There was very little in the way of new or picturesque scenery until we crossed into Virginia.  I don’t intend to belittle any area of our country but we had seen most of this area many times and we were mostly restricted to interstate highways.  I did venture to a county park to shoot a buffalo herd during our stay in Memphis.  My original intent had been to add to my Canada Goose collection from the same park.  Enthusiasm just wasn’t there.  That is evident in this lackadaisical image of the buffalo.  Not a problem.  We visit Jane’s mother in Memphis fairly often.  The buffalo and the geese are always there.

Anyway, we left Bristol, Virginia after spending the night and decided to take the back roads – the Blue Ridge Parkway.  We needed to kill some time so that our arrival time would coincide with our daughter’s work schedule.  That was a good decision.  It was a relaxing drive and we came across the Mabry Grist Mill.  I love the old,  historical sites and this old mill was especially picturesque.  It was mid-day light but intermittent showers and partly cloudy skies softened the shadows.  The light was so nice that I got a little carried away and spent nearly two hours at the site. 

The detour also brought us in touch with the Appalachian Trail.  I was curious at the time and became fascinated with the Appalachians and the Appalachian Trail as we journeyed northward.  I knew of the trail but did not really know much about the trail.  It is more than 2,000 mile foot-journey along the backbone of American History, running from Georgia to northern Maine.  I won’t go into detail here but will offer this link for the more curious.

I had mentioned in the opening article of this series that I would be using a point-and-shoot camera for much of our trip.  I had the Sony DSC-W170 at the old mill but mostly used my Nikon mounted on a tripod.  I did, however, keep the Sony beside me in the car.  It is great for those times when you just pull off the side of the road for a quickie. 

After spending so much time at the mill site, we needed to get back to the interstate. I had a few quickie opportunities along the way.  This shot of a farm in those rolling hills is with the Sony.  It handled the light contrast very well and the grain (digital noise) is tight and barely noticeable.  The image was accepted by my stock site and has already made sales.  Though the sky looks washed out, a closer look will show that individual clouds are defined. 

There isn’t a lot that can be done as far as manual settings.  The menu does allow exposure compensation.  Mostly, I used the “Program” setting.  That setting allows me more selectivity in the Menu of adjustments.  In this case, I accepted the internal meter setting. 

We called before getting to our daughter’s place.  Disaster!!!  Her apartment had flooded and management had moved her to a hotel until it could be repaired.  That changed our plans.  Rather than hang around the DC area and watch her suffer, we decided to spend a night at the hotel, have breakfast together and arrive a bit earlier in New England.  We spent the next day cursing our way thru New Jersey and New York,

That part of the adventure will come in the next installment.  Stay tuned.

l8r

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