Asheville, North Carolina

21 August 2013

 

It isn’t easy to transition from staying in a beautiful national park to a commercial campground, and this time the experience was more unpleasant than usual. This campground in Asheville, North Carolina, which shall remain nameless, has a filthy registration office and a very rude proprietor. After we backed into our site, our neighboring campers, Mike and Heather, however, quickly greeted us, which dulled the sting from the nasty proprietor’s behavior. They’re from Texas, a homeschooling family with four kids, with plans to be on the road for at least a year, maybe two. Of course, as homeschoolers ourselves, we felt an immediate affinity for them. Mike owns a stuffed animal business in Dallas which does not need much attention from him, plus a business as a “social media consultant”, work which he can do on the road.

This campground sits on the French Broad River, which looks like a smaller version of our Muddy Mo (Missouri River) back home. The campground has constant traffic noise, although that isn’t too unusual for commercial campgrounds. They often seem to be situated on any leftover piece of available ground, squeezed in next to a busy street.

Now, on to some of the great things about Asheville!

Asheville has a thriving artists’ district, and we had a great time touring a few of the galleries. Our favorite was owned by Daniel McClendon, who paints bold abstracts with animal themes. His gallery is a former biscuit factory and a wonderful space for a gallery and studio!

For dinner, we chose a funky, colorful restaurant called the Mellow Mushroom, with a big outdoor patio in front. What a perfect evening to eat outside! No bugs, no wind, and the perfect temperature. We ordered Holy Shiitake pizza and it was fantastic—several kinds of mushrooms, several cheeses, and caramelized onions. We observed that Asheville is full of free spirits, many with purple or green hair. Our new friends who appear in the next paragraph call these hippie-types Nature Muffins!

Before leaving home, the Escape Forum led us to connect with Barbara and Kevin, who live near Asheville, and who have an Escape 19 on order. They came to see us in the campground and to soak up some Escape 19 atmosphere last evening. They brought wonderful banana bread to share with us, and Great Husband made coffee. In April Barbara and Kevin will be going to Chilliwack to get their new trailer and then plan to travel for 60 days in it right away. They are so excited and we are so excited for them, too!