Finally Arriving in Virginia

Trip Start Jul 27, 2007

Trip End Oct 22, 2007

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Flag of United States Haysi, Virginia, United States
Friday, August 24, 2007

Firstly let me explain the last entry that is just a pin point on Charlotte. When I left Calgary I had 3 flights to get to my final destination of Bristol, Virginia where I was to be picked up. My first flight from Calgary to Denver was fine but when I got to Denver I found my flight to Charlotte was delayed by about an hour. Seeing I only had 45 mins between flights in Charlotte in the first place I knew I was in trouble. What made this worst was the line up for the guest services desk for United Airlines was a mile long and no one else could really help you. So after a few hours waiting in Denver airport we finally boarded only to find that the weather wasn't the best and that we were going to sit on the runway for another 30 minutes for it to clear. Now I knew there was no chance of making to my next flight. When we finally arrived in Charlotte we told to check with the a person at the gate desk as we departed but all we got from her was a letter telling us to get our own accommodation and then send this letter with your hotel receipt to United and they would refund your expenses (upto $100)

John Flanagan Dam

. By this time I was already in a bad mood and short of patience but things got a tad worse when my bag didn't appear on the belt. This was solved after a short discussion with the baggage inquiries counter who wanted to know if I really wanted my bag (I felt like saying "no, I'll wander Charlotte aimlessly as a homeless guy" - patience completely gone by this stage). So finally once I collected my bag and calmed myself down I decided to find a hotel. Now at 11.30pm your choices seem to be very limited and after having several hotels not even pick up the phone I finally found one that would - the Hilton. Now I knew my $100 refund form United wasn't going to go far but I didn't care all I wanted was somewhere I could sleep and have a shower, who cares if it costs $260 per night (they only had deluxe suites left). The next morning I finally got on the plane to Virginia and ironically that young guy beside me was from Melbourne and he too had missed the flight the night before. The only other thing I can say is if you ever have the choice DON'T FLY WITH UNITED AIRLINES - EVER .
Once I arrived at Bristol airport I was greeted by an old mate of mine Cort Sutherland. I have k now Cort and his family for over a decade now as I first stayed with them back in 1995 as an exchange student. We traveled back up into the mountains to the small town of Haysi. The last week here has been spent catching up with old friends from my previous trips to the area and checking out some of the local scenery

The Old Moonshine Still in Virginia

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On Tuesday this week Cort and I decided to make a special pilgrimage into Tennessee to place that was very special to me (and somewhere I had never been but have always thought about). It was to the small town (population of 341) of Lynchburg which is the home of the Jack Daniels distillery. Ironically enough the county that Lynchburg is in is a dry county and has been since 1919. It was only back in the late 1990s that a law was passed to allow the distillery to sell limited edition bottles of Jack Daniels to visitors but no where else in the county is allowed to sell alcohol. Due to this reason we stayed in the next county over the night before we headed to the distillery. I recommend anyone who comes to this part of the world should go to the distillery as it shows in great detail how the old JD is distilled. After purchasing a few of these souvenir bottles we headed into the centre of town to check out the Jack Daniels items at the Lynchburg hardware and general store.
I now have one last weekend in the USA before I head for Europe which also signals one third of my trip has been completed. Once I'm in Europe I don't expect the updates to this blog will be as frequent as that trip gets pretty hectic then but I'll do my best.

Hear from you all soon.

Mick