Roanoke Rapids

My wife and I Left Virginia Beach at about 8:30 in the morning and headed west on route 58.

First stop was Emporia, we stopped at the Arbys for a drink and a stretch.

We continued west on route 58 looking for route 46 south. It's pretty easy to find, just watch the signs.

46 south was a pretty awesome road, for most of the ride there was no traffic at all. If you are so inclined, a quick check of your map will show you that a side trip to Lake Gaston is just a right turn away off of 46.

Continuing on 46 runs you into 158 which gets you into Roanoke Rapids. Roanoke Rapids in a bustling town with a lot of traffic, so be careful. There is also a Harley dealer there, Collier Harley Davidson has a brand new store that is a great place for a break. From the Harley dealer we headed east on 158 for a very short distance and ate a wonderful lunch at Ralf's barbecue, I highly recommend the buffet. From there we continued east on 158 to River Falls Park just off highway 301 in Weldon. This is a great place to spend some time hiking the trails, or just watching the rapids. There are usually some kayakers around playing in the rapids.

Now on the last leg of our trip we cruised down highway 158 east, making several stops to get a drink, stretch or just take in the sights. We stopped at Merchants Millpond State Park. We didn't go to the park entrance which is off SR 1403, That is probably another trip in our future. Instead we stopped at the ranger station that is on 158 to catch some shade and relax.

We finally ended up on route 17 north to Ballahack road (some of the curves on Ballahack can be deceptive, be careful) and took that to 168. From there it was back to Virginia Beach and home.

All together it was a great day. The round trip was a total of 289 miles.