Date: 2016-03-20
From: Asheville via Standing Bear Farm

To: Standing Bear Farm
Miles today: 0.0
Weather: few clouds

I had insisted to myself that I would sleep in after my late night at Chili's and the hotel laundry room, but my new sleep cycle had other ideas. I was up at 7:30 and could not fall back asleep. I laid around in bed for a while before deciding it was time for a foray into a wilderness even greater than the Smokies. That's right. I was going to Waffle House. It was freezing outside and I made the descent to the nearby Waffle House as quickly as I could. I was greeted inside with a warm welcome and the smell of things fried and buttery. I stared at the menu and got called "Hon" many times before I even could decide what to get. I finally decided to try a bit of everything, eggs, bacon, toast, grits, a waffle, and, as the menu suggested, Hash browns, scattered, smothered and covered. For those of you who like me who have never heard of this phrase which is apparently known to all who live in the South, it referred to hash browns served loose in a fried bunch rather than a biscuit-shaped cake, smothered in diced onions and covered in melted cheese. Frankly, having had them, I don't want hash browns any other way for the rest of my life. The waffle was also delicious. All in all, my Waffle House experience was divine, and I will be returning as often as possible. I returned to my hotel room and organized myself, took a shower, checked out, and headed over to the AT&T store. Thanks to my father - who may be loving this trip even more than I am - I was greeted knowingly by Jason, who spoke with him on the phone yesterday. Soon enough, everything was squared away and I was in the possession of a new iPhone 6! However, it was going to take quite a while to transfer over information, so I crossed the street (I enjoyed being the only pedestrian in the entirety of the Asheville Mall and holding up traffic) and went to the Barnes and Noble. I got a drink and killed time reading a book of poetry by Yehuda Amichai (a book I very highly considered buying before finally putting it back). I stopped in at the food court (and noted that Chick-Fil-A was indeed closed on Sunday) and got some chicken teriyaki and fried rice. It had been over two hours by this point, so I returned to AT&T, where my loaded phone was waiting. I spent a few more hours there configuring email and other apps that needed re-registration before finally heading out just before 5. I wanted to go see downtown Asheville, but the situation was a bit dire; the rain had picked up and the wind was blowing, and I was three miles away, and didn't want to walk. I tried asking for a ride from a few cars and sticking my thumb out before giving up. Feeling somewhat depleted and unsure what to do, I stopped beneath an awning to put on my pack raincover and noticed that I was at a bus stop. They even had instructions for how to check when the next bus would be, and as I typed in the numbers, wouldn't you know it, a bus pulled right up! Overjoyed, I asked if he was going downtown, which he was, and a dollar later, I was riding public transit to exactly where I needed to be! I was soon in downtown Asheville, and after putzing about, I made my way over to the Asheville Brewery, where I ordered a beer and sat down outside on their patio - abandoned since it was so cold out. I knew I had a few hours at least to kill before Maria from Standing Bear came to pick me up. I facetimed Ali, who has just returned from her cruise to the Bahamas, for quite a long time, going through three glasses of beer and a chicken park sandwich. Unable to stand the cold much more, I eventually went inside and was chatted up by two folks from Wisconsin, decked out in full Badger paraphernalia, who were stopped in to watch the basketball game before finishing up their road trip to Hiltonhead. Near 8, I was picked up by Maria, the owner of the hostel, and Gator, another man who works there. We drove back through the darkness and the snow to the hostel, where a clean, dry bunk was waiting for me, and a wood stove was heating the bunkhouse. Tomorrow I'll be back on the trail, but I'm glad to have missed this cold and dreary day and to have gotten done what I needed to do!