bon voyage encore

I hate putting my bike in storage! Haven't had to since Switzerland and I wasn't really in love with that bike.
Geez I am super behind on posts and yet am about to amass A LOT more material. I'm going to a backcountry Maine apple farm for a month and a half. Not really with the purpose of working but I'm sure I will end up picking an apple or two. Probably not going to see many people for a while. The farm only has two official permanent residents. Eeeeee I might not be able to post the whole time I'm there either.
I'm just hoping I can get clear reception for a top 40 radio station.
XOXO, Gossip Girl

Day 4. Wednesday May 2nd.

Heading to Asheville. On the way out of Boone I got gas at a pump before you pay. The cashier knew everyone and was smacking gum, wearing red lipstick, and flirting it up. Very distracted, very faithful in the trust system of paying. The diner in the gas station was serving more livermush and all flavor chitlins. Then I set in for the drive, heading into the thick woods and mountains of Pisgah National Forest, in which the drive from Boone to Asheville is almostly entirely contained. I was behind trucks and a motorcycle for hours, left to jealously imagine myself with no baggage, no bicycle, and a smaller gas tank. And to be frightened that the trucks would topple off of a cliff. The nerves and envy got to me, so I pulled off at the only stop I'd seen for miles, Linville Caverns. I drank a soda on some rocks, wrote a postcard with a lizard at my feet, contemplated going underground to see stalactites and mites, and talked to a country boy who worked in the gift shop. He filled me in on the political landscape of Marion, NC. A lot of furniture manufacturing plants were closed about eight years ago due to outsourcing, and the area had been through some truly rough times. Many residents had been forced to move away from the land where generations of their family had born and died. But going on welfare is not seen as an option by most in a town with an old time mentality like that of Marion. So eventually with a little innovation, new industry cropped up...literally hehe. He said that tourism farms were now big in the area. They capitalized on peoples' interest in buying and growing locally, bringing folks on tours to see how they do things in the country. Linville Caverns didn't always have such an extensive gift shop. They had expanded it to something of a convenience store and art gallery. And as the one-time Christmas tree capital of the world, Marion had also created an attraction of the remaining giant evergreen forests. They couldn't profit as much as they had in the past, nor produce such volume as to keep their old title, but at Christmastime people like to spend a lot of money doing extravagant shit like driving far distances to see megawatt wonderland forests. So they capitalized on that, too. When I questioned whether anyone had looked to the government for help back in when times had been really rough, he explained the very reason why they were living somewhere so remote with such limited business opportunity: Marion folks just wanted to be left alone. They would as soon ask for help as they would build skyscraper and a white house in downtown Marion. In fact. They need to be left alone! He told me the craziest Marion practice which sort of needs privacy to be able to continue in tradition. ugh sick of typing

Neglected But Not Forgotten! Day 3!

Boone, NC: Well, on the way to Boone I stopped in the craziest town. It was like 30 years ago to me but of course that was just the initial appearance; all country sort of appears outdated to me. My perspective needs adjustment. Anyway the town from my eye was just a highway exit, diner, mobile home sales center, giant rusty red arrow sign pointing nowhere, and further down the dusty road, a flea market. I took so many pictures but none showed how I viewed this place at all so I deleted/hid them all just to have it my way in my mind. It was closed since it was a weekday afternoon but still definitely operating occasionally…there was a gun shop, cowboy boots/music lessons store, convenience store with taco walkup window and handwritten sign (open), a hardware mart, center office, and then finally a motorcycle shop with a parking block in front that just barely read “motorcycles only”. What if bike shops in cities got to reserve part of the street for a bike rack?! So exclusive…. And also there was a deserted gas station roof structure positioned in front of a deserted barn that had the faded words “dealers only” printed on it. There was livermush on the menu of the diner, it was decorated with nascar memorabilia & tractors & ol silly sayin’s and I got a PBJ, tots & coffee for like $3.
Boone! Stay w logan on park street up the hill. Slept SO much. Met The Pond the cat, Chrissy the dog, and chickens!! Went for a bike ride, made pancakes for the roommates Sydney Kathleen and Emily with one of the chickens’ eggs (vegde break :P), drove logan to class, slept, walked up the roped-off driveway next to their house and saw a great camping spot/ deserted house and shed, mountains all around. Why desert? Eight hours after a friend asked if I was in meth country and I said if I am I don’t know it yet, then got the lowdown on meth country, someone who knew someone.
The egg didn’t make that pancake any better and I can’t imagine putting them in any baked or caked good for any reason besides 1) lack of creativity or 2) I can see that they are happy, although probably not ever truly livin it up. Do animals live it up?
May 2nd. Roadside farmers market w sweetest old man. 100s of handwritten jams/jellies/preserve labels lining the empty spaces where there weren’t racing decorations. Phone lines down so no paying with card but he gave me a free apple, washed it for me, let me use the restroom…very sweet impression of the country always.
Next stop: Linville Caverns, Marion, NC!