Friday, March 11, 2022

Map and video of today’s drive

Today’s only distraction from 330 miles of Interstate driving was a brief visit to the campus of Virginia Tech in Blacksburg, VA.  Unfortunately, the school is on spring break this week so there were few students around and I was not able to get an idea of “normal” campus life here.

Unlike older universities there does not appear to be a historical center to the campus – perhaps a spectacular library or chapel – but the campus has many stone clad halls, which give it an air of grandeur, nicely blended with modern academic buildings. Today it felt very relaxed as I visited the Hahn Horticultural Gardens for a morning stroll. The gardens are quite small but there are many areas to relax such as this tranquil setting

and they provide relaxation aids via little signs as below.

Things have changed since my days at college.

There are also several interesting pieces of art scattered throughout, such as this sculpture by Frank Lloyd Wright.

After my walk I decided to take a drive around the campus, which can be seen well on the road video, and stop at the April 16 Memorial built to honor the 32 victims of the Virginia Tech shooting  in 2007 which was, at the time, the deadliest modern mass shooting in the U.S. It is a simple design with 32 large engraved stones placed in a semi-circular pattern, pictures of the victims and a large plinth to represent the injured survivors. The design was inspired by an ad-hoc memorial constructed by students during the days after the event on the drill field in the center of campus. In the background is one of the grand halls, Burruss Hall, which is the central administration building.

I am now waiting to see how far I will be able to progress on my trip tomorrow. Some 3 to 4 inches of snow is expected to fall overnight pretty much along the whole of my planned route and I have seen horror news stories about accidents caused by a little snow in the south on previous occasions. I certainly never saw any vehicles out preparing the roads today as would be the case in Washington.