Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SUNDAY, March 26, 1995 TAG: 9503250004
SECTION: TRAVEL PAGE: G-6 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: SU CLAUSON-WICKER CORRESPONDENT
DATELINE: EMPORIA LENGTH: Long
Greensville County is a place known for pigs and peanuts, for agricultural festivals and Ruritan Club feasts, for languid brown rivers and crossroads general stores. It's a place where even the locals might end up at Hardee's on Saturday night asking other folks if they know where something's happening.
So what enticed me to give up my place in line behind the Winnebagos and minivans headed for more popular tourist destinations and vacation in Southside last summer?
I did it for my calf muscles and my peace of mind. I like to bicycle, but not in a self-punishing sort of way. Pedaling over the mirage-flat piedmont hills on smooth macadam backroads is a treat for the psyche and a great, nonpunishing workout for the body.
The sights are easy on the senses. Low, murky rivers lollygag through vine-tangled forests echoing with jeering birds and singing frogs. Hedge rows are shrouded with honeysuckle, and morning glories drape pink, purple and blue blossoms over peanut fields. Homes, whether they're six-room peanut plantation manors or squat bungalows, seem to compete in flower production.
Here you learn that cornsilk actually has a scent, and that the aroma of honeysuckle is more distinct in the mornings. The scent of country-cured ham and wood smoke is also stronger around breakfast time in Southside.
Everybody on back roads waves, even if it's just an index finger. And if the slow-and-easy country stores don't appear regularly enough along your route to quench your thirst, you've got a good chance of receiving a welcome and a glass of water if you knock at one of the doors you pass.
Greensville County's back roads make a good jaunt anytime except in midsummer when the Southside sun is at full burn, but the best time to cycle is during the Great Peanut Ride.
If the hospitality you receive on a solo trip to Greensville County seems like an enthusiastic, two-fisted handshake, the reception you receive at the Peanut Ride is a big, warm hug. Held annually on the weekend after Labor Day, the organized ride draws both avid 100-mile-a-day riders and 10-mile fun bikers.
On this weekend, you get a special dollop of hospitality from Southsiders, who set up food and water stations outside their homes to entice you off your bike with goodies such as peanut brittle, peanut cake, peanut fudge, watermelon, cucumber sandwiches and their nationally renowned watermelon pickle.
Yes, really - a pickle made out of watermelon rind is worth writing home about, especially when it's made from specially bred thick-rind melons by Ms. Virginia Senior Citizen runner-up Ginny Wrenn and served in cream cheese appetizers. Wrenn says she starts preparing for the next Peanut Ride as soon as the last one ends.
William ``Doc'' Robinson helps his wife and daughters set up four tents outside their Skippers peanut farm, which they and the Methodist women cover with more goodies than a Fanny Farmer candy store. Dressed in a white suit and straw hat, Doc gives the history of his plantation and occasional tours. Down the road, a county Extension agent holds forth on the technology and science of the peanut industry from the back of one of Robinson's peanut harvesters. Farther along the route, in Skippers, the friendly folks at the Good Earth Peanut Company will sell you bagged peanuts or ship them, should you want to continue along without the extra baggage on your bike.
And back at the Cattail Creek Campground, the event's headquarters, there's always someone cheering your arrival and pointing you toward the cold sports drinks. In the evenings, you will be entertained by harp music, bluegrass, a bagpiper or gospel, depending upon the night. If you're not ready to hop back on the saddle at 8 a.m., you can go on a guided bird walk or learn from a flower expert whether those flowers you saw along the road were Joe Pye weed or mistflower.
For more information about the Peanut Ride or about biking in Greensville County, call Bobby Wrenn at 1-800-449-BIKE. Wrenn, who is one of the organizers of the Great Peanut Ride, recently spent his 60th birthday biking 125 miles on Greensville County's by-ways, scouting routes for the next Peanut Ride.
Whether you choose to bike during the organized ride or discover Dry Bread Road, Smoky Ordinary, Purdy, Tryall Mill Road and other scenic spots on your own, you have some variety in your selection of accommodations.
Emporia has at least five motels, including a Best Western, Days Inn, Holiday Inn and Comfort Inn. You can also camp at the Cattail Creek Campground in Skippers (804) 634-9935 or go to the other extreme and stay in the Sherwood Manor Inn bed and breakfast outside the county in Lawrenceville (804) 848-0361.
Dining in Emporia ranges from fast-food franchises to several family-style establishments with chow-chow on the counter and sweet potato pie in the case. Just over the border at the Brunswick County hamlet of Valentines, also on a nice backroad, you can enjoy fine Southern cooking at the 1792 Kennon House (804) 577-2680.
Near Valentines also, you can book a Gaston Lake cruise on the Roanoke Belle at (804) 577-2978 (The Roanoke River eventually empties into Lake Gaston.) or sign up for water skiing lessons at the same number.
Or you can schedule your trip to correspond with one of Emporia's big agricultural festivals: the Beef and Dairy Festival (April 26), the Pork Festival (June 14) or the Virginia Peanut Festival (Sept. 22-24). Call the Emporia Chamber of Commerce at 804-634-9441 for more information.
by CNB