It was another night of not so solid rest after the first 4 hours, but I did manage to get enough sleep in to feel rested. I'd chose to spend the night at an out-of-the-way place, but when I got there the gate 2 this site was locked. I ended up seeing a dirt road the opposite direction and figured since I was in the National Forest I would find a place to pull over there. Thankfully a local was coming down the road and was nice enough to let me know there was a pull off about a mile up. That was an interesting ride at less than 10 miles an hour over rugged terrain. It was a peaceful night and while I don't remember there being snow on the ground when I got there was when I woke up.

I made my way to University of North Carolina Asheville in hopes of meeting with someone from admissions since I wasn't able to coordinate with any of the instructors at the school. I did however speak with Professor Chris Oakley on the phone and we will be in touch next week about how our programs align. I was able to connect with Lindsey in the admissions department later in the day and she was able to enlighten me on the process that would make transfer there the smoothest possible. I also learned that the class sizes in general are around 20 students per class with the concentration areas being even smaller. That's a major plus in my eyes!

While I was waiting for our late afternoon appointment, I took a ride to the nearby Blue Ridge Parkway Visitor Center. It's part of the national parks so I was happy to spend my time there. I watched a movie that I thought had only been made a few years ago and turned out it was so well done the 13 year old movie did not show its age. The staff was friendly and knowledgeable in the exhibits kept my interest for well over an hour.

So the dumb move that I did today was blowing two fuses because I put my 12-volt hot pot into a multi-port cigarette lighter adapter. I thought I was smelling things from outside the car but it turns out I was frying the adapter. The reason it was two fuses is that after I blew it in the one port I moved the adapter to the other port to see if it's still worked which blew the 2nd fuse. Lucky I had those fuses on hand. Do you think it might have happened before? I will remember to plug the hot pot directly into the cigarette lighter adapter. I should have known better but this $10 lesson has really sunk in. And I'm sad because I really liked that adapter.

After finishing up at UNCA, I made the two-hour drive on to where I planned to spend the night. I got there just before sunset. There was a great rail trail I really wanted to walk. I didn't know which way to go so I just sort of tried one direction and changed my mind and went the other. As I decided I'd go back to the car since it was getting quite dark, a local family walked up the footbridge. I asked some questions about the area and the possibility of spending the night here and we continued to have a conversation as we walked the trail. (Kaden, Devin, Sarah, Charlene, and Jeff not sure of spellings) were great company. I got some local history, good conversation, and the ironic part of meeting is that Jeff is a trained graphic designer. What are the odds? I gave them my card and with Devin being ready with a pencil, gave them the web address to the blog. I hope they're reading this and they keep in touch!