No nuclear plant here thankfully, power mostly comes from Smith Mountain Lake. Some valley where the Roanoke and Blackwater rivers meet that they dammed up to create a hydroelectric power station.
This area, the Roanoke Valley, it use to have a central government that had Salem, Roanoke City, Roanoke County, Vinton, and some other places I can't remember tied together. It all fell apart because Roanoke City and Salem both wanted a civic center in two different places, Vinton and Roanoke County didn't want one, and none of them could agree upon a centralized educational system. Funny fact about Roanoke is that it was once called The Big Lick due to salt licks around the area, this area is one big dried up or drained marsh.
The divided governments make the area between Vinton and Downtown Roanoke amusing, there boarders are so crossed that the only way you know your crossing is the zig zagging patched asphalt.
There was one really old house they talked about on the local news a while back, was sitting 50/50 on the Roanoke City/Vinton boarder, they talked about it 'cause the guy didn't pay taxes 'cause both sides wanted him to pay taxes. Now his house is officially in Roanoke city, they moved the boarder around his house.
About the only thing people can agree on around here is how sweet it is to have a classic car. Custom and Classic cars are a big thing here, there's an annual show called Star City Motor Madness in downtown Roanoke every year, been there once myself. Real amusing if they let 'em fire up all those old V8's, you can't hear a thing. Though they all bicker and argue about which is best, there's GM, Ford, and Chrysler lovers all over. Lotta Mopar and GM fans here. Oh the joy of living in the south.
