Taking A Walk

by Dwayne Phillips

Today we walked through Christiansburg, Radford, and Fairlawn, Virginia. We covered 14 miles – pretty good considering we drove four hours before we started walking. The weather was fine again – 60 degrees F to 75 degrees F and the winds were calm.

We started at the I-81 exit for Christiansburg. First leg was a Golden Mile with car dealerships one after the other. Then we entered an area that was almost rural. It had lots of mobile homes and chain saw sales and repair places. Finally – downtown. Main street Christiansburg is not a historic district. It is mostly mid- to late-twentieth century buildings. It doesn’t have much character, but it is functional and attractive. Here is a photo. I also placed this photo on Christiansburg’s Wikipedia page.

Christiansburg‘s big claim to fame – apologies to the locals – is that this is where you exit Interstate 81 to go to Blacksburg and Virginia Tech. My oldest son and his wife attended and graduated VT. We didn’t swing far enough off course to see VT, but it is still there. It is a large state university specializing in engineering and military science. Mostly it is a place where Northern Virginia kids go to get away from their parents for four years. That may only be a rumor, but I have heard it often.

Between Christiansburg and Radford is about 8 rural miles. The country is pretty, but today a construction crew was putting down new asphalt shoulders. Two things: (1) we couldn’t walk on the shoulders because that would cover our shoes with oil. (2) The construction crew didn’t know how to move traffic around their work. What a mess!

Next up is the city of Radford (1856) and Radford University. RU began as the Radford State Teachers College in 1913. It is a 20th century college and a state university. Kids who don’t want the big size of Virginia Tech, but do want to get away from home, come here. At least that is what I have heard from parents who’s kids have come here. I am sure there are other reasons. As a recent college, the architecture of the buildings is not noteworthy. The city of Radford fits into the crescent of the Pulaski New River. Route 11, which goes down one side of RU, curves into this crescent. Some of the RU buildings have a curve in them on the side adjacent to Route 11. A nice touch.

Downtown Radford is much like Christiansburg – mid-twentieth century. One note, there are three tatoo parlors on one block in downtown. I don’t know why and I don’t know how they all stay in business. Here is a photo of main street. I put this photo on Radford’s Wikipedia page. Today there was something odd about the traffic. Route 11 going north was clogged with tractor trailer rigs.

Route 11 crosses the Pulaski River as it exits Radford and enters Pulaski County. The River is 200 yards wide at this point (I stepped it off), but only a few feet deep.

On the far side of the river is Fairlawn. This is one of those wide spots in the road. It has a fast food mile. There is one franchise of every major fast food corporation in America on this mile.

Otherwise, Route 11 becomes a four-lane divided highway as it rolls through the countryside. Traffic was heavy today for some reason.

The pink pig van? Here it is. This was in front of a Bar-B-Que place in Christiansburg. It seemed not to fit at all with two neighboring towns that had big universities. I tend to notice things that don’t fit at all. Please note that I did NOT put this photo on any Wikipedia page.