Day Six: Cookeville, TN to Asheville, NC (218 miles)

You may have thought we'd be in Raleigh by now. We are not....but all by choice of course. Gary and I made a spontaneous decision to not drive through to my new hometown today, spurred mostly by all the hype I heard of Asheville, North Carolina. Named one of the world's top 12 must-see destinations for 2007 by Frommer's, we figured it was worth a look-see. So, we submitted Charley into doggie daycare for the night, and got a free pass to hit the town. When I told Charley that he was going to stay on his own tonight, this was his response.

Let's back up a bit though. We started the day by running out of the Alpine Inn and Suites by 8 AM. It was the first day our bodies naturally woke up early and wanted to leave. For me, it was the weird orange stains on the sheets that I couldn't stop thinking about. Anyway, we realized that the World's Largest Yard Sale was only about 30 minutes away, so we stopped to have a look. 630 miles of pure crap, spanning 5 states from the top of Tennessee all the way down to the end of Ohio.

I'm sure there are a lot of gems if you look hard enough. But all we saw were a lot of used motor parts, teenange mutant ninja turtle figurines, and a lot of glassware and old, dainty china. We did make a purchase - t-shirts that we'll probably each never wear. Charley also made his mark by peeing on a 127 yard sale sign, at which an on-looker said "gee, I wish I could do that". That then concluded our visit - enough said.

We then switched gears and focused on the completion of another primary task on this trip - consumption of a McGriddle sandwich. We searched for the golden arches and found that a power outage in the restaurant stood in our way of success. Of course, that didn't stop us. We continued to ride down the 40 in search of the sandwich of happiness and saw a sign that said "timezone change: est". Panic set in as we realized that hashbrowns may be converting to french fries at this very moment. McDonalds breakfast period may be switching over to lunch. We drove faster...we referred to Google Maps, we prayed to baby Jesus. And yes, look to your left - victory was ours.


With 460 calories and 21 grams of fat, you would think it *must* be good. I have to say, I didn't enjoy it. The folds holding the sandwich together were truly little, mini hotcakes...a bit rubbery and greasy to touch. And there were endless layers of egg, orangy cheese and bacon mushed together between the two. There is a hit of sweetness that trickles through as you chew, I imagine from the maple-flavored liquid injections. Needless to say, I wasn't a big fan. Gary on the other hand could not speak to me during the entire experience. He savored every bite. Go Gary!




Ok, back to the crux of our day. We started our tour of Asheville at the Biltmore Estate, a 175,000 square foot private residence, the biggest home in the U.S. Again, another massive thing to gawk at on the trip. We decided to forego the private tour, only b/c of the outrageous $55 fee attached to it. I already have a mortgage waiting for me in Raleigh, so I don' t need to be contributing to anyone else's. Instead, we headed toward the gift shop/wine tasting room which the security guard said was, "a real hoot." Drinking spit-size portions of wine out of a white, dentist office-like dixie cup is not my idea of a hoot. I still bought a bottle.

After leaving the gift shop, we headed to downtown Asheville in search of what all the hype was about. The sommonier at the wine shop warned us that the city was "weird...different", and a man we met during lunch at a local brewery in town said the creativity and people made this town the "San Francisco of the east". I'd like to reserve my criticisms since I don't feel like we spent enough time here to really experience all the culture. Let's just sum it up by saying this picture is about the most exciting and interesting one I could take all day. Hopefully Gary will interject his own thoughts later into the posting.


We did end the evening on a very positive note - dinner at a great restaurant called Savoy in Asheville (we'd highly recommend if you go). I sucked down belvedere martinis and wine, and then started to fall into deep depression that we'll be arriving in my big empty house tomorrow and my friend Gary will be gone. Gary rightfully ignored my "woe is me" attitude and enjoyed his 5 course tasting menu, each course a suprise concoction from the chef. Great food, great company, good times.

4 more hours until our destination. Welcome to North Carolina.