Day VI: NC and SC

Asheville, NC

Last night was good, not great (as Tommy Manson would say). Those three guys that were playing in a band on the streets who the girls were trying to get attend Grace's party never showed up. Thing is, there's no reception at the cabin in the woods.. so we preemptively gave them directions, but.. well, they were a no-show. Oh wells. Seriously, my alcohol tolerance level is weak. I'm a cheap date, as they'd say. Buttt.. that's beyond my point. Parentals will be reading this, so I'll keep party details to a minimum.

There was a cute little Blue Heel puppy mix called Banjo that also attended Grace's party. Mango and him rolled around for a few hours together in the sweet, dark grass. They humped for a while, let's just leave it at that.

And for this morning/afternoon I'll copy an entry from the journal:

"5:22pm July 20, 2008

Headed to Charleston, SC. Warren Wilson was great! Mango loved it lots as well. So many new smells and so much open space.

This morning (surprisingly) we got up real early. Like, 8am. I know! Sara's boyfriend came in and woke her (and us) up for Sara's surprise breakfast. Aw, cutesy. I opened my eyes and said "Oh hi Chris.. I mean, Brian.. I mean.. Bill?" He holds out his palm facing my face and says "I am Thor." We laugh. Mango gets all riled up real quick and so after those two leave we decide to go down to the river for a little walk. Taking our cameras, of course.

We crossed the bridge over the road, I swing on a swing (Mango tried to catch me as I swung by, but to no avail), we took pictures of the farm, and Mango said hello to his friend the goat.

We watched pigs poop and pee, and Mango decided to run into a pig pen after I repeatedly told him not to. I know! He got a little spanking.

We finally made it to the river where Bea and I shed our flip flops and moccasins, respectively. Remember how Mango hated the water? Well, news update: he still hates it. When he saw us wading away he had no choice and followed us in. So cute when he swims:



He got real cold, so I carried him on the way back to shore. It was 10am by then, so we started heading back to Sara's dorm to say bye before she left for work at 11. (Passing through the bamboo "forest" on the way back.)

She wasn't there yet, so Bea took a nap while I talked to Rob on the phone and played with Mango and socialized with some Warren Wilsoners on campus. The campus is beautiful, btw.

So Sara came back, we said our goodbyes, and I started packing. (Bea still wanted to beauty sleep a bit more.)

On the road. On the road. The eye is feeling a little better, so I drove. I drove for about two hours when we filled up for gas. The girl's name who cleans the bathrooms (on the back of the restroom door on the "last cleaned" chart) was Sara Lee. A couple kids and their ma came up to pet Mango and they had true to life Southern accents. My god. I almost cracked up, not gonna lie. Bea got a gross-o cheeseburger hot dog roll, and I got a bag of kettle cooked chips, and we had licorice to share. An under $4 meal for the both of us. Not healthy at all, but.. we'll make up for it with dinner at Danes in Charleston.

Mango is so pooped.
Motorcyclists don't wear helmets down here.
The air smells like pine tree sap.
Everyone is so freaking nice.

-Oh, a funny thing that happened on the road: the maps and driving directions we printed out at Carrie's house were sitting on the passenger's side of the dashboard. Bea's window was rolled all the way down, and right as I said "Bea- watch out for that.." (paper blows away) and we both crack up laughing. An hour later I glance in the rear view mirror at the lower right hand corner and see what appears to be a plastic bag caught on one of the bike wheels. Wrong. It's the page of driving directions that flew out of the window an hour ago! So funny. Turns out we didn't even need those ones.

Mango has a cute under bite, I'm not wearing any pants, and my white shirt is turning brown with Mango's paw prints. I think we may do some laundry tonight.. that's a good thing. I think I'm going to eat some pretzels and rest my eyeball. Peace- s."



Charleston, SC

And now we're here. It's freaking humid, I hate it. So far the south has been nice- we're staying with Bea's way back friend from her American school in Madrid as a kindergarten kid. His name is Dane, and his father played on the Madrid basketball team. Real nice people. They've also got an enormous English Mastiff named Luda (the first letters of Ludacris). He's sweet, and slobbers lots.

We went "grocery shopping" at the Piggly Wiggly (weird name for a grocery store, I know) and got two frozen pizzas, vegan burgers, cereal, and edamame. Tonight we stayed in and watched a movie. Now everyone else is asleep, including Mango.

I'm sleepy. I also miss Rob Biddle, among others.

-S and M


p.s. Dogs eating ice: