Day 2 On The Road

mountain Fiesta Pancakes and sausage

Good Morning from Appalachia Center of Craft, TN!

Our morning at Mountain Fiesta was wonderful, had some pancakes and sausage made for us at the sweet B&B! We then packed up, said our goodbyes to the lovely hosts and made our way to Asheville to meet with our FIRST interviewee.

We spent our day with JoAnna Carroll in Asheville, NC; visiting her studio, home, and garden and eating lunch at The Lucky Otter with her house mate Jan. She was a true inspiration to us, talking about life journeys and emitting the happiest of vibes! It seemed to be so serendipitous too because she contacted us the DAY BEFORE and said she was willing to be interviewed- when we honestly didn't even have an interview lined up for Asheville yet! She saved the day and all the while MADE our day. A day so full of human connection that we didn't really take many photos, unfortunately. But we do have our interview with JoAnna uploaded and ready for you all! You can also see it at www.vimeo.com/soapskeptics

After departing with JoAnna, we took a mini adventure down to the French Broad River where we collected some sticks, leaves, plants, and other raw materials to put in our weaving that will represent the state of North Carolina. Here is the finished product:

We put our card on it and left it somewhere in Downtown Asheville for someone to find. We don't have much room in our car, so we decided to just make the weavings then leave them around and hopefully people who find it will appreciate it, the weavings are like us... ephemeral in each city, coming and going and not many people notice.

We walked around and looked at some shops, got some post cards we'll be sending out soon, and got some AMAZING cold brewed coffee. Then, we hit the road for Nashville, TN. 

It was the SUPER MOON! So we had to pull over and take some pictures...

We arrived at the Tennessee Tech university Center for Crafts around 8:30 pm where we were greeted by the security guard and he gave us a key to this wonderful, less humble, abode where we will be staying until Tuesday. Today we are getting ready to meet with Jeanne Brady, the woman who set us up with this shelter and has been supporting our project since we contacted the Center for Craft way back in April.

Time to begin the day! Peace ~

Andrea + Rosie

SoapSkeptics

THE FIRST DAY ON THE ROAD

HI FRIENDS!

We left Metuchen around 4:30 AM Saturday August 9th, everything was smooth sailing until we reached exit 8 on 287 and realized we forgot a few vital items at Andrea's house such as back up batteries. SOOO we had to turn around and we didn't ACTUALLY leave Metuchen until around 5 a m. 

Our Lucky Barbie Dream Catcher

Our first stop and destination for the end of the day was Asheville, North Carolina. We booked an airbnb somewhere in the outskirts of the city and planned to meet with some locals to talk about art for the documentary. 

We followed the map that AAA provided us with and it helped us out a TON- we didn't have to waste battery and data on the GPS on our phones which was great. 

Blue Ridge Mountains

We took turns driving, about 3-4 hours each, PA was easy because we were just pumped to be on the road, once we hit West Virginia and Virginia we were ready to just nap and get to where we needed to go. VIRGINIA IS SO BIG OH MY GOD!! So many cows, so many fields, so many cars. 

About 1/4 way into Virginia, around 1 pm Rosie checked how far we actually were from Asheville, and we were far. Destination time was estimated at 6 pm- the event we wanted to go to with the locals of Asheville ended at 5 pm, so since we were no longer able to make it, we figured, hey… when in Virginia, do as the tourists do... and we visited Natural Bridge!

Natural Bridge is a 200 ft tall bridge that was naturally made out of erosion in the earth when all of that hunk of rock was UNDERWATER. Now, it is just a free standing bridge with a stream running 200 feet below it. It was epic. We did a little hike that followed after the bridge and got to see some exampled of Native American living: huts, TP's, weaving, artisan work, etc.

Afterward we hit the road again and fell in love with Tennessee! The most lively state out of all the ones we drove through by far- and the mountains are just amazing. I can't speak for Rosie,  but I fell in love with a mountain today… Wait, I just checked... yeah, Rosie fell in love with a mountain today too.

The rest of the ride to NC was super cloudy, foggy, and rained on and off. Our shelter for the night was quite a drive outside of Asheville which we didn't really realize, but it was the most beautiful drive ever. We drove 2,000 ft up a mountain to this lovely little house (we will document the drive in the morning because it's actually insane…. WE DROVE THROUGH CLOUDS) 

You Can Book A Stay Here on Airbnb "Mid-Century Barn Sleepover... YES!"
We HIGHLY Recommend it for a nice mountain getaway in NC.

This home is magnificent, the hosts, Brenda and Mo, are just so nice and they greeted us with home made oreos. Where we are staying looks straight out of a movie! Now that it is morning and we are well rested, we will be starting our day exploring Asheville and heading toward TN where we will meet with Jeanne Brady and others at the Appalachian Center for Crafts!

Peace and thanks for sharing this experience with us, guys!

~

Andrea + Rosie

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