View Full Version : Atkins, VA motel
The AT Database indicates that The Village Motel is in Atkins, VA. Although I've called the listed number a couple of times and there's no answer, assuming that it's still open, would anyone know if the motel has a washer/dryer available to hikers?
I'm going to do a 6-8 day NOBO hike in October, starting in Damascus, which is where I stopped in May, and it seems that Atkins would be a good resupply point and place to get cleaned up.
Thanks in advance for any info on The Village Motel.
Pacific Tortuga
07-26-2007, 13:05
There is a motel at the US-11 highway in Atkins. It's a dive, but ?, it has a washer/dryer(4 hiker use), ice machine +. Dont get stuck in room 15.
It's called the RELAX INN . Great sunday feed at the Barn Restaurant too.
Appalachian Tater
07-26-2007, 15:49
Stick with the basic menu at that restaurant--don't go for "veal" or anything like that. Go for burgers, breakfast, etc.
Kerosene
07-26-2007, 17:18
Better yet, hitch a ride down US-11 to Atkins proper to re-supply at a real grocery store, eat at a real restaurant, and stay at a decent hotel.
Pacific Tortuga
07-26-2007, 18:10
Better yet, hitch a ride down US-11 to Atkins proper to re-supply at a real grocery store, eat at a real restaurant, and stay at a decent hotel.
Or see if the hitch can take you into Marion, everything Kerosene said and more pluse a ABC store ......... if that's important.
You can go to the Pizza Shelter (Partnership) and stay for free with a vigorating :eek: shower no laundry.
LovelyDay
07-26-2007, 18:40
7/26/2007
A bad experience. I stayed at the Relax Inn on 5/9/2007. New owner. The room was dirty. There were footprints of the last guest(s) in the filthy shower. The bed was soooo dirty I used my sleeping bag ON TOP OF THE BED. Not a place I would recommend taking your wife and kids to.
Five other hikers* and I asked the owner for a shuttle to the grocery store; the owner wanted $30. We didn't ask if that was one way or round trip. Instead, the locals at the truck stop next door gave four of the hikers a free shuttle. All I needed was powdered milk and that could wait until I hit Bland VA.
Yes, there is a washer & dryer. I hope they are still working when you get there. The short time I was there, I was wondering where the owner takes his dirty hotel linen to be laundered?
I ordered the "meatloaf special" at the Barn. The meatloaf was good, but that's all I got. I guess that's why it was so special. No potatoes! No veggies!
* J-Beard, Mangrove, Dash, Stephen, I think the 5th was Hangman.
SawnieRobertson
07-26-2007, 19:39
FYI: That is not Atkins. Atkins is 3.5 miles south on I-81 or VA 11 (Lee Highway). The Relax Inn, the Barn, two filling stations, a winery, and a new restaurant where the Dairy Queen used to be are at the community of Groseclose, Virginia. There are also some churches, but they are farther on up VA 11 going north.--Kinnickinic
Blissful
07-26-2007, 20:15
Several thrus we know stayed at the Comfort Inn in Atkins - prciey but they have all you can eat waffles in the AM and if you are with several people you can split the cost. FYI - as to date there is no laundry facilities in town. Requires a hitch.
We stayed at the dive Relax Inn right off the AT. The AC didn't work well and the tub leaked but other than that we did okay in our room. Did our laundry too, etc. It was still nice to get a shower and at least sleep in something not on the ground. They hold mail drops for $5 (even though I complained about the $)
Pacific Tortuga
07-26-2007, 20:57
FYI: That is not Atkins. Atkins is 3.5 miles south on I-81 or VA 11 (Lee Highway). The Relax Inn, the Barn, two filling stations, a winery, and a new restaurant where the Dairy Queen used to be are at the community of Groseclose, Virginia. There are also some churches, but they are farther on up VA 11 going north.--Kinnickinic
I'm sure your 100% correct. The guide called it Atkins and I thought that was what the first feller was askin' about. The hotel owner's son does shuttles into Atkins for 10$ too.
sorry to distract a bit, but how does pizza work at the pizza shelter? will be there in a few weeks, too.
SawnieRobertson
07-26-2007, 22:04
Just a small walk across a parking lot beyond Partnership Shelteris the Mt. Rogers Headquarters. There is a pay telephone there.--Kinnickinic
superman
07-26-2007, 22:06
sorry to distract a bit, but how does pizza work at the pizza shelter? will be there in a few weeks, too.
I called from the ranger place which is close by. I got a huge pizza and 2 two liter bottles of coke. I ate and drank what I wanted and shared the rest with other hikers. Then I hiked on.
Kerosene
07-27-2007, 09:47
sorry to distract a bit, but how does pizza work at the pizza shelter? will be there in a few weeks, too.Note that pizza delivery doesn't start until 4 PM.
Phone number posted anywhere? can i count on it (as in not have any food with me)?
SawnieRobertson
07-27-2007, 10:21
I think it must be posted somewhere because in the late afternoon almoat any day, there are a couple of hikers our in front of headquarters on VA 16, looking expectantly down the road. Yum-Yum.
OTOH, I pass by there almost every day. I can give rides to Marion, where the eateries are almost boundless, or to the Sugar Grove Diner, where the food is "home cooked" and addictive.
Kinnickinic
Phone number posted anywhere? can i count on it (as in not have any food with me)?
From the 07 Companion:
From the outside phone (free local calls, calling card needed for long distance), you can order pizza from several area pizzerias, including Pizza Hut, (276) 783-3104, to be delivered to gate.
The Village Motel in Groseclose never was much, but the first four times I stayed there (late '90s/early '00s) it was at least sorta maybe clean and everything worked. Then it went downhill when it was sold and became a Relax Inn. Then the restaurant closed. Now, it seems it's changed hands again and gone from bad to worse?
What's going on in Groseclose? I stopped there on my way to hike and go to TD this year—the Dairy Queen was closed. The gazebos were gone. The attached gas station had obviously changed hands and did not have the selection of things inside to buy that it used to. That was also a popular hiker stop.
superman
07-27-2007, 16:07
The Village Motel in Groseclose never was much, but the first four times I stayed there (late '90s/early '00s) it was at least sorta maybe clean and everything worked. Then it went downhill when it was sold and became a Relax Inn. Then the restaurant closed. Now, it seems it's changed hands again and gone from bad to worse?
What's going on in Groseclose? I stopped there on my way to hike and go to TD this year—the Dairy Queen was closed. The gazebos were gone. The attached gas station had obviously changed hands and did not have the selection of things inside to buy that it used to. That was also a popular hiker stop.
Pat from Maine and I re-hiked from Springer to Neels Gap this last spring. This was one of the stops we made to reminisce on our way home paralleling the AT. We both had fond memorize of our stop there in 2000. The DQ had a double or triple burger that kicked butt. They had those great donuts. The restaurant at the motel was ok. The motel room wasn't anything special but the TV and the shower worked. There had been a Red Sox game I wanted to watch in 2000. The big thing for me was about two days before getting there in 2000 I had gotten out of my tent in the middle of the night to pee and walked a ways from my tent. I stepped on barbwire on the way back to my tent. It hurt like anything and I decided to make believe it hadn't happened. In the morning I looked at it and it wasn't good. I tucked the iodine to it and hiked on. When I got to that Groseclose motel there happened to be a section hiker staying there. I told him what had happened. He said to take off my boot as he opened the trunk of his old beat up car. I could not believe the big medical bag he had. It turned out that he was some sort of an EMT or something like that at one of the big New York airports. He opened up the wound and scrubbed it out. He put some medicine on it and it was close to being healed the next morning. I'm not sure but I think his trail name was "left over hippie." Running into that guy was just what I needed at that time.
It looked like that area had fallen on hard times when we were there this spring.