Days 5 & 6 – Walk Across America

I didn’t get a chance to post here about my walk yesterday… so I am doing double duty today :)

12/17 – I walked 40 min = 40 miles to arrive in Buchanan, VA. (292 miles from my starting point)

On June 14, 1864, after occupying Lexington and burning the Virginia Military Institute, Union General David Hunter's 18,000-man force marched south toward Lynchburg through Buchanan, a river port located at the western terminus of the James River and Kanawha Canal. When Union General William W. Averell's cavalrymen attempted to seize the Buchanan Bridge across the James River, Confederate General John C. McCausland's troopers who had been harassing them, confronted them again. By the time Averell arrived, the Confederates had packed the wooden covered bridge with coal oil-soaked hay. McCausland ignited the north end of the bridge then escaped in a small boat to the side of the river, corssing beneath the burning structure. An artillery duel ensued. The wind carried embers from the bridge across the river to dwellings in Pattonsburg. Averell's men helped extinguish the flames, but not before eleven houses burned. The bridge, which survived the fire, was unusable, so Union soldiers, wagons, and artillerg forded the river upstream, losing a day's march. The next morning, Hunter's force crossed the Blue Ridge Mountains on present-day Route 43. (background information taken from Civil War History Marker located at the Bridge) The old bridge piers today support the pedestrian swinging bridge.

12/18 – Walked 64 min = 64 miles and arrived at the Wilson Creek Bridge near Ellett, VA (356 miles total)

The Wilson Creek Bridge (also known as the Smart Road Bridge) is the tallest bridge in Virginia at 175 feet (53 m) tall.  The cast-in-place cantilever box girder bridge design is the only one of its kind in Virginia. The bridge is hollow. Beneath the riding surface, the box girders are open with a width of 18 feet (5 m) and a height which varies from 12 feet (4 m) to 35 feet (11 m). Power and communication lines are carried in the hollow concrete box and run the length of the bridge. Manholes in the bridge deck allow researchers to enter the box to monitor testing equipment. The support structure of the bridge is inlaid with Hokie Stone to blend in with the environment and meld with the architectural stylings of Virginia Tech.