Joyce picked me up about 9:30 to get on the Blue Ridge Parkway off highway 21 to spend the day doing trash pickup. She has BRP volunteer signs on her car. As we cruised along the parkway with her flashers on we looked for assorted bottles, cans, paper wrappers, etc. that people threw out their car window or blew out of the back of pickup trucks and landed along the side of the rode. We stopped at overlooks and picnic spots to police those areas. I took a long handled gripper and wore yard gloves. It was too hot for long pants but I put Deet on my socks and legs and lots of sun screen on my shoulders and neck since it was the first time I’ve worn a sleeveless shirt this year.
It was a beautiful day to be outside enjoying mother nature’s bounty of wild flowers, mountain laurel, and other assorted plants and trees. Temperatures were in the low 80’s with lots of the sunshine and an occasional breeze. This was my first time helping Joyce as part of the Friends of the Blue Ridge group. We covered roughly ten miles or so of the Parkway and filled up four or five trash bags. We ate our packed lunch at one of the overlooks. After a stop at one of the ranger stations so she could talk over some things with the park service ranger we dropped the trash off at the district office I was back home about 3:30.
Thank you Barbara.