Redneck Adventures Part 2

The weekend was nice because I didn't have to worry about any more work for a couple of days. My biggest worry was our first planned activity of the day. We were supposed to go ATVing in the same place that we took the truck the night before . . . and it continued to rain all night. I was NOT looking forward to all that mud, but I was determined to be a good sport and go. How relieved was I was my host's wife (Katie) called to inform me that it was 'crazy muddy' and they were officially letting me off the hook? Thank goodness.

Plan B was zip lining and that was much more fun than drowning in mud. We had a ball.

It was a perfectly pleasant day followed by a perfectly frightening evening. It started off pretty nice at dinner. I managed to get through another meal without a complete overload of fried and over-buttered food. Eating is a challenge down South for sure. Next on the agenda was a trip to a local redneck bar to see a band play. My hosts were friends with the band guys and we had the equivalent of front row seats.



After I got over my short stress factor of what to wear to a redneck bar I figured this would be an easy and interesting night. Well, interesting doesn't even begin to describe this event. There are no words to describe what I witnessed. Holy smokes. I felt the need to go back to my hotel room and wash my eyeballs. Yeah, interesting it was. I think it redefined the terms drunk and redneck, but it sure was entertaining. Needless to say, we didn't stay long and had some good laughs on the drive back.

Sunday was positively idyllic. I spent the entire day with Katie and their two oldest daughters. We drove over to Asheville, which is a town that I always wanted to visit. We toured the famous Biltmore Estate and it was fabulous. I didn't even realize that this was the private home of the Vanderbilt family. The same family that owned the Breakers mansion at Newport. Well, that was only their 'summer cottage.' This was their secluded getaway in the woods and is the biggest private residence in all of history. Simply incredible. It took all day to tour the home and the grounds (and the winery).

On Monday it was back to work and we headed down to the 'other Carolina' to tour Michael Waltrip Racing. I was meeting our public relations writer who is doing a feature article on this company. It was my job to take the photos that will appear in the magazine so that was exciting. And while I was there I also shot some video. It sure is a shame that I'm not a race fan because I was up close and personal to the race cars. I just happened to be outside when they were unloading one of the cars that was just racing in New Hampshire this past weekend. I couldn't resist snapping this photo of the interior of the car. Notice the cup holder. Why is it a real race car can have one, but my Boxster doesn't? Go figure.

This was quite the work trip. It feels like I've been on a great vacation hanging with some awesome friends, with just a little bit of work sprinkled in. And now that I'm back home, I need to get busy doing laundry and packing all over again. Next week I'm back on the road again . . .