I’ve gone out in all kinds of weather to search for locations and subjects for this project.

But few have been as wicked as Saturday was.

Leaving Virginia Beach that morning the light was kind of flat and bland, but the weatherman had predicted a storm front coming through and I was hoping for the kind of light and clouds that are a hallmark of my work. So I loaded up the Honda at 6:30 and headed west towards Lombardy Grove, Virginia. About where 460 hits 58 I encountered really thick fog, and soon it started to snow. Lightly - you could watch the snowflakes drifting and dancing in the wind. I considered stopping and turning around as this kind of light wouldn’t give me the kind of definition that would bring out the texture I want in this kind of work - but what the hell, being on the road beats sitting at home so on I traveled. I bet on outrunning the weather, which I did about 20 minutes later.

I’m glad I did. I spent the day listening to an AM radio station that “played both kinds of music - country and western.” I heard Johnny tell June he was going to Jackson since the fire went out, Tammy saying she was going to stand by her man, and I’m still trying to figure this one out - Kid Rock say he was gonna do all right ‘cause he had Jesus and Bocephus.

And I came across some great places; the Goins General Store smack dab in the middle of Smith’s Crossroads, a fantastic, and kind of gothic looking old farmhouse on a hill, and a church hidden in a copse of woods. If it wasn’t fall, you’d never see this house of worship, and I barely saw it myself.

Here’s those three places. I hope you enjoy them as much as I did finding them and preserving their memory.