Mistake and Travels

I woke with my alarm at 6, and that was not happening. Ugh! After 7, I finally got out of bed, found the shower (it had not moved, but I had been in so many different hotels in a week that I got mixed up), and soon was dressed and had the excellent though industrial complimentary breakfast in the lobby. There, I wrote the blog of my travels and Joyce’s Celebration of Life. It was not without tears and smiles as I wrote it.

I finished in time to find the new rental Air Ford Bronco. It is gas-powered and runs roughly. Additionally, the parking brake mistakenly engages and disengages when the vehicle is in reverse, which is not particularly helpful and likely an undocumented feature of the reverse gear. I had to have that fixed once on the Volvo.

I found the Brooks-Howell Methodist Retirement Home using Nav on my phone. Soon, I connected with Gene (Susie’s uncle) and we headed with 20+ folks from the home for lunch. I drove Gene and used Nav on my phone; the Ford does not offer that, nor a connection to my iPhone that I have made work. To be fair, the trip has been too exhausting to try to make it work.

Lunch was at a what we would call an Italian-Greek fusion place in Oregon, Bellagio Bistro in Asheville, and I had the gyro (as did Gene). It was good. It came with a small Greek salad. We chatted about a few trips and enjoyed the company.

Gene and I returned the Brooks-Howell, and I received a note from a friend with a perfectly matching signature, stating that they had trouble getting some DoorDash Cards to someone. I ordered them, but then my Amazon account got locked. Hmmm. It was a criminal process, commonly referred to as social engineering in hacking. They wanted to “pay me back” by sending money to my accounts and thus get access to my account. I was unable to unlock the account on my Amazon account, and, likely, the few hundred dollars never reached Amazon or the criminals. But it was a reminder that the criminals. It was compelling until the “pay-you-back” part started. Glenda thought it was a criminal mess, but I was not convinced, at first, as the names and signature lines were a perfect match. Ugh!

This is the hook. Delete this. Look for a request to make a payment and repayment, and a short deadline. It fooled me because it was signed perfectly like someone I know. I did not see the email had changed; otherwise, it matched someone I know. Yikes!

Returning to more fun items…

Gene and Glenda had finished some more steps for Joyce’s estate, and then we decided to try the scenic Blue Ridge Parkway. We took my rental and soon crossed the traffic of late Friday in Asheville to the road. We stopped first at the nearby Visitor Center. I found some postcards and a few other things there to take home. We discovered that the road is still mostly closed from the hurricane damage; we had covered 15 miles. The only part available nearby.

I have driven the Virginia section of the same roadway years ago. We enjoyed a pleasant trip and stopped at a craft center where I got some cards. We stopped at the French Broad River overlook, and the road was closed after that. The view was breathtaking, and so was the huge thunderstorm headed towards us!

I am sorry to see the Blue Ridge Parkway closed. It would be an incredible drive. Let’s hope it will return soon.

There was a man using a drone to photograph the river. There was a threat of a thunderstorm, but the wind was quiet and the sun still bright. Near perfect for drone work.

We headed to Stone Ridge via a back-roads path that closely retraced our route on the Parkway. We found easy parking, and there was a table open. The place was loud, but the food was good, and our waiter was helpful. Gene had the ribs, Glenda had trout, and I had the Atlantic salmon. All was good. Gene and Glenda had leftovers for another day.

I returned Gene and Glenda to their house at Brooks-Howell and then missed my exit, taking an indirect route back to my hotel that included a few 10 mph curves. Hmmm.

At my hotel, I rested and soon woke up a few hours later. I had missed saying goodnight to Deborah. I did write a postcard to Mom Wild and took it down to the desk to get it mailed. I checked into my flight on Saturday, and my car return time is 2 p.m.

I then wrote the blog as I wanted to get it done to make the travel day, tomorrow a little simpler.

Thanks for reading. And be careful with those emails!