Durham, NC through Greensboro, NC

Nick: What to do first thing in the morning after a night of doing what we do best? I don’t know, maybe watch one of the greatest modern films of our time? That sounds good huh? We thought so too, which is why Talladega Nights was what played all morning as we slowly woke up. It gets better every time I see it.

Brian: Unfortunately that film is perhaps the peak of Will Ferrell’s career. It was nice to take a slow morning. I shaved my beard. We left Durham a little past noon and headed for Greensboro, which was our last stop before Nick’s ‘rents. Our Couchsurfing contact there was a girl named Kristen, and she said that we could go with her that night to a non-sequitur party. Wait, what’s a non-sequitur party?

Nick: Pasta Batman. That was her hedgehog’s name. When we first got there, we went to Natty Greene’s which was a local bar/restaurant type of a deal. They had good local beer. Superb turkey sandwiches. And I should know.

Brian: They also clearly had a rigorous hiring process. The waitresses were all gorgeous brunettes with perfect bodies. Hotter than the chili.

Nick: On the way back to the car from the restaurant was a poorly sculpted/painted bust of the late, great Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. with what came off as sort of a menacing plaque. The engraving declared that Dr. King had decided not to give his speech in Greensboro as planned, but rather stay an extra day in Memphis where he was promptly assassinated. Wow, Greensboro. Is that a threat? Are you implying that bad things happen to people that don’t come to your city as planned? We don’t care for that sort of bullying, and we won’t stand for it. We’ll go where we want, when we want. But, I guess there’s no harm in staying one night… Just to be safe…

Brian: Great call. We went back to Kristen’s and learned a dice-based game called Zilch from her friend Cameron, whose varied interests included pen-and-paper gaming, and screaming in a heavy metal band. We all got along well. Nick barely scraped out a win. Actually, it was pretty epic. I fired up somebody’s Xbox and poured myself a glass of SoCo, retiring my brain for the evening. It was at this point that Kristen required that we only drink out of crazy straws, like she was doing with her water. Oh wait, that’s not water, it’s blueberry vodka. What’s a non-sequitur party?

Nick: So the car fresheners we were wearing got to be VERY pungent when worn as necklaces. But we had fun at the party. When things slowed down a bit, Brian and I led all our new friends in rousing game of “Do You Worship Cthulhu?” which was of course excellent. The group was pretty decent actually: you could tell they’d spend time in summer camps before. After a less than successful game of Psychiatrist, it was time to pack it up and head back to the ranch. We stayed in the room of Kristen’s friend, and at some point during the night, perhaps for hours on end, we were alone in the house. The trust and generosity of the people we meet on this trip never ceases to amaze me.

Brian: Truth. Also by random chance about half of the people we’ve met on Couchsurfing have never hosted before. You could say that we are traveling the country stealing Couchsurfing virginity. Thanks for reading! Tomorrow takes us to Balsam Mountain. Nick and Brian powers, activate! Form of… blog!