We rode from the B&B northwest towards a dry town called Marshall. We did a little off-road checking out some land for sale that one of the guys wants to buy. I was glad for an “easy” ride but those rollers, gusts of wind at 40+ mph and the ugly dogs made my legs hurt. AHR 150 for 3 hours. We had expresso at Zuma’s in Marshall and rode back RT251 along the French Broad River. Brad took the helm and laid it down. I think I hung for 10+ minutes with my heart rate hovering around 175. When I started to feel the screws get tighter in my hips and the gusts of wind blowing at us around the bends in the road, I POPPED! Brad, Brian and Fred hammered back to Asheville for the final 12 miles along the river. At one roller, Brad and Fred eased up and Brian was having none of it. As it goes in any ride back home, Brad and Fred dropped their heads chasing Brian down. Last man standing wins. I rolled in about five minutes behind (yea, that's what I remember!) at an AHR 165.
Dinner
Doc Chey’s
Again, I wanted to eat and drink everything on the menu. Bought a cool long sleeve tee-shirt for my traditional souvenir from my travels. Darjeeling Green Tea, Nebasuki Soba, Thai Basil Chicken and Chinese wok seared green beans cantonese sauce.
Thursday was the day we had to choose another place stay for Friday and Saturday night. We had thought of going home the long way to visit Blowing Rock, NC, but I was starting to get the vacation blues and did not want to leave Asheville. The prices go up on the weekend, we were at the end of our vacation so I began to feel cheap. I picked a "Days Inn" after searching Travelocity as it had a rate of $65 a night (not including the 11% tax). Our B&B rooms were an average $145 and we got the "procrastinator's special". The Days Inn was right around the corner from the Grove Arcade and I could do some last minute tourist stuff. Hum. I decided to check one of the rooms before we booked our reservation. Concrete was falling off the building. It looked like it was built in the 1960s. You enter the room from the outside. I booked a room for two nights and Brad asked how did the room look. Did it smell? I said, "Well, it smelled, but not bad. I think." I was worried because I could not figure out the smell. They had potpourri on the nightstand so it was an odd smell. We both had the hotel on our minds at dinner and asked the waitress if she knew anything about the Days Inn. "The Roach Motel?" Okay. That was all we needed to hear. After dinner, we hung out at the B&B in our Garden Vista room for one last night. Canceled the hotel reservation and surfed for another hotel. I had high hopes of going back out to hear some bluegrass or any live music but Brad was in for the night. Bugger.
