[1]New Year’s Day 2012. Last year we spent the day on Skyline Drive but since it was closed from the snow and ice of last week, we decided to take a drive on the back roads of a snowy western Augusta County, Virginia. This area had received 4-6″ of snow and ice the day after Christmas and, with cold temperatures, much of it was still on the ground almost a week later.
[2]Rt. 42 west of Staunton on this overcast day headed toward Buffalo Gap and the Appalachians.
[3]A gravel road in Swoope.
[4]Swoope Chapel sits in an icy landscape against the backdrop of the Appalachian Mountains.
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[6]A rural snowy driveway.
[7]Railroad tracks west of Staunton are used by Amtrak and freight trains. This is the Swoope crossing looking toward Buffalo Gap …
[8]… where the tracks go through the gap and continue southwest toward West Virginia.
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[18]A nearby neighbor’s driveway.
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[25]Photos by Lynn R. Mitchell
New Year’s Day
January 1, 2013
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