We woke up to a rainy Friday morning, so for the first time on this trip we made coffee inside the van...not a problem. Since it was raining we modified our intended itinerary and decided to do our laundry, so our first stop after leaving the campground was in Blacksburg, VA, the home of Virginia Tech. It happened to be graduation weekend at VT, so we thought we'd have trouble finding a place for lunch but we lucked out and had delicious margaritas and tacos at "Cabo Fish Taco". Our tacos were a cut above!
One of those margs is Joni's.
Leaving Blacksburg we headed for Floyd, VA, which is always a highlight of our trips to the South. Floyd is one of the capitols of country music and the weekly Friday Night Jamboree is something we schedule our entire trip around
Floyd is a very small, population=433, artsy town, and their shops and signage clearly reinforce that theme.
I published this photo last year, when the Jamboree was held outside due to COVID. This guy, whose using a platform, won the best dancer award. I think this style of dancing is called "flat footing." Speaking of COVID, of the approximately 200 people watching the Jamboree inside the country store, only three people were wearing masks. Joni and I were among the three. Speaking to one of the ushers at the Jamboree, in response to my comment that over a million people have now died due to COVID, the usher replied, "...if you can believe those numbers."
Country music isn't the only genre being celebrated in Floyd, jazz is alive too.
The first hour of the Jamboree is Gospel Hour. These guys were very good and almost converted a heathen like me!
Check out the bald spots!
Dancing is not allowed during the gospel hour, but all hell broke loose with this act!
I don't know when the Jamboree actually ends, we wish we could have stayed longer, but 30 mile drive back to campground was over some very treacherous roads, so we left early enough to complete the drive in the daylight.