I arrived at my Uncle Fred’s place around 10:05pm, after seeing my friends Matt and Bethany in Sandusky, Ohio. Nice smooth drive. I didn’t want to waste the freshly hardboiled organic eggs in my fridge at home, so I brought them (and a sack full of pomegranates, bananas, dates, oranges and lemons) along with me. The eggs were an absolute mess to peel in the car, and I ate some shell. Yuck.

New plan — put a garbage can in my passenger seat so I can throw peels and shells into it.

Also, I need to make sure it’s easy to move all gear in the front seat to the back so I can take a friend or hitchhiker with me without much work.

When I got to Uncle Fred’s, I saw the Orion constellation for the first time in a long time. It is one of my favorite clusters of flaming gases, always seeing it when I lived at home in northern Michigan. Good to see it again. Almost camped outside for kicks, but realized my sleeping bag wouldn’t do well with it. And with this cold still holding on, a bed indoors was a better option.

Uncle Fred had work this morning, so I checked in with the team and caught up from yesterday. Felt good to get up early and get things done, and now I’m winding down. Plans to hang out with my cousin this evening after dinner with the family. Excited to catchup.

Tomorrow, I’m leaving. I haven’t made my plans yet for where I’m going. A friend I used to work with at the bar is in Charlotte, NC, but I don’t know if she’s free. If she’s not, I’ll just go camp along the way. Get down to West Virginia for lunch, try to find some bluegrass bar to mellow out at.

Looking for the legend of D. Ray White…

It’s 4.5 hours to Jesco’s hometown of Madison, WV. Charleston, WV is just around the corner. Maybe I should see how CouchSurfing looks out that way? At a minimum, I can plan to camp in my tent, or hang the hammock up wherever.

Let’s see what the day brings.

EDIT: 3:16pm — There is a bluegrass jam outside of Charleston in Leivasy , WV. Just found the link here. Called, and there are usually at least 12 people, usually “thirty or more”. It’s at a community center, and I could probably camp behind, or meet someone there that would let me sleep in their yard. Sweet mountain music!