Scenic Virginia Travels

April, 12-14, 2019 . I was a vendor at the Southwestern Early Childhood Development Conference in Wise, Virginia. I took this opportunity to make a Virginia Scenic drive. I left Smithfield, Virginia, Friday morning around 7:30 a.m. I drove mostly on US 460 W. with a few side trips when I felt like it. I had breakfast in Farmville at Walker’s diner. They have yummy food, good prices and friendly service.

I got onto US 81 S. near Roanoke and the rain was crazy so I got off. I drove around on a few back roads and when the weather cleared a bit I returned to US 81 S. When the rain started and visibility was so poor, I decided to get off again. I found so many interesting things to photograph when I took these back roads. At one point, I missed the turn onto US 11 S. and ended up going on Riverside Drive in the Marion, VA area. What a wonderful road that is. It has a bunch of old barns and abandoned houses.

The day was dwindling so I got onto US Alt 58 W. which took me to Wise. I arrived around 6:00 p.m. I set up my table, took some photos of the area around my hotel and ate a light dinner in the hotel restaurant.

Saturday morning arrived promising to be a beautiful day. I met a lot of wonderful people at the convention and sold a few books.

After the convention at UVA Wise, I left on US Alt 58 E. which took me directly to US 81 N. After one little detour to visit the Whitebarrel Winery and Sinkland Brewery in Christiansburg, VA, I arrived in Roanoke around 8:00.

Sunday I left Roanoke at around 8:45 a.m. I Kept better track of my roads this time and I learned something; Google maps will always take you back to the fastest route. Even if that means it takes you on a state route in a circle back to your original US route. Grr… I kept going in circles until I started searching for directions to intermittent cities which required getting on rural routes.

My navigation took me on back roads out of Roanoke to US 24 East after Vinton, VA. At VA 619, around Stewartsville, I was prompted with a note about a slower route. I took it since I figured it would be back roads. Sure enough, it took me on extremely back, back roads, some only had gravel stones, but oh how beautiful. I saw VA State Rte 759,VA State Rte 635, VA State Rte 603 & VA State Rte 607.

I exited onto US 19 North or something like that, it was a 4 lane highway. I tried getting of once and I ended up on a road that had a menacing sign: PRIVATE PROPERTY, DO NOT ENTER. Needless to say, I turned around.

VA State Rte 698, VA State Rte 726 , Saunders Rd. Saunders road didn’t have a number, that I could see, but it was a glorious drive past farms and more abandoned buildings.

US 24 (Colonial Highway) East – Evington VA, through Rustburg,

460 East in Appomattox, VA

Tired of the highway, I took a right on 1006 - 11 Oaks Road in Crew VA. It ran parallel to train tracks and I was in time to watch the gates go down, a train come by, and go back up again. I parked my car and got out to take photos. It was the same company train that I raced on 460 on the way out. (Perhaps a different engine, but the same line.) This road took me right back to 460 East so I continued for a few more miles. It didn’t take long to tire of the highway again so I decided to get off.

I took VA State Rte 642 to Blackstone and got on US 40 East. I passed Fort Pickett and a lot of signs declaring Tank Crossings. In Darvils, an unincorporated community in Dinwiddie County, Virginia, I stopped to photograph three crosses by a church cemetery and some abandoned buildings.

Continuing on US 40 E. I passed an abandoned grocery/gas station. M. W. Dunn Gro. In Sussex County, I tried to look up information on it but only found another photographer’s photo from 2005

My navigation was taking back to US 460 E. and I didn’t want to go there so I took a right onto 735 into Sussex then followed a bunch of rural routes with one 10 foot drive on US 460 E in Ivor.

634, Back to 40 W, 35, 622, 740, 729, 628, 600, 616, US 460 E., 620, 683, 682, 680, 620, 258

Home, I arrived home around 7:06 p.m.

This is about what my travel looked like. I had a wonderful time.

My Journey Has Begun.

Saturday I participated in my first book fair. I sold a few books, but more importantly, I learned a few things.

I learned that my display with all the pictures of Jazzy, though really cute, lent the impression that my books were about Pit bulls.

My books are about concepts: Time, the Alphabet, Counting backwards, Months, Exploring, Friendship/bullying, and shapes. Now all I have to do is revamp my presentation to show this.

Thanks to the wonderful authors at the book fair for sharing their insights as well. Our books were about different topics but written with passion.

These are the authors and links to their books:

Shawnee Walker - Milo Series

VaLerie Irene - Raffi and Friends

Pamela D Beverly - What If An Octopus Followed Me Home

Christopher McGhee - PJ The Purple Penguin

David Engel - Unika Collection & The Color of Love

Aisha Rice - My Kinky Coily Hair

CQ Wilder - The Karla The Dog Collection

Brandy Aiken - The Beauty of Loving You

Not on Amazon

If you are looking for Jazzy's Books on Amazon you won't find them. There are several reasons why I don't want to sell on Amazon.

1. They take a huge cut of your profit.

2. They do nothing to market your book.

3. You have to start purchasing ads or other "click" numbers to spread the word. I just read that people pay their family members to purchase books in order to get the numbers up. That's crazy!

4. You are not in control of anything anyone says about your book. If someone posts a review that I find is not relevant, I have the ability to remove it. For example (and this happened) an author was given a rating of 2 because the book arrived bent. That was not the author's fault, it was a postal issue.

5. When you are out of inventory your ranking drops so you have to be really diligent about printing large quantities. I can print as many or as little as I want.

6. There is no personal contact with your customer. I love to travel and I love talking with people. I will be attending book fairs and festivals as a vendor. This way, I get to interact with my customers.

7. I do not know why, but I've read some posts from authors who talk about Amazon changing the price of their book. I would not want anyone else messing with that.

8. It's always a game to get your numbers up. Apparently, the higher the numbers, the more likely your book will appear in a search. If you want a "featured" status you have to be selling with a particular plan. I don't want to pay for that kind of hassle.

I don't look at numbers, I look at children who are enjoying and learning from my books.

I see librarians who are using my books to teach.

This is why I write!

If you are a fan and you want to let people know about my books, please share my website since that is the only place you will find them to purchase online.

https://www.jazzysbooks.com/buy-jazzy-books