Southside Virginia Wednesday, 3 Nov 2004 In the first six miles this morning, I picked up 18 cents...three pennies, a dime and a nickel. Without the pack, I don't mind bending down and picking up the coins. Elizabeth wants to visit Scotland, so I gave them to her as a start on her travel fund. I have seen lots of pennies, a few dimes, but today is the first nickel and I have yet to see a quarter. Is there something about the larger size coins? Strange. A group of prisoners were out clearing brush along the road. First I've seen. If you ever need any bungee cords, just go out a walk a few miles along the highway. You will find lost of broken ones, but a few will be intact. Occasionally, you may have to walk a few steps further to find the hook. I often wonder what would happen if one of those things sprang loose as I was walking by. Richard and Elizabeth met me in Brodnax with lunch and we sat on chairs behind their van and had a nice meal of Wendy's cheeseburgers. We were by a Virginia historical marker explaining the origins of Brunswick Stew here in Brunswick County. It's a thick rich stew originally made of squirrel meat, stale bread, onions, butter, and seasoning. The modern version uses chicken and has more vegetables. "Stew" meals are a popular fundraising method in this area, like barbecue chicken dinners or pancake breakfasts elsewhere. The landscape is changing. The countryside is gently rolling. There are few hills to climb. Rivers and creeks, like the Meherrin that I crossed today, are sluggish unlike the rushing streams further west. Farms are larger, but there is still a lot of logging operations...pine, oak and some poplar. R&E picked me up about five at the Business 58 intersection on the west side of Lawrenceville. Surely there is little more than hundred miles to the ocean. Thursday, 4 Nov 2004 It has been raining since before dawn, sometimes heavily, so this has been a rest and recuperation day here in South Hill. We found two restaurants worth mentioning. Brian's is a good, standard steak and seafood place. Kahill's is a more upscale place about three miles north on US1. Donna has joined me for a couple of days and Richard and Elizabeth have gone home. Tomorrow is supposed to be sunny and windy and cool, but I should be in Emporia by late afternoon.