We got to Indy early enough to sneak down to the Pit Stop Challenge, find GR1 a home, give the Rival Sons some of our tactical hats, and close off a great day at the track with a ZZ Top concert. Today was a closer, louder, faster = better kind of day.
Montgomery Inn, the original, takes such pride in Ohio, the Reds, the Bengals, Ohio State, and in its ribs. Jason’s grandfather took us and we all ordered full racks, of course.
Cliff, a retired miner, led us into an empty coal mine, nostalgically explaining that the purest, most honest day’s work is done by miners, in the mines, with fellow miners. We have infinitely more respect for the dangers our miners face and the lives that they lead after the tales we heard and the work sites and pictures of men we saw that spoke to the difficulty of their conditions in a thankless grind of repetition.
The Wedge in Asheville around 4pm. It came highly recommended in a beer rich environment, and since local recs are always the right answer, off we went. We loved it. Local brews, shade, and peanuts on a beautiful day, last night's rain long forgotten.
Into Asheville, and straight to Harvest Records, where we got to talking with Brown. A fellow adventurer, he was off to the west coast to just see what kind of adventure he could find. After inviting everyone to come camp out with us, we headed up the Blue Ridge Parkway. Hotels schmotels, a little rain is no big deal until it’s the third hour of smoky wet wood…but that only makes the roaring fire all the sweeter, and the food that much better. And luckily everyone showed up just in time to enjoy.
Back in GORUCK’s beach roots in Ponte Vedra, we grilled out and drank local to celebrate Mom’s birthday! Java hit the surf and all was well as the sun went down, a perfect end to an awesome day. Thanks, Mom.
