Asheville North Carolina, Bon Paul and Sharkey's Hostel - beds $20/night (or ya' can pitch a tent in the back yard fer 10), kitchen table, free wireless internet~

a long and lovely day of driving from the mansion in Gettysburg to the hostel in Galax, Virginia. it was hard to find the driveway..

Blue Ridge Hwy South Bound, 1-1/8 mi past Fancy Gap, on your right.

luckily, someone had blazed the gate with a reflective marker as they do along the AT. there was a long finding driveway, and eventually a sign. when i got up to the hostel, i was greeted by a dog and a cat on the front porch but no one answered the door. i walked around back and found a guy sitting there reading a book, an english guy on holiday. the view from the back of the hostel was incredible - endless rolling hills and valleys. i took a little walk around and checked out the place - pretty soon an old guy in a floppy green hat came out of the house and pointed at my car and then to me. i nodded as you do. "well if your from michigan, how come you drive this little japanese car?"

he showed me upstairs and wrote my name down in his book. he told me that Galax (pronounced like "Gaelic" in the irish manner, not like "Galaxy" minus the y) was the home of some very famous folk musicians. guitarists, claw-hammer banjo players - that's the old style, and fiddlers. why, just last week they had a children's completion in town and the winners from each group won a hand-made instrument made right there in Galax. everyone in Galax is into wood in one way or another and they just took to making instruments and playing them in the old tyme' style - that is as a band united, never as individuals.


i got some bbq take-away, good, if not identifiable, and a 6 pack of schlitz for $2.50. the old guy popped in to play a cd for me of a local group and then to hear me play a few. then i split the schlitz with the brit and we traded stories. his was a good one. it involved a small surveying business and a failed engagement to a native fijian woman. i was allergic to the moldy-ass bed covers and had very realistic dreams of doing wheelies on my scooter..

this morning i hit the road and took the Blue Ridge Parkway all the way to Asheville~ it was a beautiful ride and i stopped at heaps of turn-offs for photos of scenic views! now it's into town for some food and then time to pitch my tent in the back yard before dark.