you hatred as well as ignominy."

Since starting to shave as a young man, the blogger has owned and used four electric razors. First was a square-head Remington that gave a pretty good shave but consistently nicked the blogger's face and neck, drawing blood. Second was a floating round tri-head Norelco that gave a better shave than the Remington and never drew blood. After many years, it wore out. The blogger replaced it with another Norelco that got sluggish after nearly 20 years. He dismantled and cleaned it thoroughly, which added maybe a month to its life. Then it died altogether. The blogger went to his local Target to buy a new Norelco but found, since it was Christmastime, the Norelco shelf was bare. With hesitation, the blogger bought a round tri-head Remington (top, above), which is clearly a knock-off of the Norelco. Try as the Remington folks did, their shaver did not give as good a shave as the Norelco, and it had a bigger problem: While shaving, the individual blades and shields popped off. The first two times it happened, the assembly dropped to the floor. The third time, the shield fell to the floor, but the blade itself disappeared irretrievably down the sink drain of the campground restroom where the blogger was shaving. Later that day, the blogger checked for a set of Remington replacement blades at a WalMart Supercenter but found none. Knowing that replacement blades cost only about $10 less than a new cord/cordless Norelco, the blogger bought a new Norelco (bottom, above). It gives a better shave than the Remington knock-off, and it doesn't fall apart during the shave. Moral of story: When you find a good product, stick with it.

Linville Falls along the Blue Ridge Parkway, North Carolina. Heavy rain the previous day and night increased the flow and made it a murky brown.

Women like Daisy Mae always mean trouble. She caught the blogger's eye as he drove a Forest Service road adjoining private homes. Wanting to shoot a photo and unmindful of the curve in the road, the blogger backed up straight into a ditch, requiring application of 4WD for extraction and snapping off a mud flap that the Toyota dealer wants more than $150 for parts and labor to replace.

Government running amok at the trailhead to Ada-Hi Falls, Black Rock Mountain State Park, Georgia.

Glenn Falls, near Highlands, North Carolina, and the Georgia state line.

Appalachian sky series, Black Rock Mountain State Park, Georgia.

There are an astonishing number of churches in the American South. It's not called the Bible Belt for nothing. Some churchyards afford shade for travelers' trucks.

(Top) Plaque commemorating the Appalachian Trail at Amicalola State Park visitors' center, where the 8-mile approach trail leads to Springer Mountain and the head of the AT itself. (Middle) Highlighted driving route from the visitors' center to the AT head, accented by a feather the blogger found on the trail. (Bottom) The start of the 2,100-mile Appalachian Trail. About 17 percent of the hikers who start at the southern terminus determined to hike through to the northern terminus in Maine make it.