Adventures in the night. Then Charlotte

I didn't end up staying long in Bedford. It turns out, travelling south for warmth only works if you don't get caught in a cold snap. It was too cold to go walking outside so I kept driving south, stopping for dinner on the road. But here's a photo anyway.

I pulled into a rest stop about 9:30 to get a few hours rest. I knew it would be cold, so plan was to rest a few hours, wake up drive some more, pull over and rest another few hours. First part went well, I slept until 1230 or 1am. Get back into the drivers seat, turn key and ... nothing. I'd left my headlights on, and with the cold temps the batteries had drained. I wasn't going anywhere. The next hour consisted of me asking every person who stopped to use the bathroom if they had jumper leads. No one did. I kept trying out the key periodically hoping to get lucky. And then, all of a sudden, the car turned over and sputtered to life. And so did the heater. Magic. Waited for the car to warm up a little. Drove a few more hours before stopping at another rest stop, making sure the lights were off, and getting a few more hours sleep.

I was very close to Charlotte at this point. Shortly after sunrise I was back on the road. Rounding the bend I unexpectedly came across the city. It was a magnificent sight.

No photo, I was driving.

I had breakfast a vegan cafe, great start to the day. I'd booked a super cheap hotel online, but they weren't able to check me in early. I did a google search of things to do in Charlotte when the phrase disc golf jumped into my eye.

The park was called Hornets Nest. After failing to find a disc at Walmart (my first Walmart trip as well today. It's big I guess) I stopped by to have a look at the course before going to a sports store. I never made it to the sports store because I was super lucky to meet my new friend Brian.

He's a huge frisbee golf enthusiast and great guy. He lent me a disc and we played a round of 18 together. His score of 72 was much more impressive than my score of 103. It was great to throw a disc around again. Although it is a bit more difficult throwing an actual disc golf disc rather than the ultimate frisbee sized disc I'm used to. Hornets Nest is his favourite course in the area (turns out Charlotte is kind of the frisbee golf capital of the world, they have heaps of courses) and I can see why. The surroundings are beautiful, and the back nine is essentially a walk through the woods; a bit difficult to play through but very picturesque.

At the cafe in the morning, I was told about the Mint Museum, which is more of an art gallery and free on Tuesday nights. I checked in to my hotel, had a long overdue nap, a shower and caught the last hour of the gallery. It was small but had some wonderful pieces. And with a pizza at a cool restaurant a few blocks away, the perfect way to end a wonderfully unique day in Charlotte.

Tomorrow morning I'm back on the road, this time headed west. I've decided to head straight for San Francisco and do Austin and New Orleans on the return so that I can catch up with Andy before he goes on vacation on the 22nd. Nick is also there this week, so it'll be good to see them both, and kind of do an early birthday thing with them.