A perfect model

For years, I've been looking at my little hometown, with all its potential, and wondering why all its lovely potential been squandered all this time. And I KNOW I'm not the only one. You can't be a young, adventurous person either living in or visiting this place and not think to yourself, 'I wish there were more cool things to do here.' Some things that local organizations have accomplished include the Buffalo Road Park (completely funded by Ruritan labor and interested donors) which includes a wonderful playground for children, a short circular walking track, a gazebo and a couple picnic table. It's beautifully maintained and I personally praise the efforts of the Ruritan group on this one. More recently, the Clarksville Enrichment Complex was built with funding raised through the Mecklenburg County Community Services Corp. Countless hours of fund raising and grant writing allowed this facility to house The Lake Country Distance Education Center, The YMCA complete with new state-of-the-art exercise equipment, workforce training via the local community college, and Lake Country Kids which offers before and after school care. If you live here and you haven't visited, you're missing out! It's quite an accomplishment!

Now, that being said, I know there is more that can be done to incorporate the beauty that is all around us. I understand, of course, that Occoneechee State Park has some lovely trails inside its perimeter. I still want more. Allow me to get to the meat here. This past weekend, we ventured up to Luray, VA to explore the caverns. I had searched the internet for other things to enjoy in the area and found the Hawksbill Greenway and so bikes were thrown on the back of the Rover. It's an easy 2-mile, paved path which leads into the town of Luray and beyond. It's not strenuous and therefore perfect for the entire family. We enjoyed the views and the ducks and the exercise. I even took a few photos on the ride.

Once you have ridden the loop part of the Greenway, you take the trial right into town and eventually to this little amphitheater area complete with rows of benches donated by folks who love this project. (whew, that was a run-on sentence if I ever did write one)
Much of the trail follows Hawksbill Creek which affords lots of opportunities to see the ducks. They like to talk to you as you ride by. I also spotted several fishermen along the way.
My kids and hubby watching the ducks from the bridge.
This is a view of the Greenway running along the meandering creek.

Oh how I love this man. I don't care where we might be, having his arms around me makes anything better. I'm not sure he realizes.
We makes pretty babies too!

So now you've seen parts of it and you can see why I wish I could have this to ride on more often. It's a lovely ride and it's easy enough for most anyone to do. I live in a lovely neighborhood but to venture out on the road outside of my subdivision is a bit treacherous for the children. The town of Clarksville, being right on the shores of Buggs Island Lake, is perfect for this sort of multi-use trail. The Department of Transportation recently built a new bridge across the lake and the biggest shame of it is that they didn't put a bike or pedestrian lane on it. In fact, you aren't allowed to walk across that bridge in order to take in and photograph the best views in town. Some evenings ago I happened to be driving into town and spotted 3 beautiful sailboats a little distance from the bridge and I wished I could stop and photograph them. It would have been a lovely shot from that vantage point. Someone just wasn't really thinking about how great that would have been for this community. A multi-use trail could have incorporated that bridge and somehow led into the actual town along the edge of the lake... maybe. It would require some cooperation from the Corps of Engineers, obviously, and lots and lots of donations... but when I think of it, both of those requirements seem awfully difficult to secure given ridiculous government red-tape and the floundering economy. But a girl can dream, can't she? A girl can dream. After all, Luray doesn't appear to be the kind of place that is rolling in money either, but somehow, they made this beautiful thing happen that people seem to be getting plenty of use out of. Hawksbill Greenway is a perfect model for a community centered multi-use trail, if a community chose to investigate such potential. If.