April 23-24: WINSTON-SALEM

How did this blog not get published? Shame shame. This is a special section of the tale. Imagine this post is snugly fit between Charlotte, NC & Raleigh, NC. The setting is Winston-Salem, home of tobacco and good people.

Remember how I forced us to embark on our journey a certain date by confirming a gig somewhere south of the city? South Bend. And it was a lovely experience, if you recall the blog. And our hosts were so lovely, other than letting us stay there, one of them has continued offering to help us attempt to get gigs along the way. He contacted me as we were on the road in North Carolina and gave me the name and phone number of a girl he thought may host us for a house show. She did! She was such a wonderful welcoming person, and around a dozen of her friends came to watch and were lovely and welcoming as well. It was a night of music, drinking and merriment in the best of ways. Even Yoshi felt right at home, which usually takes more time. Although before we arrived at her house, I had a fairly traumatic experience at the local coffee shop. As I went to upload pictures, I accidentally "removed" the folder that contained the road trip. I was horrified, and spent an hour researching and downloading programs to help me revive them. When that didn't work, I called microsoft help. They directed me to a computer worker lady called Kelly who I would instant message with and give control of my computer over the interwebs to fix the problem. This seemed strange, but I was assured by microsoft they were the trusted second party to save the day. After talking in circles and being told she needed to scan for viruses, she showed she found over 100 "issues" that needed to be fixed immediately, even though it was a brand new computer... I didn't like this and kept asking if it was necessary and how much it would cost. At first she told me $300 some dollars, then went down to $75 or something, saying it was absolutely vital and my computer could die any minute and she guaranteed results and my pictures back. I said it was under HP warranty and all I wanted was the free assistance promised for regaining access to my pictures (which no, were not in the recycle bin and could not "restore previous versions" etc). After she got attitude with me when I refused payment, we ended the conversation and I called my main man PJ back in the Chi. He of course explained how to get them back easily and free of charge within 5 minutes, and is one of the best humans I'll ever know for many reasons outside of this greatly appreciated rescue. What a guy! After my heart rate returned to normal, we headed to the house for what we were afraid could be a socially awkward night surrounded by strangers... and turned out to be one of the most pleasant unexpectedly successful social experiences of both of our lives.

It was a night full of unexpected bonding with charming Winston-Salem-ites and it was beautiful. The next morning our lovely host had made us coffee and left us fancy bread before she left for work, and after she returned we strolled the downtown and shared a meal. After we parted ways expressing many thanks for her generosity and sharing of her lovely community, we headed to the riverside park.

When Yoshi proved too socially awkward to run and play at the dog park, we drove through town and headed on to Raleigh... ever so grateful for our surprise 24 hour stop in Winston-Salem.