When you think of Grayson County, you probably picture some of the most iconic outdoor destinations in Virginia, such as the sweeping vistas of Grayson Highlands or the summits of Mount Rogers or Whitetop. But just down the New River lies a place that’s every bit as rich in beauty and history - the small, riverside town of Fries.
Once a bustling textile mill town, Fries is now a quiet haven for paddlers, cyclists, and hikers seeking a slower pace. You can launch your kayak right into the New River, pedal New River Trail State Park, or join a ranger-led history tour that brings the town’s past to life. In the evenings, the air fills with the sound of banjos and fiddles during weekly music jams that celebrate Fries’ deep roots in Appalachian culture.
I’m joined by Kevin Combs, a Fries native, photographer, musician, and tourism manager who shares how the town is embracing its outdoor and cultural identity. We’ll also hear from Ricky Barton, who created the New River Float Calculator, an interactive tool that helps paddlers plan their trips. Ricky shares his expert tips for exploring the New River, from leisurely Class I floats with the family to adrenaline-packed Class III rapids.
Along the way, we’ll discover hidden gems throughout Grayson County, plus local dining and unique lodging.
Get ready to experience a place where music, history, and adventure meet on the banks of the New River. This is Fries - one of Virginia’s Adventure Towns. Let’s Go!
This is part 2 of a two-part episode.
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Mentioned in this Episode:
The Crooked Road Heritage Music Trail
Thursday Night Music Jams - Fries
Mount Rogers National Recreation Area
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
SPEAKER_02 (00:01):
From the Blue Ridge Mountains to the Chesapeake Bay,
Virginia is a Mecca for outdoortravel and adventure.
Virginia Outdoor AdventuresPodcast is your local guide for
hiking, camping, kayaking,travel, and so much more.
Get the information and theinspiration to plan your own
adventure.
Right here in Virginia.
(00:22):
I'm your host, Jessica Bowser.
When you think of GraysonCounty, you probably picture
some of the most iconic outdoordestinations in Virginia, such
as the sweeping vistas ofGrayson Highlands or the summits
of Mount Rogers or White Top.
But just down the New River liesa place that's every bit as rich
(00:44):
in beauty and history, the smallriverside town of Freeze.
Once a bustling textile milltown, Freeze is now a quiet
haven for paddlers, cyclists,and hikers seeking a slower
pace.
You can launch your kayak rightinto the New River, pedal New
River Trail State Park, or joina ranger led history tour that
brings the town's past to life.
(01:06):
In the evenings, the air fillswith the sound of banjos and
fiddles during weekly music jamsthat celebrate Frieze's deep
roots in Appalachian culture.
I'm joined by Kevin Combs, aFreeze native photographer,
musician, and tourism managerwho shares how the town is
embracing its outdoor andcultural identity.
We'll also hear from RickyBarton, who created the New
(01:28):
River Float Calculator, aninteractive tool that helps
paddlers plan their trips.
Ricky shares his expert tips forexploring the New River from
leisurely Class 1 floats withthe family to adrenaline-packed
Class III Rapids.
Along the way, we'll discoverhidden gems throughout Grayson
County, plus local dining andunique lodging.
Get ready to experience a placewhere music, history, and
(01:52):
adventure meet on the banks ofthe New River.
This is Freeze, one ofVirginia's adventure towns.
Let's go.
Before we dive back in, let'spick up where we left off in
part one.
We had just started to explorethe New River through Grayson
County, talking about riveraccess points, how to plan your
(02:13):
paddling trip, and what kind ofexperience you can expect on the
water.
We also heard how this region isembracing its identity as an
outdoor recreation destinationwhile still offering those
moments of quiet connectionwhere you can be still
surrounded by beautifullandscapes and wildlife.
In part two, we'll dive deeperinto the details of planning
(02:34):
your next paddling trip.
You'll also hear recommendationsfor lodging and dining to round
out your visit to GraysonCounty.
You and I had a blast.
That was a lot of fun.
Gosh, I cannot wait to post thephotos and videos of the trip
because what it looked like whenwe started and what it looked
(02:54):
like when we ended werecompletely different.
Like when we first got on thewater, it was early in the
morning.
The sky was still overcast, butthere was this mist or fog.
I don't know how to just I guessit's fog, right?
That was rising above the wateror just sort of floating above
the water.
And it just gave it this likemysterious beauty that you don't
(03:16):
see often in other places.
I don't know how else todescribe it, other than it was
just sort of mystical.
SPEAKER_00 (03:21):
Yeah, it's really fascinating.
And what's what makes it evencooler when you can get there
early in the morning like thatis to see there's a lot of local
guys that fly fish.
You get these guys in thispicturesque scene where this
smoke is coming up off thewater, and they're just in this
really slow mathematicalrotation of a flower.
(03:43):
I'm just like, wow, like off amagazine cover or something.
It's awesome, it's beautiful.
SPEAKER_02 (03:48):
Yes.
And and of course, you've gotthe mountains that are
surrounding you too.
So it's not just the beauty ofthe water, it's the mountains,
and then that smoke over thewater.
And as we paddled, I kind offelt like I was paddling
through, I don't know, it waslike I was in some surreal
place.
And then as the day went on,that started to clear up a
(04:09):
little bit.
The sun rose a little higher,the sky cleared up.
And by the time we were maybehalfway through this trip, it
was blue skies and everythingwas clear and it was really
beautiful, but in a completelydifferent way.
SPEAKER_00 (04:24):
Yeah, and and that that speaks also to each each
section of the river.
The topography is likedramatically different.
Let's just say that you came uhto Grayson County and spent a
week in there, and you want topick three sections, and you're
you're pretty good at thepaddle, right?
So you can come into um BridalCreek and it's this huge rock
face, you know, big clifflinetopography.
(04:48):
That's something that you and Ididn't get to experience, you
know, in our our flow throughthere.
But if you get up toward theheadwaters, the topography is
just dramatically different.
And so all the raptors arenesting, you know, up into the
rock faces.
And when you kind of get intothat wilderness section of the
river, that's when it gets sowild, right?
And you and there'sopportunities along the way just
to park your boat and sit on abig cool rock and watch watch it
(05:10):
all happen, and it's justawesome.
SPEAKER_02 (05:13):
Are there sections for more experienced paddlers
that you would recommend?
SPEAKER_00 (05:17):
Yeah, and like I said, if you go back to that the
New River water trail app, youcan see the rapids, there'll be
these little white blocks on themap.
So the bridle creek toindependent section, you know,
and there's nothing in there,guys, depending on CFM, which is
like the flow of the water.
From my perspective, if you'rean experienced paddler, you're
not going to be anywhere out ofthe class two range, just
(05:37):
depending on the water flow.
But um, it's a great time, andit's it's there's a lot of drop.
So people that paddle know thatum they're always looking for
drop.
So that section has a good bitof drop in it.
It's really fast, but what alsohappens is the waters aerates
itself, so fish love it, likeit's high oxygen, right?
So all these fish are in there,and it's a great place to fish.
(06:01):
It's an adventure because you'vegot to get out of these rapids
to stop long enough to fish, andit's just really, really fun.
SPEAKER_02 (06:07):
Let's drill down a little bit into the new river
float calculator because we'vebeen referencing it, but we
haven't actually said what itis.
Can you talk more about that?
SPEAKER_00 (06:16):
Yeah, so this calculator was born kind of out
of an idea from the the tourismfolks in Grayson County.
And Tracy kind of led the chargethere.
Fantastic lady, great leader.
Called me up and said, Hey, wewant to do something with this
river.
We want to have a river trailsystem.
We know that you know the river,we know you've mapped the river.
(06:37):
Can you come and help us?
So the whole idea was to say,okay, visitors that come to the
community if you're visiting fora little while, you can bring up
this app.
And the app will basically giveyou an idea of how much time it
takes to get from point A topoint B between the access
points.
We also saw an opportunity tocreate uh like an emergency
response system within thewithin the app so that when you
(07:00):
got out of the river, eachdestination was marked with like
an emergency responsedestination number.
So if you were unfamiliar withthe place, you could call 911 by
connecting to these towers thatwe put in.
So we we put in these uh remotecommunication towers, RCTs, that
in places where there wasabsolutely no service, you could
(07:21):
step out of the river, connectyour phone to the tower, and
then not only use the app fromyour phone if you wanted to
continue on your trip, but youcould you could call out, you
could call home, you coulddownload your pictures, you
could, you know, send cool stuffto people in areas where there
was absolutely no service.
So when the flood came, itcompletely removed almost all
(07:44):
the access points.
Like it washed them away.
It washed the gravel away, itwashed it was unbelievable the
the amount of damage thathappened there.
So we are refitting these towerswith Starlink so that there's no
disconnect whatsoever.
You walk up to the StarlinkTower, connect, and do your
thing.
In places where there'sabsolutely no service, now you
(08:06):
have an opportunity that you canconnect to service.
You know, if there was anemergency situation, or you just
wanted to send your pictures toyour buddy from the river when
you get out.
SPEAKER_02 (08:16):
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(08:39):
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I just want to point out thatyou are the creator and the
(09:02):
builder and the mastermindbehind this, right?
SPEAKER_00 (09:05):
Yeah, the towers and the mapping.
So we did all the map files, thedata.
The problem is kind of unique.
And I come from the the coalfields of Southwest Virginia.
So there's no service over hereeither.
You know, when you when you headon down below Roanoke and you're
heading, you know, west, prepareyourself just to be in these
areas.
And we don't mind it down here,but we do still need to
(09:27):
communicate.
And in in the coal and gas fieldindustry, there's unique ways to
get that communication signalout.
So we're able to take some ofthose ideas and retrofit them
for the river, which was reallycool.
So we have solar-poweredstandalone systems that are
specifically designed uh to beultra-user friendly.
So it's it's been a greatbenefit for folks.
(09:49):
And and the Department ofWildlife Resources like them,
you know, because they have beenusing these boat launches
historically.
And by the way, the DWR on allof these boat launches, and
their rules and regulationsassociated with the boat launch,
probably something you shouldcheck out.
And I think there probably aresome links to that, but they
were really appreciative to havethat type of hardware on their
(10:10):
location so that folks could,you know, still communicate.
And I've talked to a lot offolks that have used this and
they're really excited about it.
And they actually, even localfolks, didn't know where some of
these access points were untilwe built this map.
And they're like, I had no ideathat you could get out of the
river right here.
And I was like, Yeah, it's agreat little float.
So I get a lot of calls about Iwant to go to Grayson County, I
(10:32):
have my family, or I want to goto Grayson County, I want to go
fishing, or I want to go toGrayson County just to take
pictures of kingfishers.
Where can I find them?
Right?
Like, and photographers lovethis river.
Lots of people paddle just toshoot.
As this thing evolves, and Ithink the New River Water Trail
app will evolve to haveopportunities for people to say,
(10:52):
all right, this is where most ofthe rafters are.
You know, this is a livingthing.
As it gets more and more uh use,then we'll be able to add things
to this app to say, Hey, youwant to shoot some rafters?
You jump in at Bridal Creek, yougo about a half mile and stop.
You know, there's lots of greatbirds there.
But I think it's it's designedwell, it's built well, and um,
it was a great idea.
(11:14):
Just really appreciative of thecounty to be able to be involved
in the project.
And uh, I'm really proud of whatit's become.
SPEAKER_02 (11:21):
You mentioned the floods, and I just wanted to
make sure that everybodyunderstands that what we're
referencing is the floods thatresulted from Hurricane Helene
one year ago, and you didmention that the floods washed
away some of the towers.
So, what is the status of thetowers now?
SPEAKER_00 (11:36):
The towers are being stood back up with a Starlink
upgrade.
To back up a little bit and talkabout this, I've been on river
systems all over North Americamy whole life.
I've floated this Grayson Countysection no less than a hundred
times.
Okay, I love this river.
I know every rock in the river,but when this flood came, it
(11:58):
just completely changed thelandscape of the river.
It was a different river.
Massive amounts of sand weremoved from one place to another,
huge amounts of water.
And and maybe Kevin, you couldspeak to this.
And I've heard this, that therewere actually campers going over
the dam and freeze.
It had brushed the sides of theriver and it completely uprooted
(12:20):
concrete slabs, and and thesetowers were placed on really
super heavy-duty, you know,foundations, and it looked like
you just took a grinder andground them off because of the
amount of debris that was pickedup by this storm.
Guys, it was unbelievable.
And it's still, if you go to theheadwaters, you go to Mount of
(12:40):
Wilson and you start floating,you can still see that you know,
there's still campers up intrees, and it is wild what
happened.
A couple of the towers survived,unbelievably.
Uh location to be able tosurvive, but but most of them
were washed away.
We're building everything back.
(13:01):
Um, it's been kind of slowbecause you know, there was
there was such a need, you know,even like in towns of like
Damascus and uh all these otherplaces that were that were
dramatically impacted um by thestorm, it was kind of confusing
for a while to try to pinpointthe locations that needed the
most help.
So I feel like we're there now.
(13:21):
Uh, and you know, it's been ayear.
And you hear a lot of peopletalk about, oh, they didn't move
fast enough.
You just don't understand theamount of devastation.
How do you prepare for that?
You know, so I think that from ariver guy perspective, I just
wait my turn and uh and it'snow.
So yeah, we're building all thisback, and by the spring of next
(13:43):
year, we should have everythingback up and roll.
SPEAKER_02 (13:45):
That would be great because I know a lot of people,
especially people who want topaddle, probably might wait
until the spring to plan theirtrip.
The Visit Grayson County websitehas a specific section about the
new river float calculator.
And and also there's a QR codethat you can scan if you pick up
one of the pamphlets about thenew river flow calculator.
(14:07):
There's still some goodinformation there, um, even if
the towers aren't all in placestill, but this is a fantastic
idea for a lot of reasons.
I'm sure you have seen this,Ricky.
I have seen that people aresometimes very nervous about
paddling by themselves.
And it's because there's a lotof uncertainties.
They don't know what thelandscape of the river is going
(14:28):
to be like.
They don't know where to put inand take out, they don't know
what the flow of the water is,and they don't know where to get
that information.
And so there's a lot ofuncertainty when you're out
there by yourself, and it can bea little nerve-wracking.
So putting in place a systemlike this that is full of
information can hopefully help alot of people feel more
comfortable about paddling onthe new river.
SPEAKER_00 (14:50):
Yeah, and and each tower was co-located with a
really great sign.
And you know, we spent a lot oftime on that signage, and it was
basically trying to putourselves in the shoes of
someone who had never floated.
And I have guys, you know, I owna kayak rental company, not on
this river, but other rivers,and I have seen some crazy
things happen, right?
(15:11):
Like just get your keys.
That you know, a little reminderat the bottom.
Hey, bring your keys with you,you know, or you have a dry bag,
you know, just just a few littleminor things.
And most importantly, you know,always in river safety.
Where are your wear your lifejacket?
Where is your life jacket?
It's very, very important.
This is the new you never knew.
Right?
(15:31):
It's beautiful.
Come look at it, come visit it,give us a call, you know, we'll
help you.
We'll we'll go with you, youknow.
It's exciting, and I'm excitedfor this thing uh to roll on
out.
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Speaking of gear and where torent, there's not a whole lot of
(16:29):
locations for gear rental, butthere's maybe one, right?
SPEAKER_00 (16:33):
Yeah, when I when I go stay there, I stay at um New
River Campground and Canoe, Ithink it's just outside of uh of
Independence there.
So those guys are have alwaysbeen awesome.
And I have snorkeled in front ofthat campground.
Uh snorkel that river.
There's a whole snorkeling thingthat happens too, guys.
That's we we I can spend all daytalking about it.
(16:56):
But a lot of people snorkel thatriver for very specific reasons.
They have cabins there, theyhave campsites there.
I think you probably bring acamper there also.
But I think there's another onealso uh outside of freeze,
Kevin.
Is that right?
SPEAKER_01 (17:08):
That is correct.
There's one below Freeze, abouttwo miles outside of town, New
River Outdoor Adventures.
And they rent bicycles and rivercraft.
SPEAKER_00 (17:19):
Yeah, and you can get boats at the place that I
stay at.
I of course, you know, I bringthem on most of the time, but
they have canoes, they havekayaks, yeah.
There's and they're good people.
SPEAKER_02 (17:27):
New River Outdoor Adventures, which I think is
about a mile outside of Freeze.
Also good to note that they rentbikes too.
So if you're looking for bikerentals for the New River Trail,
that's an option.
And I think they may do shuttlesas well.
Getting a shuttle is a gamechanger because it means you can
ride so much more of the trailand not have to worry about,
okay, I better turn around andhead back now before I'm too
(17:49):
tired.
You know, so you get to see moreof the trail.
Those are great options.
And then Ricky, do you have anyother quick safety reminders or
tips um for folks who are new toriver paddling?
SPEAKER_00 (18:01):
Yeah, so if it's just you and you come down, you
brought your boat, of course,you'll need a shuttle back to
your car.
I couldn't tell you how manymiles I've hitchhiked back to an
access point, you know.
But there are companies uh likethis newer campground and canoe
that do shuttles for boats.
So when you show up, you gotyour own boat, throw it in the
water, give them an ETA with thecalculator.
(18:23):
You know, this is what time Ithink I'm gonna be landing here.
If you guys can stop and pick meup, pay me back to my car.
And a lot of folks will uh comein two vehicles, which you know
it's all right.
But if you just want to have asolo trip, then always wear your
your PFD.
And and sometimes you want tobring an extra paddle, you know.
If you're in rough water, peoplelose their paddles all the time.
(18:43):
Um, and use the resources thatare available, guys.
This is a great app um that wehave here.
It's got a lot of greatinformation on it.
And if you click into each uhone of these points on the app,
you can actually get into thedata sets.
Um, you know, this is riverleft, river right, how you want
to portage around thesedifferent things that are in the
water.
But also don't forget that theDepartment of Wildlife Resources
(19:06):
out there, and they've got agreat um little section
dedicated to the Grayson Countysection in the river, also, and
probably more descriptive on uhthe wildlife of the of that of
that area.
So very, very good.
Use all the resources that youcan, but come see us.
SPEAKER_02 (19:22):
Since Freeze is an adventure town, people are gonna
want to know where to eat, whereto stay, and to recharge.
So let's share some travel tips.
After a long ride or afloat onthe river, everybody is looking
for good food.
And Freeze, I learned fromexperience, has some really good
food options.
Kevin, where do you recommendgrabbing a bite in Freeze or
(19:45):
nearby towns?
SPEAKER_01 (19:46):
So in Freeze, there are a couple of really good
options.
You have uh the Freeze DamSteakhouse, which um has
recently been sold to a uhMexican chain called Tlaki Paki,
but it retained the steakhousecharacter Freeze Dam Steakhouse
slash Tlaki Paki Mexicanrestaurant.
(20:06):
You go in, you get two menus,you get the steakhouse menu, and
you get the Mexican menu.
Wonderful place to eat, and it'sin a very nice location.
You can look outside and see thetown of Ferries, you can see the
river.
Another option is the WindyRiver Cafe, which is right next
door to the FreestandSteakhouse.
You know, it's more home cookingstyle, uh, hamburgers, that type
(20:31):
of thing.
Outside of town, there are acouple of options.
There's a deli at where the NewRiver Outdoor Adventures is, and
a place called Lilay.
Uh it's a deli type place.
In independence, there areseveral options.
You have uh a Mexicanrestaurant, you have Angie's Sip
and Taste, uh, there are severalrestaurants within Independence.
(20:53):
And then on the western end ofthe county, you have, I think
it's the Whistlestock Cafe, andthen there's a restaurant at the
corner of 58 and 16.
Oh, and you have the GraysonHollands General Store and Inn,
which is a wonderful place toeat, and they have some lodging
opportunities there.
The Railroad Market Cafe atWhite Top is a wonderful little
(21:17):
place to eat as well.
SPEAKER_02 (21:18):
I think one thing to note is this these are small
towns, and so like most smalltowns, a lot of these places
have limited hours.
So I went up to White Top onceand I got there late.
It was kind of late in the day.
I wanted to do sunset, and soRailroad Market Cafe was already
closed, but I hear it'sexcellent.
So if I go back, I'm gonna makesure that I get there.
(21:40):
And then Grayson HighlandsGeneral Store and Inn, if you've
ever been to Grayson HighlandsState Park, you probably drove
right past this.
It's on 58, right?
Yeah, it's a unique and cutelittle place.
It's been there for a long time,but it's got new owners.
And so I popped in and I got totalk to the owners and and they
cater a lot to Appalachian Trailthrough hikers.
(22:00):
So they get a lot of hikerscoming through the area, and
then, of course, people tocoming to and from the state
park.
Um, but you could they've gotrooms upstairs that you can stay
in.
It's it's very affordable, it'svery economic.
That's a fun place.
In independence, there's also alot of options.
I hopped into Angie's cafe andpub, not once but twice, because
(22:23):
I was so incredibly impressedwith the place.
Angie is the owner, and then shesat and talked with me for a
while, and she's from Florida.
Like she's a professional chef,and her family was looking to
relocate, and they were tryingto just decide where they were
gonna go because Florida was nother thing.
And they ended up in GraysonCounty.
(22:44):
They had no ties to the place,and they just decided that
Grayson had everything that theywanted, and she opened up the
cafe, and here's this incrediblerestaurant that serves
high-quality food.
She had so many vegetarianoptions on the menu, which is
why I went back twice becausethat could be sometimes hard to
find in a small town.
(23:04):
And and the staff was welcomingand friendly, and I loved it.
So there's a lot going on inindependence.
Almost Famous Coffee was anotherplace I popped into that was
really great.
Right next door is frosty monkeyice cream.
Okay, so if you're on a diet,stay out of that place because
what they have going on there isdangerous.
(23:27):
I can't remember the name ofwhat I actually got.
It was like a chunky monkeysomething or other, but it was
like this huge Sunday and it'shuge.
It's so much ice cream, and it'sthe fudge and the brownies and
the peanut butter and thecookies and the Reese's and all
of the things and the whippedcream and the cherry on top.
But oh, that place was so good.
And I'm addicted, so I will begoing back without a doubt.
(23:51):
But there's a lot of foodoptions, and all of those are on
the Grayson County website.
So I'll link all of this in theshow notes so people can have
easy access to all the foodoptions in the county, too.
So let's talk about places tostay.
I think again, Grayson has somereally unique options that you
won't find elsewhere.
Kevin, can you talk about someof them?
SPEAKER_01 (24:13):
Sure.
Well, let's start with Freeze.
Uh, Freeze is a, as I saidbefore, a former mill town.
So there are several renovatedmill houses here that are just
charming.
Some of them have views of theriver.
Wonderful places to stay.
You can find those on ourwebsite, freezeba.com.
Also on Airbnb, a lot of them.
(24:34):
You also have the WashingtonInn, which is a hotel type
situation.
There's also a condo here intown.
It's a more contemporary lookinguh facility, and it rents to
larger groups of people.
Also, you have the Freeze NewRiver Trail RV Park, which, if
you have an RV, wonderful placeto stay.
(24:57):
Very well kept campground, andit's just beautiful within the
town freeze.
Go out into Grayson County.
You have Riverview Cottage inIndependence, uh, Dream Rock
Silo, which is nearindependence, and it's just an
amazing place.
It's out it's very remote as faras uh where you feel you are.
(25:18):
It's pretty close toindependence, but it's just a
beautiful little spot.
And as I mentioned, GraysonHighlands General Store, they
not only have a store, but theyhave some lodging facilities.
Plenty of lodging opportunitieswithin the county.
SPEAKER_02 (25:31):
Yes, plenty.
I got to stay at RiverviewCottage in Independence, and
that's a very nice house that isliterally right on the river.
And this is what I love aboutwhen I get to go to small towns.
The owners of the house alsolive very close by.
So I got to meet the owner, andshe explained to me that she
grew up in the house that I wasstaying in.
And then they later built ahouse next door for their
(25:54):
family, and her son anddaughter-in-law built a house on
the other side.
So the family's all very closeby, but they had this house left
over that nobody was living in.
And so now they rented onAirbnb.
So when you stay there, you'restaying in somebody's home.
I mean, it's a full-size house,it's got a huge garage, and then
in the garage, they've got bikesthat you can use, they've got
(26:17):
tubes that you can take down tothe river, there's a grill,
there's a second refrigerator,there's lawn games, like all
that kind of stuff.
Of course, you've got a fullkitchen, you've got nice
bedrooms, nice bathroom, there'sgames to play.
So if you've got a rainy day,there's a there's a covered
porch.
There was a chicken coop rightoutside my window.
(26:37):
So that was kind of fun.
And you've got views, you've gotviews of the river.
So every morning I would makecoffee and then I would go sit
in a rocking chair on on thefront porch and listen to the
birds and watch the water go byand and look at the mountains.
And and same thing in theevening.
I would sit out there with thedrink and watch the sunset and
(26:58):
and look at how beautiful themountains were with the setting
sun.
So that was really nice.
Um, and then I've been told thatDream Rock Silo is an old like
farm or a barn, and theyactually converted the silo into
like living quarters.
Is that right?
SPEAKER_01 (27:16):
That is right.
Uh it is this built around thesilo and a barn, and the owners
are in construction.
They have handcrafted so manylittle features into the uh
building that it's justwonderful.
A wonderful place to stay.
Little surprises that areavailable to guests.
(27:36):
It's a great place for someoneto come propose to their
significant other, and the ownerworks with the the proposer as
far as setting up a situationwhere maybe a puzzle that has to
be solved or uh a scavengerhunt.
So they're they're very uh veryopen to that type of thing.
SPEAKER_02 (27:57):
Yeah, I mean, it looks amazing online.
I think that I was actuallysupposed to stay there, but it
wasn't available during the timethat I was going to be there.
But I was lucky to be atRiverview Cottage.
Uh, but this this whole idea ofstaying in a barn silo, it was
really, really intriguing.
So if anybody ends up stayingthere, I'd love to hear what
their experience is like.
SPEAKER_00 (28:19):
And I I might also add that, you know, for people
like me that carry your house onyour back sometimes, there's a
lot of support infrastructurefor that in Grayson County.
You know, you just want to comeand bring your tent.
There's a lot of opportunitiesto set up camp.
Um, it's it's like so welcomingto the to the hiking group and
to the adventure, you know,generally.
SPEAKER_02 (28:40):
Yeah, I would absolutely agree with that.
Do either of you have a favoriteseason to get outdoors and
freeze or grayson?
Like, when do you think is thebest time to visit?
SPEAKER_01 (28:49):
I I would hate to choose because summer is just
wonderful because it's cooler uphere.
The air is just more refreshingthan it is in other parts of the
world.
Uh, winter is wonderful.
It's a kind of a winterwonderland at times.
Fall you have the beauty of theleaves turning, and then the
(29:09):
spring you have the beauty ofthe new growth coming out.
It's almost like fall in thatthe trees exhibit different
colored leaves as they're comingout.
It's really more when it'savailable to you to come, I
think, than when is the besttime to come.
SPEAKER_00 (29:26):
From a river user's perspective, usually you're kind
of directed by the water level,right?
You can't some some places falla year, they lose all their
water.
So you don't get a greatopportunity to float.
But when you get on the new infall and the leaves are on the
water and it's like you'recruising down this big beautiful
(29:46):
carpet, right?
With all these man, it'ssomething.
I've never I've never been downthat section of the new river in
the middle of winter 'cause I'mway too Hawaiian to be out there
whenever it's cold like that.
But But man, right now and likethe next three weeks, and then
like you said, in early spring,I love spring, summer, and fall.
(30:07):
Um, you know, because you canget down the river in so many
places that that I'veexperienced in my life, you
know, you can't because of thethe river levels.
But yeah, love fall.
SPEAKER_02 (30:18):
Kevin, for someone who's never been to Freeze, what
do you hope they take away fromtheir first visits?
SPEAKER_01 (30:23):
I would like for people to take away the
importance of Freeze to earlycountry music and even modern
music.
Understand how what has happenedhere over the years has
influenced country music, rock,blues.
I think all forms of m musicwere influenced by the actions
(30:46):
of folks in those early years inthe 1920s when they uh took
those steps to bring attentionto the music here in Freeze.
And in southwestern Virginia asa whole.
SPEAKER_02 (30:59):
Ricky, since you float the New River so much,
what's your takeaway?
SPEAKER_00 (31:04):
From my perspective, paddling into this this
beautiful wild place, andbecause I've done it so much,
you would think that after thethe 64th trip down the river,
that I still wouldn't get thisfeeling of man, there's there's
a great adventure in front ofme.
You know, there's this greatadventure in front of me.
I know it.
I know I'm gonna see somethingbeautiful.
I know I'm gonna experiencesomething beautiful that never
(31:27):
goes away here.
I love it.
The takeaway is that when youcome and you experience this
place, when you come the secondtime, you'll never put your feet
in the same river twice.
It's gonna be somethingdifferent every single time.
It's the same feeling for me,and take it.
For me, I've like I said, I'vefloated over a hundred times.
No matter where I put in in thissystem, it's like, all right,
(31:47):
let's go, let's lock it in.
This is gonna be a greatadventure.
I know it.
So it's like awesomeness onrepeat, you know?
SPEAKER_02 (31:56):
Okay, how can listeners connect with each of
you?
Kevin, let's start with you.
SPEAKER_01 (32:01):
I'm tourism director of the town freeze, so um they
can connect with me through thetown's website, which I
mentioned freezeva.com.
That's f-e-s V A.com.
I'm also on Facebook uh as uhhave a personal profile page and
a page for my photography, whichis Kevin Kevin Combs Visual
(32:24):
Storyteller.
SPEAKER_02 (32:25):
I didn't know you had a Facebook page for your
photography.
I'm I'm following that rightnow.
Your photos are fantastic.
SPEAKER_01 (32:33):
And thank you.
SPEAKER_02 (32:35):
Actually, Kevin, was it your photos that were
flashing on the screen duringthe jam session?
SPEAKER_01 (32:40):
They are.
SPEAKER_02 (32:41):
Oh my gosh, I loved that.
SPEAKER_01 (32:44):
Well, I I do video presentations for the first uh
hour or so that were open duringjam night um from about five
till six.
And then when there are too manypeople in the room to really
hear what's going on, I startdoing my steel photography.
I have a over 2,000 images thatflash on the screen during um
(33:05):
the three hours or so of the jamsession, and they show all
aspects of life and freeze, uh,the new river, and even
southwestern Virginia.
SPEAKER_02 (33:18):
And you have not just images of nature, but you
have images of buildings, ofpeople, of events happening, of
wildlife.
And when you pair that with themusic, it's really moving.
It really makes you feel likeyou're experiencing a place.
It's beautiful.
So I hope that everybody whovisits Freeze gets to experience
(33:38):
that too.
SPEAKER_01 (33:39):
We invite you there.
SPEAKER_02 (33:41):
Ricky, how can listeners connect with you?
SPEAKER_00 (33:43):
Go to our website, it's oactrips.com.
Uh, there's links there forconnection.
I'm a little hard to track downsometimes.
I'll spend uh a lot of time onthe road.
I work in the carbon creditspace with biochar and things
like that, also.
So uh this is for me, this ispassion work and uh would love
to share it with anybody that Iconnect with.
And and thank you so much forhaving me on here.
SPEAKER_02 (34:05):
You are so very welcome.
Thank you to both of you forsharing your passions for the
town of Freeze, for GraysonCounty, for the new river, and
our beautiful outdoors inSouthwest Virginia.
I hope to see you, both of you,in the town of Freeze and on the
river in the future.
Adventure on.
SPEAKER_00 (34:24):
Adventure on.
Adventure on.
SPEAKER_02 (34:28):
Virginia Outdoor Adventures is inspired by and
supported by listeners like you,which is why your messages and
feedback mean so much to me.
You can text me directly byclicking on Send Jessica a text
message in your show notes.
I answer questions, respond tocomments, and share your
feedback on the show.
(34:48):
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Thanks for listening.
(35:09):
Until next time, Adventure On.
From the Blue Ridge Mountains to the Chesapeake Bay,
Virginia is a Mecca for outdoortravel and adventure.
Virginia Outdoor AdventuresPodcast is your local guide for
hiking, camping, kayaking,travel, and so much more.
Get the information and theinspiration to plan your own
adventure.
Right here in Virginia.
(00:22):
I'm your host, Jessica Bowser.
When you think of GraysonCounty, you probably picture
some of the most iconic outdoordestinations in Virginia, such
as the sweeping vistas ofGrayson Highlands or the summits
of Mount Rogers or White Top.
But just down the New River liesa place that's every bit as rich
(00:44):
in beauty and history, the smallriverside town of Freeze.
Once a bustling textile milltown, Freeze is now a quiet
haven for paddlers, cyclists,and hikers seeking a slower
pace.
You can launch your kayak rightinto the New River, pedal New
River Trail State Park, or joina ranger led history tour that
brings the town's past to life.
(01:06):
In the evenings, the air fillswith the sound of banjos and
fiddles during weekly music jamsthat celebrate Frieze's deep
roots in Appalachian culture.
I'm joined by Kevin Combs, aFreeze native photographer,
musician, and tourism managerwho shares how the town is
embracing its outdoor andcultural identity.
We'll also hear from RickyBarton, who created the New
(01:28):
River Float Calculator, aninteractive tool that helps
paddlers plan their trips.
Ricky shares his expert tips forexploring the New River from
leisurely Class 1 floats withthe family to adrenaline-packed
Class III Rapids.
Along the way, we'll discoverhidden gems throughout Grayson
County, plus local dining andunique lodging.
Get ready to experience a placewhere music, history, and
(01:52):
adventure meet on the banks ofthe New River.
This is Freeze, one ofVirginia's adventure towns.
Let's go.
Before we dive back in, let'spick up where we left off in
part one.
We had just started to explorethe New River through Grayson
County, talking about riveraccess points, how to plan your
(02:13):
paddling trip, and what kind ofexperience you can expect on the
water.
We also heard how this region isembracing its identity as an
outdoor recreation destinationwhile still offering those
moments of quiet connectionwhere you can be still
surrounded by beautifullandscapes and wildlife.
In part two, we'll dive deeperinto the details of planning
(02:34):
your next paddling trip.
You'll also hear recommendationsfor lodging and dining to round
out your visit to GraysonCounty.
You and I had a blast.
That was a lot of fun.
Gosh, I cannot wait to post thephotos and videos of the trip
because what it looked like whenwe started and what it looked
(02:54):
like when we ended werecompletely different.
Like when we first got on thewater, it was early in the
morning.
The sky was still overcast, butthere was this mist or fog.
I don't know how to just I guessit's fog, right?
That was rising above the wateror just sort of floating above
the water.
And it just gave it this likemysterious beauty that you don't
(03:16):
see often in other places.
I don't know how else todescribe it, other than it was
just sort of mystical.
SPEAKER_00 (03:21):
Yeah, it's really fascinating.
And what's what makes it evencooler when you can get there
early in the morning like thatis to see there's a lot of local
guys that fly fish.
You get these guys in thispicturesque scene where this
smoke is coming up off thewater, and they're just in this
really slow mathematicalrotation of a flower.
(03:43):
I'm just like, wow, like off amagazine cover or something.
It's awesome, it's beautiful.
SPEAKER_02 (03:48):
Yes.
And and of course, you've gotthe mountains that are
surrounding you too.
So it's not just the beauty ofthe water, it's the mountains,
and then that smoke over thewater.
And as we paddled, I kind offelt like I was paddling
through, I don't know, it waslike I was in some surreal
place.
And then as the day went on,that started to clear up a
(04:09):
little bit.
The sun rose a little higher,the sky cleared up.
And by the time we were maybehalfway through this trip, it
was blue skies and everythingwas clear and it was really
beautiful, but in a completelydifferent way.
SPEAKER_00 (04:24):
Yeah, and and that that speaks also to each each
section of the river.
The topography is likedramatically different.
Let's just say that you came uhto Grayson County and spent a
week in there, and you want topick three sections, and you're
you're pretty good at thepaddle, right?
So you can come into um BridalCreek and it's this huge rock
face, you know, big clifflinetopography.
(04:48):
That's something that you and Ididn't get to experience, you
know, in our our flow throughthere.
But if you get up toward theheadwaters, the topography is
just dramatically different.
And so all the raptors arenesting, you know, up into the
rock faces.
And when you kind of get intothat wilderness section of the
river, that's when it gets sowild, right?
And you and there'sopportunities along the way just
to park your boat and sit on abig cool rock and watch watch it
(05:10):
all happen, and it's justawesome.
SPEAKER_02 (05:13):
Are there sections for more experienced paddlers
that you would recommend?
SPEAKER_00 (05:17):
Yeah, and like I said, if you go back to that the
New River water trail app, youcan see the rapids, there'll be
these little white blocks on themap.
So the bridle creek toindependent section, you know,
and there's nothing in there,guys, depending on CFM, which is
like the flow of the water.
From my perspective, if you'rean experienced paddler, you're
not going to be anywhere out ofthe class two range, just
(05:37):
depending on the water flow.
But um, it's a great time, andit's it's there's a lot of drop.
So people that paddle know thatum they're always looking for
drop.
So that section has a good bitof drop in it.
It's really fast, but what alsohappens is the waters aerates
itself, so fish love it, likeit's high oxygen, right?
So all these fish are in there,and it's a great place to fish.
(06:01):
It's an adventure because you'vegot to get out of these rapids
to stop long enough to fish, andit's just really, really fun.
SPEAKER_02 (06:07):
Let's drill down a little bit into the new river
float calculator because we'vebeen referencing it, but we
haven't actually said what itis.
Can you talk more about that?
SPEAKER_00 (06:16):
Yeah, so this calculator was born kind of out
of an idea from the the tourismfolks in Grayson County.
And Tracy kind of led the chargethere.
Fantastic lady, great leader.
Called me up and said, Hey, wewant to do something with this
river.
We want to have a river trailsystem.
We know that you know the river,we know you've mapped the river.
(06:37):
Can you come and help us?
So the whole idea was to say,okay, visitors that come to the
community if you're visiting fora little while, you can bring up
this app.
And the app will basically giveyou an idea of how much time it
takes to get from point A topoint B between the access
points.
We also saw an opportunity tocreate uh like an emergency
response system within thewithin the app so that when you
(07:00):
got out of the river, eachdestination was marked with like
an emergency responsedestination number.
So if you were unfamiliar withthe place, you could call 911 by
connecting to these towers thatwe put in.
So we we put in these uh remotecommunication towers, RCTs, that
in places where there wasabsolutely no service, you could
(07:21):
step out of the river, connectyour phone to the tower, and
then not only use the app fromyour phone if you wanted to
continue on your trip, but youcould you could call out, you
could call home, you coulddownload your pictures, you
could, you know, send cool stuffto people in areas where there
was absolutely no service.
So when the flood came, itcompletely removed almost all
(07:44):
the access points.
Like it washed them away.
It washed the gravel away, itwashed it was unbelievable the
the amount of damage thathappened there.
So we are refitting these towerswith Starlink so that there's no
disconnect whatsoever.
You walk up to the StarlinkTower, connect, and do your
thing.
In places where there'sabsolutely no service, now you
(08:06):
have an opportunity that you canconnect to service.
You know, if there was anemergency situation, or you just
wanted to send your pictures toyour buddy from the river when
you get out.
SPEAKER_02 (08:16):
Fall is here, and Virginia State Parks are calling
your name.
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foliage, crisp air, and endlessoutdoor activities.
From hiking through goldenforest to cozying up by a
campfire, there's no betterplace to enjoy the season.
Capture the magic of fall withfamily and friends in a stunning
(08:39):
state park.
From the shores of the AtlanticOcean and Chesapeake Bay to the
Blue Ridge Mountains andCumberland Gap, adventure is
never far away.
Start planning your adventure bytapping on Virginia State Parks
in your show notes or byvisiting Virginia State
Parks.gov.
I just want to point out thatyou are the creator and the
(09:02):
builder and the mastermindbehind this, right?
SPEAKER_00 (09:05):
Yeah, the towers and the mapping.
So we did all the map files, thedata.
The problem is kind of unique.
And I come from the the coalfields of Southwest Virginia.
So there's no service over hereeither.
You know, when you when you headon down below Roanoke and you're
heading, you know, west, prepareyourself just to be in these
areas.
And we don't mind it down here,but we do still need to
(09:27):
communicate.
And in in the coal and gas fieldindustry, there's unique ways to
get that communication signalout.
So we're able to take some ofthose ideas and retrofit them
for the river, which was reallycool.
So we have solar-poweredstandalone systems that are
specifically designed uh to beultra-user friendly.
So it's it's been a greatbenefit for folks.
(09:49):
And and the Department ofWildlife Resources like them,
you know, because they have beenusing these boat launches
historically.
And by the way, the DWR on allof these boat launches, and
their rules and regulationsassociated with the boat launch,
probably something you shouldcheck out.
And I think there probably aresome links to that, but they
were really appreciative to havethat type of hardware on their
(10:10):
location so that folks could,you know, still communicate.
And I've talked to a lot offolks that have used this and
they're really excited about it.
And they actually, even localfolks, didn't know where some of
these access points were untilwe built this map.
And they're like, I had no ideathat you could get out of the
river right here.
And I was like, Yeah, it's agreat little float.
So I get a lot of calls about Iwant to go to Grayson County, I
(10:32):
have my family, or I want to goto Grayson County, I want to go
fishing, or I want to go toGrayson County just to take
pictures of kingfishers.
Where can I find them?
Right?
Like, and photographers lovethis river.
Lots of people paddle just toshoot.
As this thing evolves, and Ithink the New River Water Trail
app will evolve to haveopportunities for people to say,
(10:52):
all right, this is where most ofthe rafters are.
You know, this is a livingthing.
As it gets more and more uh use,then we'll be able to add things
to this app to say, Hey, youwant to shoot some rafters?
You jump in at Bridal Creek, yougo about a half mile and stop.
You know, there's lots of greatbirds there.
But I think it's it's designedwell, it's built well, and um,
it was a great idea.
(11:14):
Just really appreciative of thecounty to be able to be involved
in the project.
And uh, I'm really proud of whatit's become.
SPEAKER_02 (11:21):
You mentioned the floods, and I just wanted to
make sure that everybodyunderstands that what we're
referencing is the floods thatresulted from Hurricane Helene
one year ago, and you didmention that the floods washed
away some of the towers.
So, what is the status of thetowers now?
SPEAKER_00 (11:36):
The towers are being stood back up with a Starlink
upgrade.
To back up a little bit and talkabout this, I've been on river
systems all over North Americamy whole life.
I've floated this Grayson Countysection no less than a hundred
times.
Okay, I love this river.
I know every rock in the river,but when this flood came, it
(11:58):
just completely changed thelandscape of the river.
It was a different river.
Massive amounts of sand weremoved from one place to another,
huge amounts of water.
And and maybe Kevin, you couldspeak to this.
And I've heard this, that therewere actually campers going over
the dam and freeze.
It had brushed the sides of theriver and it completely uprooted
(12:20):
concrete slabs, and and thesetowers were placed on really
super heavy-duty, you know,foundations, and it looked like
you just took a grinder andground them off because of the
amount of debris that was pickedup by this storm.
Guys, it was unbelievable.
And it's still, if you go to theheadwaters, you go to Mount of
(12:40):
Wilson and you start floating,you can still see that you know,
there's still campers up intrees, and it is wild what
happened.
A couple of the towers survived,unbelievably.
Uh location to be able tosurvive, but but most of them
were washed away.
We're building everything back.
(13:01):
Um, it's been kind of slowbecause you know, there was
there was such a need, you know,even like in towns of like
Damascus and uh all these otherplaces that were that were
dramatically impacted um by thestorm, it was kind of confusing
for a while to try to pinpointthe locations that needed the
most help.
So I feel like we're there now.
(13:21):
Uh, and you know, it's been ayear.
And you hear a lot of peopletalk about, oh, they didn't move
fast enough.
You just don't understand theamount of devastation.
How do you prepare for that?
You know, so I think that from ariver guy perspective, I just
wait my turn and uh and it'snow.
So yeah, we're building all thisback, and by the spring of next
(13:43):
year, we should have everythingback up and roll.
SPEAKER_02 (13:45):
That would be great because I know a lot of people,
especially people who want topaddle, probably might wait
until the spring to plan theirtrip.
The Visit Grayson County websitehas a specific section about the
new river float calculator.
And and also there's a QR codethat you can scan if you pick up
one of the pamphlets about thenew river flow calculator.
(14:07):
There's still some goodinformation there, um, even if
the towers aren't all in placestill, but this is a fantastic
idea for a lot of reasons.
I'm sure you have seen this,Ricky.
I have seen that people aresometimes very nervous about
paddling by themselves.
And it's because there's a lotof uncertainties.
They don't know what thelandscape of the river is going
(14:28):
to be like.
They don't know where to put inand take out, they don't know
what the flow of the water is,and they don't know where to get
that information.
And so there's a lot ofuncertainty when you're out
there by yourself, and it can bea little nerve-wracking.
So putting in place a systemlike this that is full of
information can hopefully help alot of people feel more
comfortable about paddling onthe new river.
SPEAKER_00 (14:50):
Yeah, and and each tower was co-located with a
really great sign.
And you know, we spent a lot oftime on that signage, and it was
basically trying to putourselves in the shoes of
someone who had never floated.
And I have guys, you know, I owna kayak rental company, not on
this river, but other rivers,and I have seen some crazy
things happen, right?
(15:11):
Like just get your keys.
That you know, a little reminderat the bottom.
Hey, bring your keys with you,you know, or you have a dry bag,
you know, just just a few littleminor things.
And most importantly, you know,always in river safety.
Where are your wear your lifejacket?
Where is your life jacket?
It's very, very important.
This is the new you never knew.
Right?
(15:31):
It's beautiful.
Come look at it, come visit it,give us a call, you know, we'll
help you.
We'll we'll go with you, youknow.
It's exciting, and I'm excitedfor this thing uh to roll on
out.
SPEAKER_02 (15:44):
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Speaking of gear and where torent, there's not a whole lot of
(16:29):
locations for gear rental, butthere's maybe one, right?
SPEAKER_00 (16:33):
Yeah, when I when I go stay there, I stay at um New
River Campground and Canoe, Ithink it's just outside of uh of
Independence there.
So those guys are have alwaysbeen awesome.
And I have snorkeled in front ofthat campground.
Uh snorkel that river.
There's a whole snorkeling thingthat happens too, guys.
That's we we I can spend all daytalking about it.
(16:56):
But a lot of people snorkel thatriver for very specific reasons.
They have cabins there, theyhave campsites there.
I think you probably bring acamper there also.
But I think there's another onealso uh outside of freeze,
Kevin.
Is that right?
SPEAKER_01 (17:08):
That is correct.
There's one below Freeze, abouttwo miles outside of town, New
River Outdoor Adventures.
And they rent bicycles and rivercraft.
SPEAKER_00 (17:19):
Yeah, and you can get boats at the place that I
stay at.
I of course, you know, I bringthem on most of the time, but
they have canoes, they havekayaks, yeah.
There's and they're good people.
SPEAKER_02 (17:27):
New River Outdoor Adventures, which I think is
about a mile outside of Freeze.
Also good to note that they rentbikes too.
So if you're looking for bikerentals for the New River Trail,
that's an option.
And I think they may do shuttlesas well.
Getting a shuttle is a gamechanger because it means you can
ride so much more of the trailand not have to worry about,
okay, I better turn around andhead back now before I'm too
(17:49):
tired.
You know, so you get to see moreof the trail.
Those are great options.
And then Ricky, do you have anyother quick safety reminders or
tips um for folks who are new toriver paddling?
SPEAKER_00 (18:01):
Yeah, so if it's just you and you come down, you
brought your boat, of course,you'll need a shuttle back to
your car.
I couldn't tell you how manymiles I've hitchhiked back to an
access point, you know.
But there are companies uh likethis newer campground and canoe
that do shuttles for boats.
So when you show up, you gotyour own boat, throw it in the
water, give them an ETA with thecalculator.
(18:23):
You know, this is what time Ithink I'm gonna be landing here.
If you guys can stop and pick meup, pay me back to my car.
And a lot of folks will uh comein two vehicles, which you know
it's all right.
But if you just want to have asolo trip, then always wear your
your PFD.
And and sometimes you want tobring an extra paddle, you know.
If you're in rough water, peoplelose their paddles all the time.
(18:43):
Um, and use the resources thatare available, guys.
This is a great app um that wehave here.
It's got a lot of greatinformation on it.
And if you click into each uhone of these points on the app,
you can actually get into thedata sets.
Um, you know, this is riverleft, river right, how you want
to portage around thesedifferent things that are in the
water.
But also don't forget that theDepartment of Wildlife Resources
(19:06):
out there, and they've got agreat um little section
dedicated to the Grayson Countysection in the river, also, and
probably more descriptive on uhthe wildlife of the of that of
that area.
So very, very good.
Use all the resources that youcan, but come see us.
SPEAKER_02 (19:22):
Since Freeze is an adventure town, people are gonna
want to know where to eat, whereto stay, and to recharge.
So let's share some travel tips.
After a long ride or afloat onthe river, everybody is looking
for good food.
And Freeze, I learned fromexperience, has some really good
food options.
Kevin, where do you recommendgrabbing a bite in Freeze or
(19:45):
nearby towns?
SPEAKER_01 (19:46):
So in Freeze, there are a couple of really good
options.
You have uh the Freeze DamSteakhouse, which um has
recently been sold to a uhMexican chain called Tlaki Paki,
but it retained the steakhousecharacter Freeze Dam Steakhouse
slash Tlaki Paki Mexicanrestaurant.
(20:06):
You go in, you get two menus,you get the steakhouse menu, and
you get the Mexican menu.
Wonderful place to eat, and it'sin a very nice location.
You can look outside and see thetown of Ferries, you can see the
river.
Another option is the WindyRiver Cafe, which is right next
door to the FreestandSteakhouse.
You know, it's more home cookingstyle, uh, hamburgers, that type
(20:31):
of thing.
Outside of town, there are acouple of options.
There's a deli at where the NewRiver Outdoor Adventures is, and
a place called Lilay.
Uh it's a deli type place.
In independence, there areseveral options.
You have uh a Mexicanrestaurant, you have Angie's Sip
and Taste, uh, there are severalrestaurants within Independence.
(20:53):
And then on the western end ofthe county, you have, I think
it's the Whistlestock Cafe, andthen there's a restaurant at the
corner of 58 and 16.
Oh, and you have the GraysonHollands General Store and Inn,
which is a wonderful place toeat, and they have some lodging
opportunities there.
The Railroad Market Cafe atWhite Top is a wonderful little
(21:17):
place to eat as well.
SPEAKER_02 (21:18):
I think one thing to note is this these are small
towns, and so like most smalltowns, a lot of these places
have limited hours.
So I went up to White Top onceand I got there late.
It was kind of late in the day.
I wanted to do sunset, and soRailroad Market Cafe was already
closed, but I hear it'sexcellent.
So if I go back, I'm gonna makesure that I get there.
(21:40):
And then Grayson HighlandsGeneral Store and Inn, if you've
ever been to Grayson HighlandsState Park, you probably drove
right past this.
It's on 58, right?
Yeah, it's a unique and cutelittle place.
It's been there for a long time,but it's got new owners.
And so I popped in and I got totalk to the owners and and they
cater a lot to Appalachian Trailthrough hikers.
(22:00):
So they get a lot of hikerscoming through the area, and
then, of course, people tocoming to and from the state
park.
Um, but you could they've gotrooms upstairs that you can stay
in.
It's it's very affordable, it'svery economic.
That's a fun place.
In independence, there's also alot of options.
I hopped into Angie's cafe andpub, not once but twice, because
(22:23):
I was so incredibly impressedwith the place.
Angie is the owner, and then shesat and talked with me for a
while, and she's from Florida.
Like she's a professional chef,and her family was looking to
relocate, and they were tryingto just decide where they were
gonna go because Florida was nother thing.
And they ended up in GraysonCounty.
(22:44):
They had no ties to the place,and they just decided that
Grayson had everything that theywanted, and she opened up the
cafe, and here's this incrediblerestaurant that serves
high-quality food.
She had so many vegetarianoptions on the menu, which is
why I went back twice becausethat could be sometimes hard to
find in a small town.
(23:04):
And and the staff was welcomingand friendly, and I loved it.
So there's a lot going on inindependence.
Almost Famous Coffee was anotherplace I popped into that was
really great.
Right next door is frosty monkeyice cream.
Okay, so if you're on a diet,stay out of that place because
what they have going on there isdangerous.
(23:27):
I can't remember the name ofwhat I actually got.
It was like a chunky monkeysomething or other, but it was
like this huge Sunday and it'shuge.
It's so much ice cream, and it'sthe fudge and the brownies and
the peanut butter and thecookies and the Reese's and all
of the things and the whippedcream and the cherry on top.
But oh, that place was so good.
And I'm addicted, so I will begoing back without a doubt.
(23:51):
But there's a lot of foodoptions, and all of those are on
the Grayson County website.
So I'll link all of this in theshow notes so people can have
easy access to all the foodoptions in the county, too.
So let's talk about places tostay.
I think again, Grayson has somereally unique options that you
won't find elsewhere.
Kevin, can you talk about someof them?
SPEAKER_01 (24:13):
Sure.
Well, let's start with Freeze.
Uh, Freeze is a, as I saidbefore, a former mill town.
So there are several renovatedmill houses here that are just
charming.
Some of them have views of theriver.
Wonderful places to stay.
You can find those on ourwebsite, freezeba.com.
Also on Airbnb, a lot of them.
(24:34):
You also have the WashingtonInn, which is a hotel type
situation.
There's also a condo here intown.
It's a more contemporary lookinguh facility, and it rents to
larger groups of people.
Also, you have the Freeze NewRiver Trail RV Park, which, if
you have an RV, wonderful placeto stay.
(24:57):
Very well kept campground, andit's just beautiful within the
town freeze.
Go out into Grayson County.
You have Riverview Cottage inIndependence, uh, Dream Rock
Silo, which is nearindependence, and it's just an
amazing place.
It's out it's very remote as faras uh where you feel you are.
(25:18):
It's pretty close toindependence, but it's just a
beautiful little spot.
And as I mentioned, GraysonHighlands General Store, they
not only have a store, but theyhave some lodging facilities.
Plenty of lodging opportunitieswithin the county.
SPEAKER_02 (25:31):
Yes, plenty.
I got to stay at RiverviewCottage in Independence, and
that's a very nice house that isliterally right on the river.
And this is what I love aboutwhen I get to go to small towns.
The owners of the house alsolive very close by.
So I got to meet the owner, andshe explained to me that she
grew up in the house that I wasstaying in.
And then they later built ahouse next door for their
(25:54):
family, and her son anddaughter-in-law built a house on
the other side.
So the family's all very closeby, but they had this house left
over that nobody was living in.
And so now they rented onAirbnb.
So when you stay there, you'restaying in somebody's home.
I mean, it's a full-size house,it's got a huge garage, and then
in the garage, they've got bikesthat you can use, they've got
(26:17):
tubes that you can take down tothe river, there's a grill,
there's a second refrigerator,there's lawn games, like all
that kind of stuff.
Of course, you've got a fullkitchen, you've got nice
bedrooms, nice bathroom, there'sgames to play.
So if you've got a rainy day,there's a there's a covered
porch.
There was a chicken coop rightoutside my window.
(26:37):
So that was kind of fun.
And you've got views, you've gotviews of the river.
So every morning I would makecoffee and then I would go sit
in a rocking chair on on thefront porch and listen to the
birds and watch the water go byand and look at the mountains.
And and same thing in theevening.
I would sit out there with thedrink and watch the sunset and
(26:58):
and look at how beautiful themountains were with the setting
sun.
So that was really nice.
Um, and then I've been told thatDream Rock Silo is an old like
farm or a barn, and theyactually converted the silo into
like living quarters.
Is that right?
SPEAKER_01 (27:16):
That is right.
Uh it is this built around thesilo and a barn, and the owners
are in construction.
They have handcrafted so manylittle features into the uh
building that it's justwonderful.
A wonderful place to stay.
Little surprises that areavailable to guests.
(27:36):
It's a great place for someoneto come propose to their
significant other, and the ownerworks with the the proposer as
far as setting up a situationwhere maybe a puzzle that has to
be solved or uh a scavengerhunt.
So they're they're very uh veryopen to that type of thing.
SPEAKER_02 (27:57):
Yeah, I mean, it looks amazing online.
I think that I was actuallysupposed to stay there, but it
wasn't available during the timethat I was going to be there.
But I was lucky to be atRiverview Cottage.
Uh, but this this whole idea ofstaying in a barn silo, it was
really, really intriguing.
So if anybody ends up stayingthere, I'd love to hear what
their experience is like.
SPEAKER_00 (28:19):
And I I might also add that, you know, for people
like me that carry your house onyour back sometimes, there's a
lot of support infrastructurefor that in Grayson County.
You know, you just want to comeand bring your tent.
There's a lot of opportunitiesto set up camp.
Um, it's it's like so welcomingto the to the hiking group and
to the adventure, you know,generally.
SPEAKER_02 (28:40):
Yeah, I would absolutely agree with that.
Do either of you have a favoriteseason to get outdoors and
freeze or grayson?
Like, when do you think is thebest time to visit?
SPEAKER_01 (28:49):
I I would hate to choose because summer is just
wonderful because it's cooler uphere.
The air is just more refreshingthan it is in other parts of the
world.
Uh, winter is wonderful.
It's a kind of a winterwonderland at times.
Fall you have the beauty of theleaves turning, and then the
(29:09):
spring you have the beauty ofthe new growth coming out.
It's almost like fall in thatthe trees exhibit different
colored leaves as they're comingout.
It's really more when it'savailable to you to come, I
think, than when is the besttime to come.
SPEAKER_00 (29:26):
From a river user's perspective, usually you're kind
of directed by the water level,right?
You can't some some places falla year, they lose all their
water.
So you don't get a greatopportunity to float.
But when you get on the new infall and the leaves are on the
water and it's like you'recruising down this big beautiful
(29:46):
carpet, right?
With all these man, it'ssomething.
I've never I've never been downthat section of the new river in
the middle of winter 'cause I'mway too Hawaiian to be out there
whenever it's cold like that.
But But man, right now and likethe next three weeks, and then
like you said, in early spring,I love spring, summer, and fall.
(30:07):
Um, you know, because you canget down the river in so many
places that that I'veexperienced in my life, you
know, you can't because of thethe river levels.
But yeah, love fall.
SPEAKER_02 (30:18):
Kevin, for someone who's never been to Freeze, what
do you hope they take away fromtheir first visits?
SPEAKER_01 (30:23):
I would like for people to take away the
importance of Freeze to earlycountry music and even modern
music.
Understand how what has happenedhere over the years has
influenced country music, rock,blues.
I think all forms of m musicwere influenced by the actions
(30:46):
of folks in those early years inthe 1920s when they uh took
those steps to bring attentionto the music here in Freeze.
And in southwestern Virginia asa whole.
SPEAKER_02 (30:59):
Ricky, since you float the New River so much,
what's your takeaway?
SPEAKER_00 (31:04):
From my perspective, paddling into this this
beautiful wild place, andbecause I've done it so much,
you would think that after thethe 64th trip down the river,
that I still wouldn't get thisfeeling of man, there's there's
a great adventure in front ofme.
You know, there's this greatadventure in front of me.
I know it.
I know I'm gonna see somethingbeautiful.
I know I'm gonna experiencesomething beautiful that never
(31:27):
goes away here.
I love it.
The takeaway is that when youcome and you experience this
place, when you come the secondtime, you'll never put your feet
in the same river twice.
It's gonna be somethingdifferent every single time.
It's the same feeling for me,and take it.
For me, I've like I said, I'vefloated over a hundred times.
No matter where I put in in thissystem, it's like, all right,
(31:47):
let's go, let's lock it in.
This is gonna be a greatadventure.
I know it.
So it's like awesomeness onrepeat, you know?
SPEAKER_02 (31:56):
Okay, how can listeners connect with each of
you?
Kevin, let's start with you.
SPEAKER_01 (32:01):
I'm tourism director of the town freeze, so um they
can connect with me through thetown's website, which I
mentioned freezeva.com.
That's f-e-s V A.com.
I'm also on Facebook uh as uhhave a personal profile page and
a page for my photography, whichis Kevin Kevin Combs Visual
(32:24):
Storyteller.
SPEAKER_02 (32:25):
I didn't know you had a Facebook page for your
photography.
I'm I'm following that rightnow.
Your photos are fantastic.
SPEAKER_01 (32:33):
And thank you.
SPEAKER_02 (32:35):
Actually, Kevin, was it your photos that were
flashing on the screen duringthe jam session?
SPEAKER_01 (32:40):
They are.
SPEAKER_02 (32:41):
Oh my gosh, I loved that.
SPEAKER_01 (32:44):
Well, I I do video presentations for the first uh
hour or so that were open duringjam night um from about five
till six.
And then when there are too manypeople in the room to really
hear what's going on, I startdoing my steel photography.
I have a over 2,000 images thatflash on the screen during um
(33:05):
the three hours or so of the jamsession, and they show all
aspects of life and freeze, uh,the new river, and even
southwestern Virginia.
SPEAKER_02 (33:18):
And you have not just images of nature, but you
have images of buildings, ofpeople, of events happening, of
wildlife.
And when you pair that with themusic, it's really moving.
It really makes you feel likeyou're experiencing a place.
It's beautiful.
So I hope that everybody whovisits Freeze gets to experience
(33:38):
that too.
SPEAKER_01 (33:39):
We invite you there.
SPEAKER_02 (33:41):
Ricky, how can listeners connect with you?
SPEAKER_00 (33:43):
Go to our website, it's oactrips.com.
Uh, there's links there forconnection.
I'm a little hard to track downsometimes.
I'll spend uh a lot of time onthe road.
I work in the carbon creditspace with biochar and things
like that, also.
So uh this is for me, this ispassion work and uh would love
to share it with anybody that Iconnect with.
And and thank you so much forhaving me on here.
SPEAKER_02 (34:05):
You are so very welcome.
Thank you to both of you forsharing your passions for the
town of Freeze, for GraysonCounty, for the new river, and
our beautiful outdoors inSouthwest Virginia.
I hope to see you, both of you,in the town of Freeze and on the
river in the future.
Adventure on.
SPEAKER_00 (34:24):
Adventure on.
Adventure on.
SPEAKER_02 (34:28):
Virginia Outdoor Adventures is inspired by and
supported by listeners like you,which is why your messages and
feedback mean so much to me.
You can text me directly byclicking on Send Jessica a text
message in your show notes.
I answer questions, respond tocomments, and share your
feedback on the show.
(34:48):
Never miss a new episode.
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Thanks for listening.
(35:09):
Until next time, Adventure On.
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