Voilà! Asheville and gone again...

 Asheville and then gone...

For Part One of this odyssey, click here.

This is Part Two where my friend and I leave Asheville after dropping off my car load of stuff and head South. 

From Asheville we headed to Saint Augustine for the night. It was too long of a drive. We ended up having a decent seafood dinner at a loud touristy seafood restaurant in Saint Augustine Beach after a very harrowing wrong turn into a dead end street. Poor Roger thought he could get through behind a building but..oops!..that was not the case. He went about half way down the street before he realized it was a total dead end, not even a cul-de-sac to turn around in.  Which meant he had to back up 27 feet of RV with another 10ft of car hauler on this narrow street at apparently the exact hour all of the residents arrived home. And no one was interested in waiting for us, instead they just yelled at us because "people are always turning around here, it says 'no outlet'". Ok. Thanks. That was so helpful. We made a mistake. No one died and nothing was run over. Roger persevered and was still smiling once we got turned around. Whew.

Also, there was zero social distancing or mask wearing at that touristy restaurant. Thank goodness for being vaccinated. 

Saturday we arrived at the Lion Country Safari RV Park outside West Palm Beach where Belle lives with her very patient and sweet boyfriend. We dumped the RV, loaded up the dog (Miss Mina stayed behind in the air conditioned comfort of the RV)and headed to the Hilton Canopy hotel which backs up to Belle's condo. We were immediately whisked away to dinner at PB Catch. Lovely and quiet and not touristy- the perfect antidote to the previous night. The seafood was excellent. Drinks followed at the Leopard Lounge. Check out their cool ceiling. 

I loved this painted ceiling with faces. 

 After dinner Belle and Mitchell came back to the room to see Carlos and it was such a happy reunion. Roger's daughter, also living in West Palm for the winter, stopped to see Carlos, too, as she had lived with him last summer.  I'm sure Carlos was totally confused but also so happy to see all of these people that had disappeared on him.

And Sunday was sad. Belle came out to the RV park to see Mina and then Roger and I made a mad dash through Lion Country Safari. Well, as mad a dash as you can make on a busy Sunday. 

Belle looking a little two-headed with me behind her. 

But look how happy she is to see Mina.

Belle brought both Carlos and Mina home as a teenager and then promptly moved away-

 leaving her pets with me. 

Sigh. Isn't that how it always goes? 

This ostrich pecked at everyone's decals.

A whole line of cars was waiting for him to get out of the road and 

he took advantage and inspected everyone's windshield.

Once the animals had been seen, Roger and I  parted ways.  He headed to his daughter's to pick up some furniture to haul back to Colorado. I drove to Tampa to see Bunny. While I am confident that I don't want to live in Colorado full time, I am certainly going to miss my friend.  I'm working on convincing him he can live in two places. 

Miss Bunny was just as happy as Belle to see her family pets. Carlos was not quite as welcoming to Bunny's boyfriend without Roger around. Carlos takes his family protection VERY seriously. Fortunately, that was short lived. 

Me, Carlos, Bunny.  

He really was happy to see her even though he looks concerned here. 

Carlos frequently looks concerned. 

We had a lovely quick dinner at the boyfriend's parents' house and then I came back to her house and crashed. All of that driving just caught up with me. 

I stayed an extra day at Bunny's house, ran some errands and then met the sweet boyfriend and family for another dinner at Bartaco. Confusing ordering online but the tacos were yummy. I just wanted someone to take my order, though, rather than figure out how or if I had ordered my dinner. 

Tuesday morning Carlos, Mina and I were loaded in the Subaru and off. 

All of this traveling is just exhausting.

My goal was Savannah. I had booked a boring hotel on the highway since I had the animals with me. But then I had an Aha! moment. I REALLY wanted to see downtown Savannah. It's hard to leave Carlos in a hotel room though because he opens the door and lets himself out. But I downloaded a walking tour on my phone, told Mina to behave and off the two of us went to explore Savannah. And O!  Driving into downtown I had the instinct to just ditch Asheville and move to Savannah. How beautiful. 

There were statues...

It even SMELLED good. We gave up on the tour pretty quickly- I got turned around reading the map- and just wandered. So many people out, the parks are gorgeous, the downtown historic district was amazing and I just don't understand why I'm not living in one of those beautiful historic townhomes.   I WILL go back. It's also on my Zillow morning real estate porn list now.

And trees dripping Spanish moss...

Plus historic buildings with gorgeous stairs.

The next day I loaded up the animals and decided to visit Tybee Island before we left the area. Only 30 minutes from downtown, it seemed a shame not to go. But...it turns out dogs are not allowed on the beaches at all. So I went to the Lighthouse-climbed all 150 stairs to the top- and took a picture of the beach at least. It looked so inviting.  Again, I will go back.

The Tybee Island Lighthouse.

My legs were sore for dayyyyyyssss.

And the beach. No dogs allowed, $300 fine. Bah humbug.

And then...

we headed North West.   Arrived in Asheville early evening. And have been here ever since. A total of 3200 miles traveled to get here.

I did wake up the first morning in this very sparsely furnished apartment and think "what the Hell am I doing?"  I have a blow up air mattress, two chairs and a folding table. One friend in Asheville, another couple in Hendersonville just 30 minutes away are my only connections. 

Then I remembered the rule I used when I moved to Colorado full time. Do it like you mean it.

Also I reminded myself that there is no law that says I can't change my mind. This is an exploratory adventure. I can live just about anywhere. This is my time to figure out where that will be. 

So I researched parks, museums, contacted a woman about a silver working class, joined MeetUp, and  perused Bumble. (Bit of a waste unless I'm looking for Conservative Christians...a group I have soured on.)  Took the first two days to put the apartment in order and stock the kitchen.  Joined a MeetUp group for Taco Tuesday. Met some new people. Visited the arboretum and walked Carlos until we both dropped. It's exhausting being social after a solid year spent with basically one person. But.  I am doing it like I mean it.

So much green at the Arboretum.

Friend Diana is coming this weekend. I am slowly getting plans in place for the rest of the month. I do want to go spend some days in Savannah. I've heard its a great place to visit, but not so great to live. I need to see for myself.