DAY THREE

Sunday morning we checked-out of the Hilton and rode down to the Hollywood Cemetery, so named for the holly trees that grow to enormous sizes there. Dating from 1849 this sprawling resting place for some 75,000 departed souls is located along the James River with winding paths over the rolling hills.

Two United States Presidents, James Monroe and John Tyler, are buried here. The only President of the Confederacy, Jefferson Davis, is buried here. Twenty-eight Confederate Generals are buried here including J.E. B. Stuart. Six Governors of Virginia are buried here.

A 90-foot tall “Petersburg” granite pyramid was constructed to honor the more than 18,000 Confederate soldiers buried here. A blue line painted on the asphalt leads visitors through the most popular sections of the cemetery.

Even as early as 7:30 in the morning there were a number of visitors including some other motorcycle riders. One older man there with his four Chihuahuas was carrying a large turtle that had wandered up from the river. We spent an hour and a half touring and paying our respects to those buried in this beautiful place.

By 9:00 we were headed for the famous Millie’s Diner in the Churchill neighborhood. Now talk about someplace that was hopping … loud, crowded, and wonderful. Diners talking and eating, kitchen workers doing their thing and waiters/waitresses making it all happen.

I had a mushroom, tomato and white cheddar omelet while Nancy chose the huevos rancheros, two fried eggs on a tortilla with black beans, tomato Ranchero sauce, melted white cheddar cheese, salsa and sour cream. They were both perfection and we could have had a beer too. Don’t miss this eclectic place if you are anywhere near Richmond.

After the huevos we rode northward to tour Monument Avenue. This is a expansive street with ornate statues of Virginians in the large go-around medians. Statues include Confederates Robert E. Lee, J. E. B. Stuart, Jefferson Davis, Stonewall Jackson, oceanographer Matthew Fontaine Maury, and a somewhat inappropriate Arthur Ashe tennis player. Various types of residences exhibiting historic architecture line both sides of the wide boulevard.

We were at the Museum of the Confederacy (www.moc.org) when the doors opened at noon on Sunday (other days 10 am). It is located adjacent to the Confederate White House near the state capital. Admission is $8 a person for just the museum and $11 for both the museum and the White House tour.

The museum has an extensive collection of Civil War artifacts, the most striking being some of the uniforms and equipment bearing the rips and bullet holes that fatally wounded the wearer (SEE PHOTO AT RIGHT). We learned that more soldiers died from disease than wounds through-out the conflict.

The Virginia State Capital is just around the corner. The building dates back to 1788 and is one of the few state capitals without a dome. It was designed by Thomas Jefferson.

Before heading back west to our RV at Natural Bridge we just had to have a hot dog at City Dogs located in the famous Shockoe Slip of historic downtown Richmond. Here the streets are once again cobblestone after having been covered for years with asphalt which has now been removed. The area hosts many popular nightclubs and restaurants in preserved buildings from the past.

City Dogs has a local reputation so we had to try a couple of their special dogs. I had to have the Richmond Original, a marinated Thumann’s dog with mustard, onions and chili. Nancy picked the Original Chicago Vienna Beef Dog packed with mustard, onions, relish, dill pickle, tomato slices, and peppers. Both were delicious, especially with a Stella. The Chef's hat told us a lot about him, "WOMEN LOVE ME - FISH FEAR ME".

A word of warning for any motorcyclists coming into Richmond. Not only are the historic cobblestone streets a little rough for riders, but most of the paved streets are in poor condition with ruts and potholes. Nothing to really worry about, but something you should watch-out for.

Back on the road we prepared ourselves for another long, boring, straight road trek with a Hammerhead at Starbucks. We took a different route this time, US 360 southwestward through Amelia Courthouse, along Holly Farms Road, and then US 460 to Pamplin City much the same route General Robert E. Lee took on his retreat from Richmond to Appomattox in 1865.

Since we planned to visit Appomattox on Monday we jogged southward on VA 47 and then took SR 615, a back country farm road, westward through the crossroads of Red House. At Rustburg we got onto US 501, jogged around the west side of Lynchburg, zipped through Boonsboro, Eagles Eyrie, met the James River once again at Coleman Falls, passed the freight train at Big Island, and had some fun on the twisties back to Glascow.

Taking VA 130 we noted some of the local sights of interest: The red headed lady riding the dinosaur and Natural Bridge attractions including the caverns, wax museum, dinosaur museum and toy museum. Northward on US 11 there were a few more: Foam Henge, the Enchanted Castle (in disrepair) and the Safari Park. We decided to concentrate for the most part on more historic stops this trip.

DAY ONE
DAY TWO
DAY THREE
DAY FOUR
DAY FIVE