Sometimes an adventurous drive through the country calls for more than a tank of pricey gas, a snack, a drink and a map. It requires an ideal soundtrack, a steady stream of songs lush and melodic and low on bass.

For my scenic drive on Virginia 43, I was lucky to find my lost copy of Sarah McLachlan's calm and beautifully quiet "Afterglow."

It couldn't have turned up at a better time. Virginia 43 is full of mystery around each bend, and the right music would take the driving experience to a cinematic high. The road is dotted with houses and ripe with trees and cattle and meadows and open pastures. Before you know it, you feel as if you've slipped away from urban life for a real adventure.

While this cruise through rural Bedford and Botetourt counties sounds nice, I discovered that the road, which narrows and widens at various points, isn't for the faint of heart or for non-multitaskers who can't simultaneously take in the landscape and stay on the road.

The fall foliage is a priority, but there are places to stop on the Bedford side of Virginia 43 for wine, fall flowers, pottery and fresh produce such as pumpkins and apples. One of those just-off-the-road spots is Mountain Fruit and Produce, which is heavy into the autumn season and decorated with scarecrows, pumpkins and dried cornstalks.

"Coming back and forth all the time is beautiful," said Loretta Stanley, 32, a Bedford County resident who helps out at the store and lives at the bottom of the mountain. "The people who are retired like to come during the week. It's perfect anytime. I love fall. We live in one of the most perfect spots for it."

After a solid stretch of farm country, westbound Virginia 43 swirls up the mountain past a gas station and general store. If you plan to turn this trip into an overnighter, you might want to check out the Otter's Den Bed and Breakfast, which includes a restored chestnut log cabin built in 1797. (Rooms start at $95, according its Web site.)

Minutes up the road you'll come to the Blue Ridge Parkway, where you'll likely want to make a pitstop or at least take a few photographs. There's plenty of parking and a couple of trails if you decide to go off and identify a variety of leaves or just enjoy the natural surroundings.

There I met Bedford County resident Paulette Mullinax, who recently returned after living on the West Coast.

"We decided after traveling all over the country that this part of Virginia is the best place to live," said Mullinax, 64. "I'm looking forward to it after living in the desert of Southern California. I'm looking forward to cool weather and fall foliage."

The foliage in these parts includes beech, black walnut, hickory, cottonwood, box elder, sassafras and basswood leaves, according to a display in the National Park Service office.

The trick to the rest of Virginia 43 will become apparent to any driver: The road isn't made from one long stretch of asphalt. Actually, it's pieced together after you leave the parkway, and signs are the only ways to navigate.

A history of the roadway is on a placard outside the park service office. It says that by the mid-19th century, several turnpikes were constructed through gaps in the Blue Ridge, including the Buchanan and Bedford Turnpike (now known as Virginia 43). The roads brought peddlers, visitors and soldiers to places that people today consider vacation spots.

Good brakes also are a must for this leg of the adventure, because after you reach the top of the mountain, you must come down the Botetourt side along a series of twists and tight bends in the road that will reconnect you with Virginia 43. Multitasking is out of the question; you may want to thank a higher power once you reach the bottom and see the signs for Buchanan.

On the way down, you'll notice a couple of pulloffs, including the Porter's Mountain and Upper Goose Valley Creek overlooks, where you can stand thousands of feet above sea level and wonder about the new season.

After you leave the bustling Buchanan scene and reach a stretch of gravel roadway in the middle of the woods, you may wonder if you're going the right way. I know I did.

While signs allude to Eagle Rock being several miles ahead, I thought it took forever, though I did get an adrenaline rush from having two teenagers barrel down on my car "Dukes of Hazzard"-style in a Pontiac Bonneville.

As calmly as it starts, Virginia 43 comes to an end in the Botetourt County hamlet of Eagle Rock. Eventually you'll come to an intersection with U.S. 220 beyond the commercial section of town. That's where you'll have to make a simple choice: left and back to Roanoke and urban life, or right and on to further adventure.