Heading west 20 miles on Interstate 64, one gains entrance to a land renowned for its rolling hills and breathtaking open spaces. People from across America travel these roads, some for business, some for pure pleasure.
Areas marked as scenic overlooks dot the highway and draw a cultural blend of people that would make cosmopolitan cities jealous.
"We've never actually pulled over and looked at this before," says Lori Farquhar, who pulled over to a designated scenic view area with a carload of kids. "Dad is usually driving and is on a mission."
As Farquhar explains that the group is on a day-trip from Harrisonburg to do some shopping in Charlottesville, she grabs the forearm of her 4-year-old son to pull him off the rusted rail guarding visitors from the steep ledge.
"Mommy, can I climb on the rocks?" Ryan asks as he searches for a new elevated surface.
The scenic overlook near Rockfish Gap that Farquhar has chosen holds a special significance for the University community. The commission appointed to select a site for the University met at a tavern on this particular plot of land 180 years ago. Thomas Jefferson and James Madison were among the 21 members at that conference, which was held Aug. 1-4, 1818.
The magic of the overlook is not lost on Jon Laws as he tightly wraps one of his daughters in his oversized windbreaker.
"This is their first time seeing this place," the Richmond resident says. "They were really excited to stop, and you gotta do what the kids say."
Laws' two daughters, Suzanne, 8, and Brandy, 4, gaze out into the vast expanse, their eyes taking in the images like panoramic lenses.
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The site of a German shepherd roaming nearby catches the children's eyes. Duchess and her owners, Pat and Mary Sloan, are from upstate New York en route to the North Carolina beaches and warmer weather.
"We definitely have midsummer days that don't reach this temperature," Mr. Sloan says as he readjusts his baseball cap and sunglasses. "Compared to New York, this is a heat wave."
After the visiting the beach, the couple plans on seeing their son who is a retired Navy cadet living in Floyd, Va.
"Once he came here to Virginia, he hasn't left," Mrs. Sloan says.
She calls for Duchess: "Come on, it is time to go."
Their brief stretch break concludes as the couple clasps hands and returns to the road.
"I don't know why we never stopped here before," Mrs. Sloan says softly. "It seems like the perfect spot."
Just passing through
Julia Howard creeps out of her seat in the station wagon and stretches her arms over her head.
"It's nice to see bare ground," says the Maine resident, clad in a faded tropical print shirt. "We haven't seen bare ground since October."
Howard and her family of four are headed to Busch Gardens for a weekend trip, an 18-hour drive from home, and pulled over to the scenic view to soak up their treasured time together.
"We don't get to go too far often because of my husband's work, but we try to do day trips to the mountains," she says.
Pulling into a lone parking space, two boys with black hooded sweatshirts, accompanied by their fathers, step out of a white Grand Cherokee.
"Sure is pretty here," says one of the fathers, James Harris, whose group is passing through Virginia for the young men to visit the Virginia Military Institute. "We're from Texas, used to flat land. I like this - it's different."
The other father, John Allison, has been in Virginia before, most recently doing genealogy research in Rockbridge, Va., including finding information on his great-grandfather who fought in the Confederacy.
"We purposely took this road for the scenery - absolutely," Allison says in his deliberate Texas drawl.
A powerful gust of wind drowns out the approaching roar of a pair of motorcycle engines. Putting their kickstands down, Terry Darton and Vernon Patton strut over to sit on a rock and snack on their favorite road trip food: organic fruit.
"Whenever we get a wild hair, we just take off and go riding for a few days," says Darton, who has been riding for 50 years.
"I love going through the West Virginia mountains and blasting my symphonic piano music," Patton says, his gold tooth gleaming between bites. "Those people have never heard that kind of music before."
"When he does that, I stay far ahead," Darton laughs, and then nudges his riding partner to ask if he will be the best man in his upcoming wedding - to Patton's daughter.
"Hell no," Patton jokes back, and then returns to the subject of music. "Have you ever heard Sarah Brightman? Oh, to hear Sarah bouncing off the canyon walls."
Darton slaps his leather pants, tugs his helmet back on and heads back to his Harley, urging Patton to do the same.
From faraway lands
A jumbled foreign conversation echoes against the bulky rocks. Jure Vezjak, a 15-year-old from Maribor, Slovenia, speaks his native tongue as he guides his mother Blamka through the strong wind gusts to the ledge overlooking Waynesboro. Jure Vezjak and his family moved to the United States four months ago so that Blamka Vezjak could use her one-year accounting research scholarship at Virginia Tech.
"I would rather be back in my homeland," admits the young Jure Vezjak, who speaks two other languages as well as Slovenian and English. "But I know that this is good for my mother. We aren't staying here forever, only a year."
Yet, the change has not been easy for any members of the family.
"Jure didn't want to come, and it is really hard for him to make friends here, even though everyone is friendly," Blamka Vesjak says about her son. "But it would be even more difficult for Americans to make friends if you went to my country."
For the Slovenian family, Virginia's varying terrain, which ranges from the Blue Ridge Mountains to the beaches, is just the beginning of America's many differences.
"Perhaps there are many cultural differences between countries, and America has a much younger history," Blamka says. "This is the New World. We are used to the Old World, our world."
Headed home
While a mixture of people from all different pockets of the country were drawn to pull over at the scenic overlook along I-64, true-blooded Virginians made the stop to appreciate their native soil as well.
"The older you get, the more you realize you should stop," says Marian Pitman, who is traveling from Roanoke to Richmond to see her daughter compete in the state cheerleading finals.
A 4x4 pickup truck with the slogan, "If you can't Ram it, Dodge it" spray painted across the back, pulls into the parking area of the overlook. A middle-aged man jumps out to check the chains on the trailer he is hauling.
"I couldn't tell ya why I like Virginia," says Mr. Bill, wearing a green mesh hat with his name on it. "I was born here, and I live here."
As the pick-up peels back out onto the exit ramp, a rainbow of shirts and skin tones bursts from Moby Vaughan's nearby Mazda turned clown car. Kids flow out of every door, energetic after a roller skating birthday party in Staunton.
"We're headed back to the 'Ville, but they had to stop and see the view first," Charlottesville resident Vaughan says, eyeing the children as they run along the rocky edge of the overlook.
"You gotta love Virginia," Vaughan says, pumping his chest. "Just because it's Virginia"
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