It feels weird to be saying goodbye so quickly. Asheville was just starting to feel like our home. On one of our final days, as I was doing errands for the next drive, I found that I was able to navigate completely without using a GPS. For me, this step is a big deal.
I am proud of my navigation skills and when I no longer need to use technology to find my way around, a location has a special place in my heart. All of the places that I can navigate myself are the ones that have had the biggest impact on my life. I won’t list them all, but they are all places that I’ve called home for some amount of time. Asheville, now added to that list, is the first of many I will call home this year.
Not to sound completely cliche, but I have to imagine I would feel differently if I was doing this trip alone. My heart was so easily attached to Asheville because I am on this marvelous trip with Sam. While each Airbnb and place is new, our routines and way of living remains the same.
In my goodbye to Asheville, I wanted to share the truth about what I liked and did not like. Inspired by the app Co-Star, I have made the below list. Their version says “Do” and “Don’t” based on your astrology at that time. Most of the options are usually random, but I enjoy them.
Fave
- Mountain Town
- Breweries
- Live Music
- Sunsets
Not Fave
- Altitude Sickness
- Minimal Nightlife
- Bagels
- Distance to Hikes
Goodbye & Hello
I think it would be depressing to write a goodbye piece without saying hello. Our journey is continuing on and our next location is: Branson, Missouri. The drive from Asheville, NC to Branson, MO is 12 hours (without traffic and stops). It ended up taking us close to 13 hours. We drove through Tennessee, Kentucky, and Illinois (for 3 minutes).
Branson, MO is the first time we will experience a time difference with our loved ones and employers living in EST. Now, we are one hour behind which means the first step towards being an extremely early riser has begun.
As we drove into Branson, we saw the main strip and it looked familiar. If you read my post about Dollywood and Pigeon Forge, you may have a sneak peak about what is to come. We haven’t driven down the main street yet, but it looked a notch nicer than Pigeon Forge. I will try to capture the strip with as much descriptive detail and pictures.
Airbnb Location Selection Matters
I am thrilled that we are staying a few minutes outside of the chaos. Since we are also working, I could not imagine being surrounded by so much noise. I know that sounds crazy since we used to live in Manhattan, but the noise here is different. I cannot explain it. In a Goldilocks situation, we are not too far away and not too close, we are just right (in distance) to the main area.
So far, we have been asked by a lot of our loved ones, why Branson, MO? When we first started planning this trip, we knew some big cities we wanted to stay in. Spoiler alert: one of them is Denver, CO. To drive from Asheville, NC to Denver, CO is almost 22 hours, so we decided to stop along the way.
We had heard of Branson, MO because of our experience at the Sight & Sound Theater. After some investigation, we found out that it is known to be the “Live Entertainment Capital of the World”. With a perfect distance between Asheville & Denver and a title like that, we had to see it for ourselves.
Challenge
Don’t let time be wasted while you are on a long road trip. Listen to at least one podcast episode that will help you learn.