A ride in the country: Cary to Danville

Have you ever been to Milton, North Carolina? How about Semora, Concord (not that Concord; the other one), or Olive Hill? Have you driven through Caldwell, Hurdle Mills, Prospect Hill, or Hightowers. How about Gatewood? Until recently, we may have, but we didn't take notice.

These are small towns/crossroads in North Carolina's Orange, Person and Caswell counties, places my wife, Nancy, and I recently passed through, in a blink of an eye, as we took a drive Sunday from Cary to Danville, Virginia, and back, all within a matter of hours. It was a road trip of desperate need.

The coronavirus asks us for ways to pass the time without going crazy. There's golf and grocery shopping and golf and reading and binge watching anything that looks interesting but may not be. There's power walks and golf and being creative in the kitchen and golf and writing. And house chores and yard work. All things we did before COVID-19; all that seem a little boring today. So road trips to places we've never frequented or may have but don't recall have become important.

So, Sunday morning, Nancy completed her daily power walk; I washed two cars and vacuumed the house carpet. While enjoying a light lunch instead of watching the 10 a.m. service of Cary's First United Methodist Church, instead of waiting for the 11 a.m. Sunday School ZOOM class to begin, Nancy made a declaration: "Let's get out of here. Let's go for a drive. Somewhere we haven't been, north of here?" It was not a request to do something different than what's become usual; it was a demand performance.

With the most recent N.C. Department of Motor Vehicles road map, we decided to drive to Danville, not to do anything special there but to make the drive special. Four-lane U.S. highways, N.C. toll roads and Interstate-85 got to Guess Road on the north side of Durham. No need to waste good driving time with local traffic to Guess Road which is also N.C. Highway 157.

We drove from Durham County into Orange County and through Caldwell. We drove the speed limit or slower, discovering the surroundings, impressive homes to some run-down dwellings. In the middle of somewhere, what do those in the mansions do for a living nearby; in the same place, how do those in the worn our structures live? We crossed into Person County and drove through Hurdle Mills and into deserted uptown historic Roxboro where nothing was open. We circled the town square, finding monuments for natives killed in the Civil War, the World Wars and the Korean War.

We traveled northwest on N.C. Highway 57 out of Roxboro, passing through Concord on one side of the Hyco Lake and through Semora on the other side. In each of those towns and crossroads there was no place to stop to look around, to discover. Entering Milton, a town just a few yards short of the North Carolina-Virginia border, I thought, "This looks interesting." But, we didn't stop. Maybe, one day, if we're ever through there again, we'll pull over for the five minute tour.

Pavilion at 2 Witches Winery & Brewing, Danville VA

When we travel like this, the subject of craft breweries is on tap. So, an internet search offered Danville's 2 Witches Winery & Brewing on Trade Street on the north side of the Dan River, and Ballad Brewing in a renovated tobacco auction house on Craghead Street in the historical part of Danville.

Interior of Ballad Brewing, Danville VA

At 2 Witches, there is a pavilion for live music and plenty of places to sit outside, even in the heat, and enjoy a craft beer. We chose an IPA which was just "okay" but not spectacular. Our memory of 2 Witches will include bad music and lots of people not wearing masks but hugging each other. We found a seat on the porch away from everyone, drank our beer and headed to Ballad which happened to be on our way home. It would be easy to say no one was at Ballad because, really, there was literally so one else there except for two bartenders. Ballard has an expansive main room, the tobacco auction house. The Balladeer IPI was tasty.

The trip home was through familiar territory, southbound on N.C. 86 to Hillsborough with a stop at a Bojangles for a large order of french fries. Using Interstate 40, N.C. 751 and U.S. 64 we made our way home with a stop at Nancy's mother's home in Chapel Hill to say hello and water her flowers and plants.

In all it was about a 5-6 hour road trip. Was it good for us? Absolutely. We recommend roadside sightseeing, especially at slower speeds with no specific timetable, destination or route. We're planning another, destination to be decided.