It was the last day at the B&B. We have done all we could do in Asheville. Today was the turnaround point to head back south where we would pick up Alexa and head to the Atlanta airport. The goal was to only have the bags that would carry us through the British Virgin Islands part of our odyssey. Karen was to head back to Portland and resume her life as if nothing had ever happened, and rain was in the forecast.

One thing that was missing in my itinerary was an assortment of stops along the way in which we could watch waterfalls. But it was in Sandra and Karen’s. Waterfalls. Why? Now I like to think I've seen my fill of water dropping off a misplaced rock or two. But again, the vote was taken, and I seem to be a part of a political party that has no sway. Thus, off we go into the North Carolina water feature extravaganza!

We drove through a lot of low hanging clouds along windy roads. we came across our first waterfall stop. Not much, it looked more like a water park. It was developed somewhat for the folks to slide down some rocks and use a rail to go up and do it again. Everyone took pictures. Back in the car. Still heading south. Guess what? Another one. Although, this one they left in their nature state. I had to nod my head slightly and give a little kudos for a good water like thing. The third one was, well far away. It also involved 10 flights of Douglas fir stairs down an embankment to get a good view--and that was it for North Carolina's rural getaway.

Mayberry

Along the way we needed to stop and get a bite to eat. We pulled over to a town called Brevard. A small yet sufficiently provisioned town. It had both Baptist Church, artisan stores and a old general mercantile with an ancient Phone Booth displayed on the corner. We parked on the corner of Main Street and Highway 135, so we should've been close to the action. Hmm, where's the food? There were plenty of thrift shoppes and barber joints, where where's a fella and a couple of girls to get a little on-the-road sustenance?

Across the street a gentle old lady approached us and obviously saw a trio of Noobs looking at three different locations and rubbing their bellies. It was obvious. She said right down there a half a block away is Mayberry. She regaled the entire menu to us to the point I already knew what I was having once we retained the coordinates.

We walked past a sign that said "O.P. Taylor". Say, it was "The Andy Griffith Show" playing out in front of us. I had to look around to see if there were any cop cars named "Fife" patrolling the street. No such luck--Don Knots was one of my favorites.

We got our lunch. I had the meatloaf sandwich and I'm guessing Sandra and Karen had soup or lettuce. I couldn't see as I was extremely focused on the sandwich, I had waited 3 waterfalls for. Back on the road.

We snaked our way again through the various side roads and highways from North Carolina, South Carolina and finally back into Georgia. Finally, I-85 appeared, and we were cruising toward Atlanta at speed. Next stop was to pick up Alexa at Dillions house and reorganize our backpacks before getting to the hotel where we would stay the night before parting ways (Karen goes to Portland, Sandra, Alexa and I to the BVI's).

The Hotel

We checked into the hotel about 5 minutes away from the airport, and it feeling like an end-of-the-ride. We had stopped at a Publix along the way to pick up some groceries to eat in the hotel room(s). I parked the car and went up to the second floor and Sandra was there in the hallway indicating our room keys didn't work. The rooms were adjoining 205 and 207. Karen and Alexa had already procured their 205. Which left Sandra and I in the hallway going "What? Hey?". Sandra went down and retrieved the new keys, but again; they did not work. Then, by miracles, Alexa says "You're in room 209". Oh. well then. We tripped down to the desk, got our two room keys and the luggage was again in the right place. And yes, refreshments were served.

Today got off to the normal start in the B&B. We all watched our steps descending the 150-year-old stairs. Built to a time when there were no building codes and I'm guessing very skinny people. I was afraid I would be knocking some irreplaceable art from the stairwell, and I'd have to call my broker to initiate a stock sale to cover it.

I'm not a "Picky" eater as Sandra likes to accuse. Rather, I'm a man of distinguishing palette. Much like a Lamborghini, you don't just put any fuel into the tank. It must be a fine high-octane plate of delicately fried meat. Today it was Quiche and Salad. Is this why Sandra and Karen picked this B&B? They don't mind eating food meant for a washed up old Pinto? I politely passed on the "Egg Pie", and just decided to enjoy my coffee with a scone. I was plenty happy...for now!

The Blue Ridge

It was Mother’s Day, and Sandra and Karen had worked up an excitement to head up the Blue Ridge Parkway and do some hiking and visitor center touring. I don't know why that's a thing, but it's their Mother’s Day. I think father’s day is coming up next month and I don't think it involves anything other than staying in my P.J's all day. Back to Mother’s day. We were driving up the heavily wooded parkway looking over some pretty cool hills (They call them mountains out east--pretty cute). We did some turn-offs, took some pictures, passed some bicyclists and such. Suddenly, the cars stopped in front of us abruptly. Why do they do that? Is this some hill people thing? Then we saw the excitement. A bear (young adult) stooped on the slope by the highway just looking at people looking at him. Every car had to have a picture, and we were no exception.

We got to the Craggy Garden something or other. But it was a trailhead that took us 1-mile down, and 1-mile back up. Pretty good workout for a coffee and scone morning, but at least it wasn't hot. The temperature was probably 10 degrees cooler in the hills, so it must've been low 60's during this late morning. Finishing the hike we snacked on some cereal, oranges and chips. Then, we headed back down the hill. All along this road, there were bicyclists either on the way up, or on the way down. On our way down we encountered a few that could travel fairly close to the speed limit, but slow enough to accumulate cars. We and others had to wait for opportune moments to get around these Tour-De-Ash riders. Along our descent we were to stop and a Artisan Crafts Center.

Wine-Down

We ate an early dinner at a Brewpub as we were running on scone fumes by then. After that, Sandra and Karen wanted to go on a driving tour of old houses. "Didn't you just see about 200 old houses in the last two days"? Is there some holy grail of rickety structures that, if one finds, will be bestowed the beaming light from above? It was not for me to know. They dropped me off at the B&B, where I hit face first into the pillow (Game Over).

7:45am! Sandra: "Time to get up honey or you'll miss breakfast". Huh? "Is it going to be this early everyday"? In Boise, 8:30am is my normal wake-up time, so why is that extra 45 minutes make the difference between a hangover effect or "_{Mr. blue bird on my shoulder}, .." (Sorry, this reference will be lost on anybody younger than 55).

Sandra and Karen had already showered. Or I should say, Sandra already had showered. Karen was still in the bathroom hogging for all the hot water! When I got my turn, I planned for the military 90-minute run through. Soap is a luxury that loses wars.

In the morning you really find out if the house had any guests or were we the only ones in the house where horror movies are conceived. Walking into the dining area revealed "Ahh, it has a full contingency, we're going to be OK". Karen was a bit tardy, and I was within my privilege to start shaming her tardiness and the hot water greed. I was enjoying the fact this time I'm not the late one. There, Karen! You have been burned.

We agreed to part ways

After breakfast, I knew what Sandra and Karen had in mind. It would involve a walking tour through old Asheville Stopping, Looking and Stopping and Looking at old buildings and flowers along the way. I, on the other hand, had a different idea of a tour of old Asheville. Mine involved a fast walk through the old town to get some cash at the bank, and then stopping at a couple of breweries along the way. I've seen old houses before, and I'll I see when we walk by them is "I'll bet they have some really bad wiring and a mold problem". So, we parted about a block from the B&B, deciding we'll compare notes at the end.

Trudge

I must've walked 10 miles throughout Asheville. The first order of business was to walk and find a bank to get cash. I plumbed in the coordinates told to me by my banking app where I could find a Coop-ATM. One that would charge a $3.00 fee. The closest one was a mile away. No problem. I can walk a mile, and even back--So, off I go. It wasn't the pretties walk. It was along a common thoroughfare, but hey, I'm saving $3.00. Up and down, up and down, and my phone says, "You have reached your destination on the right". I look over. It's a freak'n fire station. There's no bank ATM here. Oh well, let's try another coordinate. Again, this time it says my ATM is 1 mile away. OK. I can walk another mile and back--so, off I go. It's still along a major road, so not much to look at with this part of Asheville. Walking, walking and walking. Then, my phone says, "You have reached your destination on the left". I looked over and it's a freak'n Hospital. What kind of &#%* of a \(^%! Sh\)&@ town is this anyway. There's no ATM here either. Oh, First-Tech Credit Union is going to hear about this stupid app! Oh well, the positive was "Hey, I'm at a semipublic facility, I'll at least be able to use their bathroom before my 2-mile walk-back. Into the emergency entrance and WOW, there must have been 50 or more people in the emergency room. Is Asheville that dangerous of a place to live. Oh well, again. I see the bathroom up ahead.

Now trekking back, I am still listening to my crunchy tunes, but the day is sure heating up. I made it into the downtown area again and decided it was time for a recovery beverage. It doesn't take much effort to find a pub in this town. I found "Packs". It was one of those high TripAdvisor locations. Plopped down at the bar and ordered their finest IPA. Still sweaty from the 4-mile cashless adventure. I did a little coding, and some catchup on the previous day Ugly adventure, and then I was back out on the street.

At this point, I said "Screw it, what's a damn $3.00 fee anyway"? I probably used up $3.00 just on my New Balance soles anyway. So, off again downtown to find an ATM. But Sandra called. She and Karen found a nice bistro which was relayed to me as "Carmens". They invited me to sit with them while the finished their lunch. OK, sure. I've had a beer, and the memory of the Fire Station and Hospital experience is starting to wane. I typed "Carmens" into my phone, and huh? It's like 5 miles away. But Sandra said she was close to my location (We track each other’s location on the cellphones FYI). I see her "Dot", so I start to walk toward where my "Dot" coincides with her "Dot". I get to the corner and the "Dots" are virtually on top of each other. But I don't see a "Carmen..". Hmmm, there appears to be a "Carmels" restaurant, but obviously that's not what I was told. I found them sitting outside finished with their lunch, and they were off to see more old houses. I was still on my cash mission, so we parted ways again. BAM! A bank! With an ATM! It could've been the Book makers Bank for all I cared. I'm finally getting cash I’ve always dreamed about.

Dinner

When I got back to the B&B, I was able to shower up from the day. The girls came in not to long after. We decided on a nice place downtown called Blackbirds. It was a fancy Dancy place highly recommended by Trip Advisor. The first thing I noticed is a lot of their menu items were "Market Prices". Hoo Boy, it will be an expensive one, but after the walkabout, no fee was too high at this point "Bring me the Filet-Tip and keep em coming". We caught each other up on the events of the day. There's was all about old houses, art museums and shops. They had nothing on me, I visited two pubs!

It has officially transitioned to Phase II of the odyssey. We can call Alexa officially done with school and now has taken on the role of mover. Sandra, Karen and I were able to expeditiously exit Athens at 9:30am. I've never seen them so attuned to leaving on time; only to find out tickets were purchased in Asheville for a tour of the Vanderbilt mansion and garden. There was a deadline of 2pm to arrive or miss our appointment. I trust their calculations. My initial thought was "It's doable. If nothing goes wrong".

The drive took us through North Georgia, into South Carolina. At some point it was decided to visit Clemson as it was on our way, and we did defeat the Tigers in 2022. Thus, it was proper to drop in for the "In your face" taunt. Just kidding. No, maybe not. Not sure.

What we did not expect getting there was a graduation was taking place. We happened to hit campus when the event was finishing, and all the folks were heading to their cars. Yikes! Out timing was bad. We spent a half hour seeing three buildings and a bathroom. Then we were off with not much fanfare or remembrance of what we had seen.

Getting back on the highway was really troublesome. No matter what road or turn we took, it was delayed. South Carolina was under construction and detours were everywhere. Ultimately, we hit the train tracks at the precise moment a locomotive was to pass by. We sat there in the intersection for 10 minutes maybe. Hard to tell, as time was slipping into oblivion at this point. When the train finally passed by, we were again on our way to North Carolina, but with the caveat that a lot of time was consumed by the various obstacles.

Vander(Built) This

We were behind the curve in getting to our scheduled appointment at the Vanderbilt estate. Hmm, that somewhat rolls off the tongue quite nicely. "The Vanderbilts are expecting us, yo!".

One thing about the rich, they really know how to establish a presence up to their home. The driveway was 2.5 miles going in through lush, manicured fields. It felt like driving through Yellowstone with a Disney flair. We were LATE. We parked and grabbed a shuttle to the Mansion, and we were 10 minutes past our two o'clock. Sandra said we have until 2:15 before our tickets are void...so, it was a bit of a sprint.

Luckily, we got in just in time! Along with about 100 other people. So it wasn't exactly a personalized tour. We picked up some auditory devices; we could punch codes into predestination rooms. This house was 178,000 sqft to give it some perspective. It took us about 2 hours to go through the entire building. I'll I can say is WOW. Won't even attempt to regale the incredible rooms that the Vanderbilts lived in. But it was some goooood livin' they's had.

After the mansion we walked through the gardens. Not my choice, but it was two against one, so I followed where I could, and sat on benches where I must; until the two girls were satiated by all the shrubbery.

BBQ and B&B

When we exited the premises out across their 80,000 acres driveway at about 6:30pm. We were now starting to get to my favorite part of the trip "BBQ"! We drove into the heart of brewery central and hit an awesome BBQ joint, and of course, the mandatory beer recovery drink from the day's road-trip and tour.

We were running late to our B&B check-in, but the owner left the keys in the mailbox so we could navigate our way to the bedrooms (3rd floor). The good thing about the top floor is you don't hear the squeaking ceiling from folks above. We were those folks above. Every time I take a step, I can only think of the imaginative swear words from the room below us (Never too old to learn some choice goodies). I probably shouldn't have had those hushpuppies at dinner; it added an extra squeak when I shuffled. Fortunately, we didn't have a lot of steps before passing out for the night.

The first batch out was the PhD graduates. There appeared to be 200 of them, and it was a bit of a setback to find them again be walking across stage one-by-one while the Jumbotron places there name, degree, professor. They might as well have mentioned their favorite food, zodiac sign and favorite movies. My back of the envelope calculation now had us bypassing breakfest and straight into lunch. It took 50 minutes to get through 200 doctorates. That left 500+ masters degrees. Surely, with this number of folks, that would do the obligitory "Please stand up class of 2023 and receive recogintion en-mass". Back to the envelope..."Hey! Can they really make us sit here until the Rapture"? Even Alexa, somehere out in section 4, Row 22 was texting us "Hey, I'm hungry. What if we all just snuck out"? Dylan (Alexa's boyfriend) and I were side-eyeing each other thinking that Alexa has a good point. But looking over at Sandra and Karen, we knew that would not play out well. "Nobody leaves"! It eventually became apparent that the Masters students where processing much faster through the stage than the Doctoral ones. Ahh, they left off a bunch of details, and as such it was just the names, and not the other bits of information.

Alexa finally was standing and marching again up to the stage and across. The cool thing was the same Jumbotron that blasted out the TOUCHDOWNS during the bulldog games, was now proudly displaying Alexa. OK, that was worth it. I texted her just before to do a little celebration dance so I can capture it on the Jumobotrron for posterity. I did not get that picture.

Afterwards, we were on our way to a 2pm lunch. The smart people we are; we decided to get in the car and drive to the outskirts of Athens and grab some tacos. Let those other fools stomp around town and fight for tables and scraps. Afterall, the back of the envelope calculations indicated that there where at least 750 hungry graduates out with their families competing for services. In the car we go, drive out along the beltway, drop off the exit and roll into Tago...WHAT?! There's a line out the door. What kind of town is this? A whisper was breiefly uttered that we should go somewhere else. But then, we had less fuel in us than the Chevy Maliboo that some Hertz employee back in Atlanta is likely still looking for in the parking garage. We waited. We ordered. We satiated. We rolled back into Athens fat, happy and able to do a final walk through campus for the memories.

When we got back to the VRBO, we were able to finally, finally kick up our feets and have a couple beers on the back patio area. Tempurature had cooled down, and it was the reward for the two days of hectic running about. There was no leaving for an out-on-the-town after this. We crashed!

Tomorow begins the post graduation. Alexa stays in Athens and begins to pack up her things. Sandra, Karen and I are off to Asheville for a 4 day roadtrip. I don't really know what's in store on this trip. Somebody said botanical gardens, the Vanderbilts and the most per/capita beer breweries--I'm intrigued.

So one thing missing from yesterday's account, was that Alexa came over to our VRBO and visited with us a bit (She's such a nice daughter). We drove her home to her apartment and dropped her off afterwards, which apparently, hadn't had power all day. In all the whirlwind of getting into town, and the chaos to unfold in the coming days; noboday had thought of "the plan" for tomorrow. For you see, she called us up not to long after to say her phone as 7% battery left, and no means to charge it. The ceremony is at 9am tomorrow, so the ole "Well use the alarm on your phone" wasn't a smart call. So we hatched out a plan to come pick her up if she didn't answer her phone at 7am. I was just glad it was Sandra and Alexa who hatched the plan, and thus I had no culpability if I was sleeping through this execution.

It Begins

All went well from the previous night. Alexa's power came back on somewhere in the night so we were able to sleep in until 8am. Somehow, I felt that I was sucked into the secret plan which didn't involve additional sleep (sigh).

So you won't see it too often, but ole Chris had to get into a suit for the graduation ceremony for Alexa's masters ceremony. It was around 9am and as such wasn't to hot. The day prior, it had been 85-degrees and humid, so I was already getting my pre-mid-morning stress sweat going. Need to be aclimated when the real deal kicks in.

The ceremony, compared to the one a couple years ago when she received her Bachelors was more parent friendly. This time it was held in a convention center in the air-conditioning and with about 10000 or so less graduates. We barely made it into the auditorium as they were about the close the doors with a minute less to spare. I kid you not, as we were going down the escallators, the ushers were yelling "YOU BETTER GET IN NOW, OR YOU'RE LOCKED OUT". What did the folks ahead of us do? Oh, they stayed on the escallator as if there was an order indicating one should never step either forward or back when on the moving platform. Finally, and usher said "YOU KNOW, YOU CAN STILL WALK DOWN AN ESCALLATOR". I chuckled. Yup. I was thinking to myself just that same thing. But the authority deemed it OK, so we were now walking down the escallator.

In the auditorium we sat through 1395 names being called, and Alexa was one of them. Whew, she actually was able to fit in a Masters degree between weekends and concerts to Florida. That's a special kind of smart. When we got all the pictures and hugs, we went outside, and there it was...Georgia heat. It must've gone from 70 degrees to 83 in an hour. Me, in a suit.

We hit a local eatery for breakfast after the fact (Momma's Boy?). We were fortunate to get in as the waiting line was continually building. Once done we headed off to Alexa's apartment to hang out before a parent-student greeting at her business school. I hadn't seen how Alexa lives for some time. She's all grown up and living on her own for the most part. Then we peered into her room. There are no words. Only a stunning inhalation of air, and the bug-eyed horror of seeing what FEMA could consider a national disaster. She had carpet, I think. But, couldn't really tell from the cloths, boxes and papers intermixed across the room as I was hoping to hear surprise from her that somebody must've broken in and did this! She showed no surprise.

Darty

There's a term I haven't heard before. Alexa called it "Darty". It stands for DAy-paRTY. Clever, I thought. I will use this term moving forward. Who says there's no hope for our future generations. They are solving the terminolgy problem that has escaped us Boomers for many decades. So, this Darty involved all us parents and kids getting together for a social gathering where we can all discuss how proud we were, that they could achieve higher learning while still managing to escape town every weekend for a concert, beach-vacation or other adventures which seemed to have escaped us older folks when we were typing out term papers on a Brother Student-Riter-II typewriter. In any case, this Darty had to be on back-burner until Karen arrives.

Grooming Karen

Karen (Sandra's Sister), was coming out to Georgia to attend the graduation ceremony. Coming from Portland, it involve a litte more effort that what Sandra and I were able to procure. She had to hop the plane to Seattle, then get a connection to Atlanta. Upon arriving in Atlanta, she was to take a shuttle which would plop here not but a mile from where we were to attend the much anticipated Darty. She arrive a bit later from the shuttle, as she had a driver who was probably in his late 60's and likely didn't have endorsements to drive at night. At least that was my initial thought. Turns out, Athens has been gridlocked for the graduation week. So, when she arrived after the long day. A Darty was just what she needed. Only, it was now past the time of "D"arty, and now was in the official timezone of a "P"arty. We went, we partied like it was a Darty. But with the knowledge tomorrow involves a bitter ceremony.

Wow! What happened? I woke up before the alarm triggered and am rested. Then, it dawned on me we leave at 12:30pm (In the daylight). Why, over the years when we traveled have we not experienced the awakening without the air-sirens at 4:30am?

Never were we this prepared. We had 3 hours before the Lyft guy arrived, so we could finish all the tasks we gave up on the night before. And there it was, suitcases on the doorstep, the Lyft man pulls up, and off we go ON TIME! It never happens I say.

However, at the airport, it looked a bit sketchy. Cars were double-parked at the curb as we pulled in. This is Boise--one should only expect 4 cars and a pull-cart at the worst. Could this be the "Ugly" in our day? Horrendous lines stretching out to the tarmack? Little-Leagers peppered throughout the lines attempting to fill out their luggage tags? Interestingy, walking in, the ticket-line was virtually empty. Hmmm, what about that? We suantered up all Kardasian-like, and handly got our (1) bag checked through to Atlanta. We walked off "Well, that was easy. What gives?". Then we saw it. The security line was backed-up and cattle-guarded for what must've been 75 feet. Yikes! Now to backup about nine days ago when Sandra said "Hey, let's subscribe to TSA PreCheck. Sometime in the future this could come in handy". Now, back to the present. "Hey Sandra, aren't you glad I made us get the TSA Pre-Check". I don't think she heard me, so I moved on. Past the hords of grumpy people to the TSA PreCheck. Ten people ahead of us? I can live with that. Afterall, we paid big money to travel with our betters.

The flight was smooth. Crunchy tunes at the ready, and was able to pop the ole computer out to scribble a few lines of code.

Next thing you know...we're landing.

Atlanta

Arriving in Atlanta on the direct flight was terrific. Long forgotten was the usual rushed layover in Denver or Housten where we would either be panic running for the next gate, or delayed until our spirit was sucked out like a shop-vac on high.

But here we were. And it was all like Clockwork. Rental car--no paperwork. I think the most time we spent on the trip at this point was choosing which car to checkout. Hertz rental cars have evolved to where you just walk up and drive away with any car. Felt criminal to me. But, that's exactly what we did. Next thing you know, we're driving down the freeway with no traffic, in a car I hope wasn't one of the employees brand new Chevy Maliboo.

Athens

Something was strange on the way to Athens. I looked down, and "Yes!". We're crusing at 70mph. Where are all the cars? Apparently, our arrival put us into Atlanta around the time all the folks are already at home and into their second Chardonnay. So we just kept crusing uninterrupted toward our VRBO (Stress level: still near zero).

Once we arrived, we got the walkthrough with the owners. The VRBO was a daylight basement over their residence. But this daylight basement was tricked out with a full kitchen, an 80" TV, and all the "Go Dawgs" decoration one could ever hope to accumulate in a lifetime. You might say, we found our dopplegangers on the east coast.

We slept...

We have lived at our house for 15 years with great patience and with minimal appreciation with our AT&T provider. You see, we happen to live in possibly the only location in Boise where there is no cellphone reception in the 200 feet radius in which we plunked our house down. We can achieve 2 bars on the phone by a selfy-stick and facing due West. The Winchester House has nothing on us.

To my chagrin, my one important task was to schedule transportation for tomorrow's trip to the airport. It was all sweet and serene when I thought I had all the time in the evening to arrange it. Dang-it! I just got into my P.J's too. So, it was jump into the truck, drive 201 feet to the end of the block, park, crack my knuckles and begin the skilled art of Uber searching. Unfortunately, I found something out. Uber, for some reason, would not accept our address as a pickup point. It wanted to use my current location, which was 201 feet from the place where the luggage will be in the morning. Other attempts to use their map to pinpoint a pickup revealed that our house doesn't exist in their mapping system. We really are off the grid. Words were said, and I decided to move on to Lyft. Ahh, better luck; after 5 minutes, Pickup scheduled. I drive back to the other end of the block a hero, but a little bitter.