Reflections on Lynchburg, VA
Recently I had the opportunity to attend the Introduction to EDACS System Maintenance course offered by Tyco Electronics in Lynchburg, VA. Now that I’m back home in CA I thought I would take the time to write down some of impressions that I had of Lynchburg. The following reflections are in no particular order.
Lynchburg has some great carolina style barbecue places. Having been stationed out on the West Coast for the past four years it had been a while since I had the pleasure of some well cooked pork barbecue. Lynchburg offered several restaurants to choose from to meet my pork cravings.
Running in Lynchburg is much nicer than running in the desert. While in Lynchburg I took the opportunity to go for a couple of runs along a section of the James River Trail. The trail follows, and on occasion crosses, the James River. Whereas there is little to see while running in the desert (everything is beige), there was a plethora of trees covered in beautiful green foliage. The only down side was the fact that I don’t run with my glasses on. Here in the desert that doesn’t make much of a difference, but while running along the trail in Lynchburg I did miss being able to see all of the beauty in more detail. Instead of seeing the landscape in all of its brilliance, I felt more like I was running through one of Monet’s works. I also learned that running through a trail that is surrounded by woods without sunglasses is a big mistake. You would think that you wouldn’t need them but the opposite is true. If you run in the desert without sunglasses your eyes will get used to the brightness. But in the woods you get bombarded with short bursts of light followed by shade as the sun shines through breaks in the foliage.
Jerry Falwell and Liberty University have a very good reputation in Lynchburg. Our instructor fondly related several stories about his first impressions of moving to Lynchburg from Mississippi. He half jokingly stated that Lynchburg lives fifty years in the past. In many ways that’s true.
People in Lynchburg actually drive the speed limit. After years of driving on the 15 and the 10 here in SOCAL driving the speed limit took some getting used to.
Lynchburg has a plethora of Christians. Almost every time I went to a store or restaurant I overheard at least a few people talking about church, mission trips, or something related to Christianity.
Although Liberty University (at least it’s leadership) is very anti-reformed, there were some great reformed works to be found in the local Lifeway. I was surprised by the amount of Piper books and the fact that they had a complete set of MacArthur’s New Testament commentary for sale.
All in all I had a wonderful time in Lynchburg. In fact spending the past three weeks in VA made it very hard to leave and come back here to Barstow. I can’t wait till my time here is done and I can get back to a great state full of great seafood, sweet tea by the gallon, and loads of slow roasted pig!
Hey Mike. It’s great to hear an update from you. Are you going to come down and visit YV before leaving CA?
Hey Stephen! I going to try to come down to YV to see you all sometime in the near future. Cheryl and I had wanted to come up before she moved back to VA, but between the two of us getting sick and trying to pack up the house we didn’t have time. I’m here in the barracks on base right now and I haven’t gotten a vehicle yet. So a trip up to see you all will have to wait till I get a vehicle. Tell everyone that I said hello and that I miss them. Also, tell Marty to get with it and get a facebook account, that way I can keep in touch with him a little better.