Day 39: North Carolina

From Hilton Head my first stop was Columbia, SC – Bose friends, I had lunch with Ed Hines, my long-time colleague.  We had nice Carolina Barbecue.  Good to see Ed.

Next I headed to Asheville, NC.  I was in Asheville a few years ago on my first “shakedown cruise” to see if could do a road trip by myself and enjoy it.  On that trip I did Charlotte. Asheville, and ended up in Nashville. I also made a stop in Kentucky for lunch, because I had never been to Kentucky. That trip proved to me that I enjoyed road trips and didn’t mind the constant moving.

On my last visit to Asheville, my goal was to visit some of the breweries that Asheville is famous for.  Something about the water being really good here.  On this trip I decided to see the famous Biltmore Estate. It was built by the Vanderbilt’s in 1895.  When I arrived at 3:30 I found out for $120 and a 3 ½ hour wait I could tour the mansion.  That’s not my style, so I opted for a self-tour of the gardens for half that price. I thought it was really crowded, but one of the staff I talked to, said it’s always busy, and coming late in the day is better.  If you come, buy your tickets on-line ahead of time.  The gardens are impressive, they were designed by Frederick Olmsted, who also did Central Park.  It was also nice to see the mountains again, as it’s been since New Mexico since I have seen any.

No brewery tours this time, in fact the only hotel I could find was out by the Asheville Airport, I’m 10 miles from downtown. People at the hotel tell me it’s because it’s foliage season down here and the hotel is sold out tonight (I think that is the first time since South Dakota)

My mask story of the day is the stop I made about 1 hour outside of Columbia, stopped at a Pilot Truck Stop, which is a huge brand on the road, both for truckers, and us regular drivers.  Happy to report that everybody I saw was wearing a mask.

Song of the Day: Carolina in My Mind, James Taylor

Podcast: How I built this: Method Cleaning Products (This is a good Podcast, about how people build companies)

Book on Tape:  Talking to Strangers, really interesting about how we are wired to default to believe people. Explains why Bernie Madoff and Jerry Sandusky got away with their crimes for so long

Beer of the Day:  People’s Porter, Foothills Brewing

Total Miles: 360