Flash Backtime: A North Carolina Hit And Run

Just finished a 36-hour stint in Raleigh. Between fine meals at Sammy's Tap & Grill with NC State legend Derrick Whittenburg, and a late dinner at the legendary Amadeo's, there was a basketball game.

The Wolfpack beat up on Florida State with a number of outstanding performances by a deep and talented squad who picked up their 19th win. They're looking to better a Sweet 16 season a year ago, and with  monster efforts like 31 points and 13 rebounds from freshman T.J. Warren, they've got a shot.

Another one of the highlights of the trip was working with a college buddy as my play-by-play guy. To think, 20 years ago I was pouring beer on the kid when he was pledging the fraternity. Just goes to show you, you have to be nice to everyone.

But a trip to North Carolina on a sunny day (at least it was when I got there) makes me think about one thing: Wine. Huh?

August 20, 2009

I took one full day on the road hitting my favorite regional winery. Time well spent!


Raylen Vineyards is one of the jewels of the very underrated North Carolina wine country. Now it's not Napa or anything, but it's very good, well-priced, and well-decorated.


Plus, who am I to disagree with one particular high-profile wine fan:


Any winery that Mariano Rivera endorses is one that I could set up a cot in. I'd just wait for his arrival so we can discuss whether he prefers the 1996 Yankees or 2009 Yankees while we share one of Raylen's unique red blends.

When it was time to go, I loaded up the trunk to transport the alcohol back across state lines.


Now I'm no professional bootlegger, but I'm told this is how Nascar got started in these parts. Guys who were transporting moonshine had to drive very, very, very fast.

I took it a little slower. And when I got home I uncorked one, and took it even slower than that.

A Sunday Away From The Fray: Kentucky

Even with a whole day to myself, I couldn't bring myself to visit the infamous Harlan County. Despite what you gather from the TV show Justified, it isn't right next door to Lexington, it's a good 2+ hours away.

But I did my homework anyway on the central player of my favorite current TV drama. Harlan County is only home to just over 29,000 souls (96% white), and it has at least that many firearms. I met a Harlan native now based in Lexington, and he was actually wearing a cowboy hat just like Raylan's.

ME:   So what is there to do in Harlan on a day off?

HARLAN:   They do ATV tours that are pretty cool.

ME:   What about stockpiling guns and explosives? Is there like a Boyd Crowder fantasy camp?

HARLAN:   There's still moonshine.

ME:   So ATVs, explosives, and moonshine? Or as they call it in Kentucky...Sunday?

HARLAN:   Sounds about right.

ME:   What about Ellie Mae's trailer out in some Holler?

He laughed and said the show makes life look far more interesting than it really is. But some of the stuff is too real. Like last episode, there are plenty of families that'll blow your head off if you try to take away their government "draw."

The "draw" is the government disability/workers comp check for almost every human that has ever worked in the mines. It's ironic that people so dependent on the government are so against it.

Malcolm Gladwell's Outliers has a chapter called "Bloody Harlan" which examines the Culture of Honor that takes place in the American South. The quote that prefaces the chapter is "Die like a man, like your brother did." Generations have killed off each other in Harlan because of an insult directed at one's family.

If I spent the day in Harlan, chances are I would have insulted someone before the day was through. Which would have meant my chances of getting killed would be greater than zero. Especially if I was on the moonshine, setting of explosives while I was ATVing.

So I decided to stay in my Lexington hotel suite and catch up on expense reports. That never killed anyone.

A North Carolina Hit and Run

I took one full day on the road hitting my favorite regional winery. Time well spent!

Raylen Vineyards is one of the jewels of the very underrated North Carolina wine country. Now it's not Napa or anything, but it's very good, well-priced, and well-decorated.

Plus, who am I to disagree with one particular high-profile wine fan:

Any winery that Mariano Rivera endorses is one that I could set up a cot in. I'd just wait for his arrival so we can discuss whether he prefers the 1996 Yankees or 2009 Yankees while we share one of Raylen's unique red blends.

When it was time to go, I loaded up the trunk to transport the alcohol back across state lines.

Now I'm no professional bootlegger, but I'm told this is how Nascar got started in these parts. Guys who were transporting moonshine had to drive very, very, very fast.

I took it a little slower. And when I got home I uncorked one, and took it even slower than that.