To Be Elite Is Human: Aiken, SC to Asheville, NC

US 39 and US 56 from Aiken to Clinton, SC.  A very beautiful ride.  Hopped on I-26 and was blown away riding at 75 mph around mountain curves as soon as I hit North Carolina.  This is what its all about.

Something hit me as I was thinking of what Joe and Chris said in Leesberg, FL.  There are many communities in The Villages.  Apparently, if someone from one community finds out that are a resident of another community in The Villages, they get up and walk away.  Inter-Villages discrimination.  I thought how petty and small-minded of those folks who only associate with those from the same village.  The same phenomenon can be said to exist in our own small villages. 

There is an order of things and people create their identity based upon petty distinctions.  To feel important, we think of ourselves as a group that is better than others.  If you inhabit the internet communities, you know of what I speak.  Such absurdities are now a part of our national landscape.  What tribe do we belong to?  Of course, all this is meaningless - since we are all going to perish one day and no one will remember the slights we exercise today.  The only thing that will be remembered is how we helped someone along the way.

I hear about liberal elitism.  The truth is: we are all elite in our minds.  To be elite is human - a frailty.  The gun advocate thinks themselves elite because they belong to a group that lives by that creed no matter what the consequences.  We support this person or that person no matter what because we feel a part of that group.  The truth is that we must live in the gray area - as much as we would like to have everything black and white.

If anyone has any doubts about heaven, I have seen it first-hand in the mountains of North Carolina.  I am going overboard and staying at a dog-friendly pricey hotel in Asheville - the ALoft Hotel.

  



Polly is up for adoption at the ALoft (left)

A list, prepared daily, for activities in Asheville (right)








Had a great dinner at Limones  (margarita, lobster nachos, and scallops).  Megan, the bar tender, and I struck up a conversation about the meaning of life.  I did not say I was roughing it on this trip :)







I am going to ride around the Great Smokey's tomorrow and end up back in Asheville.  It would be a waste not to take advantage of all that is around me.

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