Yes You Can Shower In A Van

Paul Krause is the kind of person who sees a “safe” job as a launching pad, not a finish line. We talk about how he walked away from stability, moved into a van, and built a working life on the road through sports photography, weekend tournaments, and a constant cycle of planning, driving, setting up, and tearing down. It’s a candid look at van life logistics too, from gym showers to finding legal places to park overnight and dealing with the occasional 3 a.m. knock on the door.

Then the story turns into a masterclass in reinvention. When COVID shut down events, Paul had to pivot fast, choose a new home base, and figure out how to earn again. He shares why Black Mountain and the Swannanoa Valley won him over, what small-town community feels like compared to big cities, and how that mindset shaped BoxDrop Mattress, his low overhead, appointment-friendly mattress store built to keep costs down for customers. We also talk about rebuilding after a hurricane wipes out a location and forces another reset.

Finally, we get into the fun stuff: Escape The 828, an augmented reality escape room experience that runs on an iPad. One version is a sit-down game at a venue, and the other is a walking tour that turns Black Mountain history, murals, and hidden details into puzzles and storytelling. If you’re into local travel, interactive tourism, escape rooms, small business, or just love seeing a town with new eyes, you’ll get plenty to take away.

Subscribe for more conversations that spotlight the people shaping our mountain communities, share this with a friend who’d love Black Mountain, and leave a review with your favorite moment from Paul’s journey.

Best Buy Metals is the industry leader in long-life metal roofing and siding materials. With seven manufacturing locations, they deliver high-quality products at everyday low prices and at speeds others can’t match. But what truly sets Best Buy Metals apart is their people—a dedicated team committed to providing exceptional service for projects of any size, every single day.

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:29

Paul Krauss. I am glad you're here today. Thank you for coming in. I met you through the Chamber of Commerce. You were the first ribbon cutting that I ever did and um for this chamber. And um I was completely nervous and thought I was gonna be violently ill because I was like, oh my goodness, what if they don't do ribbon cuttings the way that didn't matter? It turned out great.

SPEAKER_01 0:51

It did not appear that way at all.

Growing Up Everywhere\n

SPEAKER_00 0:53

I know. Well, I'm I'm a really great actress. But then we met sort of through business club. A lot of these end up being business club people. I guess that's because who I build relationships with, because that's why we go to business clubs. So you build relationships with people. But tell me a little bit about Paul Krauss. Like, what's your story? Where are you from?

Leaving A Safe Job\n

SPEAKER_01 1:12

I'd say that I'm from all over. I was born in Illinois and I grew up in parts of Florida, moved to North Carolina, and I knew I wanted to get into business and education. And so App State in the mountains, I love it. After that, I wanted to work with kids and uh through education is what I thought. Started working with summer camps, and I realized that was a great way to give back to the community. But as life continues to change, I decided to leave a what very felt like a very safe government job and with a retirement and benefits and move into a van.

SPEAKER_00 1:47

All right.

SPEAKER_01 1:48

Open business, travel the country.

SPEAKER_00 1:50

So you did business from a van and you lived in the van and you traveled the country.

SPEAKER_01 1:54

Yes. When I didn't get my master's in education to pursue that, you know, path, uh-huh. I decided to move into a van. I did sports photography and worked a lot of tournaments. So every weekend I was taking photos and selling them on the spot and you know, just set up, break down, and I was done with that job for the weekend. So I got to travel. Most of my week I learned was lining up jobs for the weekend. So it kind of took away from living in the middle of the woods for weeks at a time. But they uh they call those rubber tramps.

SPEAKER_00 2:23

Rubber what?

Sports Photography On The Road\n

SPEAKER_01 2:24

Like where you're you're traveling across, so it's like that doesn't sound like a nice thing. I hear you, Kyle. But but it's uh it is very much that into the wild going into the woods. And because I lived in a van, I always had, I mean, the van was always moving.

SPEAKER_00 2:39

So how does somebody like, I don't know, take a shower when you live in a van?

SPEAKER_01 2:44

Well, so I had the bare minimum. Um so I had a gym membership.

SPEAKER_00 2:48

Oh.

SPEAKER_01 2:48

So yeah, it was I had an ex exterior shower in the van, but it was very tall, so it would hit trees all the time. So the it did not last as long as I had hoped. But but yeah, gyms have showers.

SPEAKER_00 3:00

That makes sense. I just didn't know. I mean I've never lived in a van, so I I didn't Oh, I learned a lot of this as I went. I thought so. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 3:08

As I do most things.

SPEAKER_00 3:09

As I do everything. So I gotta it's kind of my my life skill is figuring out life. That is kind of it. So van life. Uh so have you ever been somewhere and you were like, this is not a good place. I need to move or I need to like or are you just macho and don't worry about things like that?

SPEAKER_01 3:27

So I had quite a few run-ins, whether it would be with like police officers or community. But I learned that it was most places have I mean, you just like hiking around the woods, like you're you're aware of your surroundings, but most places had a lot of things to appreciate more than there were issues.

SPEAKER_00 3:49

Okay. So how do we get people who are living the van life to come to the Swannanoa Valley to come hang out and stay and visit for a little while? How do we get them near?

SPEAKER_01 3:58

Are there like communities or there's I think and yeah, there are a lot of communities, and I I think they they do come through. I see vans all the time, and of course, we've got like the KOA and other campgrounds in the Swannanoa area. I think there's one even up Highway 9 in Black Mountain. So it's yeah, it's it's a great setting for that because there's a lot of the amenities of town while still having a lot of the wilderness available within the arm's reach.

SPEAKER_00 4:25

Okay. So you and I went to with our friend Liam to the Light Center a couple weeks ago, maybe a week ago. For eventually, awesome. That was why you were telling him, hey, you need to do this, this, and I mean.

SPEAKER_01 4:37

Yeah, if he could get on their maps, that was one of the hardest things is finding a place to stay.

SPEAKER_00 4:41

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 4:41

Because especially out west, it's actually illegal to sleep in your car in some states. They would rather you sleep in the parking lot, like on the ground. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 4:50

Okay.

Safety And Community On Van Life\n

SPEAKER_01 4:50

And so just being able to find places to park. One of the tournaments that I worked, I literally parked in front of the tournament director's house. So I mean, there's there is a lot of community out there. You just have to know where to look and and what you're looking for.

SPEAKER_00 5:03

We have people call occasionally and say, can we park in your parking lot overnight? You're right. We look in the van, can we do that? And I'm like, I appreciate that they ask.

SPEAKER_01 5:10

And I also appreciate true. And I also appreciate when the like again, some police interactions were knocking on the van at three in the morning, and I was like, All right, I gotta get up. But, you know, I had the permission from the manager of this the business, and I and they were like, All right, you're obviously not doing anything, you know, you're not supposed to.

SPEAKER_00 5:28

Right.

SPEAKER_01 5:29

And that was it. Most of the interactions were that short and simple.

SPEAKER_00 5:32

Right. So what made you stop the van life and move here? Well, like did was the van like rolling down Swanova Valley, and you were like, Oh, this is where I want to live.

SPEAKER_01 5:43

The van, of course I had issues, it's a vehicle, but it did not stop here. I actually did choose to come here. Okay. What stopped the van life was COVID. I was not able to continue working because they stopped all the tournaments. And so without income, you know, yeah, hard to pay for things. Surprise, right?

SPEAKER_00 6:02

Yeah, kind of a thing. Yeah. Okay. So you thought, oh, well, I I know that Cheryl Hyde's gonna be there, so I'm gonna move there.

SPEAKER_01 6:09

That was my first thought.

SPEAKER_00 6:10

That was your first thought.

SPEAKER_01 6:11

And then second to that was how am I gonna make money? So that's actually when I got my real estate license and had some connections in the Boone area from where I went to college and that.

SPEAKER_00 6:19

That makes sense.

Finding Places To Park Overnight\n

SPEAKER_01 6:20

Um I'm working on living in the Black Mountain Swannanoa Valley longer than anywhere else. I'm just a couple years short, but we'll get there. Um but yeah, so I had the opportunity to open Box Drop Mattress and uh rolling into Escape the A28. And really what I learned and why I chose this area is why I thought I always loved the South because of the hospitality and you know, everyone's smiling, and it's just community. It really is the small towns. And so I found it all across the states in the small towns. You get to big cities, you become a number, you know, people are more worried about you know themselves and their world doesn't quite grow. You get to a small town and you start to see more community.

SPEAKER_00 7:02

Yeah, cool. Okay, so box drop mattress. When you when I first heard of box drop mattress, I'm like, okay, what is that? What does that mean? What what it tell me about your business?

COVID Ends The Van Chapter\n

SPEAKER_01 7:15

So my business model is really just focuses on low overhead. And so if I can keep my costs down, I mean, if you come in, you want to watch me unload a truck of mattresses, or if you want to meet with me one-on-one to look at the options or when we deliver, you'll also see my face. You can't get too much of me, right? And so if it's if it's me doing all of it, I'm not paying a staff of employees and no one's standing up there all day long, and then I get to pass those savings on. So it made sense. I was able to get in with all of my huge savings from Van Life, but I was able to get it started and really just, I mean, I started with I think seven options, and now I'm up to well over a dozen and offering a few sectionals and sofas. And and if you consider the the step back or the the rebuild after even the hurricane, it has been it's been a process. But I think being able to keep the cost down is is really what allows a small business like me to stay in business.

SPEAKER_00 8:15

And you moved, you were you you were in Swantanoa, and we I hate talking about the hurricane, but but in your situation, I'm over it. I'm tired of talking about it. I'm not over it. It'll always be part of us. But but you lost your business and you had more than one business in that business. But I mean, when I say you lost it, I mean it it we don't even know where it is. It's down the river somewhere.

SPEAKER_01 8:37

Very much, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 8:37

So then you moved to the East Side Business Park.

SPEAKER_01 8:41

Yes. In the same parking lot as Oak and Grist.

SPEAKER_00 8:44

That's right. That's right. And I taught you to say that.

SPEAKER_01 8:46

That is true. I can tell when you've coached someone in any of the uh the networking meetings, how they introduced their business. I was like, oh, Cheryl's had a uh touch their presentation. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 8:55

Yeah. There you go. Well, and and so somebody just needs to make an appointment and then you'll meet them there, and you can I mean, I've heard of people that you've met there and you've talked to them for an hour and a half, and they didn't, and they left and they were like, I didn't buy a mattress, but when I do, that's where I'm gonna go.

SPEAKER_01 9:12

I've had quite a few of those customers, yeah, especially the ones that want to shop around, which makes sense. I mean, it's a big purchase, and a lot of times they they meet with me first. It's super convenient, so it's pretty easy just to schedule a time, walk in the same day. And while they're pleased, of course, they want to be sure. Right. So they, you know, they shop around a few other places, and all right, I'm actually ready. I'm gonna come by. I wanted that one that I want you have that right, and then deliver it right away.

SPEAKER_00 9:38

That's right. Okay. So here's the ADHD. Sorry. This past week I switched, I live in a two-floor apartment. So there's upstairs and a downstairs. I guess that's what a two-floor is. Anyway, and I decided one night at 11 o'clock that I wanted to switch the bed. So I have a king bed on the top floor and a queen on the bottom, and so I switched them.

Choosing Black Mountain And Swannanoa\n

SPEAKER_01 10:03

Perfect.

SPEAKER_00 10:04

How in the world do you move a mattress upstairs by yourself? Because I did it. But there were a lot of bad words.

SPEAKER_01 10:12

So my fiance gets volunteered for some some work sometimes too. Yeah. I I I adore I could not do it without her.

SPEAKER_00 10:20

Okay. Okay.

SPEAKER_01 10:22

Give her full credit. She gets we both get to volunteer each other.

SPEAKER_00 10:25

That's right.

SPEAKER_01 10:26

A lot. A lot. We work a lot of businesses, our hands are in a lot of things. That's right.

BoxDrop Mattress Low Overhead Model\n

SPEAKER_00 10:30

Okay. Well, because I truly was, I was, I was almost I okay, I was crying when I was pushing it up the stairs. I get it. And I was like, I should have called Paul. He would have told me how to do this by myself, and I didn't. And then he would have said, Well, why are you just doing it? Why don't you just let me come do it? And anyway, but or why don't you just get a new mattress and have it? I live in there.

SPEAKER_01 10:49

You had a whole conversation with me.

SPEAKER_00 10:51

I did. It happens. It happens a lot. Anyway, okay, so box drop mattress, but the other thing, and I mean, not that I don't adore your box drop mattress business, but the other one is really fun. So I want you to tell me about X escape escape the 828.

SPEAKER_01 11:10

So Escape the 828 is an augmented reality, so a virtual escape room experience, and it can be anything from stationary. So for instance, we have our location at Lookout Brewing, and that I want to say is about an hour and a half, two hours, but everything's based on an iPad, and you can, of course, enjoy all the refreshments while you're there. But the gamified experience of problem solving and it's an escape room while you're sitting down. What I'm more excited about, even than the sitting down one, is when you can get an action pack and walk through a city and get to learn Black Mountain. You get to learn the history and the business. Of course, with a great storytelling experience, keep you entertained and just in tune with the entire two. This one will be about a two-hour experience.

SPEAKER_00 12:01

Cool.

SPEAKER_01 12:01

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 12:02

That's great.

SPEAKER_01 12:03

We have an hour and a half, but two hours. Some people run.

SPEAKER_00 12:05

Well, that's not gonna happen. But if I do us, it's not gonna happen. So people come in all the time to the visitor center and they're like, Do you have a tour? Do you have do you have trolley tours? And I'm like, it would take eight minutes for you to do a trolley tour through Black Mountain. No, we do not have one. So I'm so excited to be able to offer this to people coming to town. So it's interesting. Y'all have come and met with me and tried to show it to me so I would understand and I act like I do because I'm a really great actress, but can't wait to actually do the do the thing.

SPEAKER_01 12:35

So well, and when people I think they hear augmented reality and think virtual reality, and it's not putting on goggles, like you're you're in the real world, but things just pop out at you. So you can watch a video, but then also the iPad can look at something that kind of pops out 3D. It's it is gonna be a lot of fun.

SPEAKER_00 12:51

Well, good, good. I've I've figured out what I'm gonna do. Anyway, I've figured out what I'm gonna do to to launch it is I'm gonna have my volunteers go on it. Like that's gonna be our our volunteer appreciation month is in April. So it might happen in April, I hope. Might be May. Don't know. But and but they're gonna be the first ones to get to go on the thing. And so and they'll they'll think that's cool, but also they can then tell people about it. So anyway. And I love that it's a joint venture with you and me. Well, y'all, you and Jordan. Or Jordan and the chamber. Jordan and you and the chamber, exactly. So I love that part of it.

SPEAKER_01 13:28

Well, and I think the visitor center would also, especially for your guests, we just this morning tested out what a like conference center would do. Like, so if there were teams that wanted to compete against each other, uh, we could even do it that way. So there's a lot of options. Oh, that's yeah. And it's just it is growing. So we are we're expanding pierces, divide them. Yep.

SPEAKER_00 13:49

And to two, because there's too many of them.

SPEAKER_01 13:50

Well, and again, you have that that timer, that might be why they start running. People are like, I gotta be first, I gotta get done.

SPEAKER_00 13:56

I can't wait till my volunteers hear that you said they might start running.

SPEAKER_01 13:59

I like to hear people laugh. I like to hear people laugh.

SPEAKER_00 14:02

Me too. Me too. Well, I'm ex I'm really excited about the the walking tour.

SPEAKER_01 14:07

But uh but and it's gonna have history in it as well as little known facts and things that people would not and a couple of puzzles and making sure you don't miss. I mean, how many times do you walk through town and you're like, oh yeah, there's a building. You don't you don't notice the mural that's right or the history of where why that building is there, and so being able to see all that and kind of I won't say be forced, encouraged. Right. But it's it it'll be a lot of fun. And I I enjoy learning. I also enjoy games and puzzles, and you mix all that together into one experience.

SPEAKER_00 14:41

Fantastic. That's right. I'm excited about it. So I also know you're like a world traveler and y'all do a lot of traveling.

SPEAKER_01 14:50

Try to.

SPEAKER_00 14:50

What do you miss when you're in some really cool place about home? And don't say your bed because that's like shameless plug for your.

SPEAKER_01 15:27

I mean, it it is family outside of you know the blood, but it's it is the family that you come back to.

SPEAKER_00 15:33

So, what do you wish people knew more about what do you wish people noticed about our community that they don't see when they just come visit for two days and then they leave?

Losing The Store In The Hurricane\n

SPEAKER_01 15:43

I think, and in all honesty, I think this is what I do when I travel to other places as well, is you don't, I don't want to just hit the highlights, like the one, the things that everyone sees. So it's the small hikes, it's the the you know, the places less traveled to be cliche. So, I mean, sure, downtown Black Mountain is phenomenal, but when you can step outside of the town and do some of the like the tower hike, or I never know the names of that.

SPEAKER_00 16:09

You made that up. That was the one you made up the name. Awesome.

SPEAKER_01 16:13

It's the one where you climb all the stairs to the absolute top, and it is tough, but it's it's right here in Black Mountain. I'm gonna have to Google it.

SPEAKER_00 16:20

The tour, there's stairs.

SPEAKER_01 16:22

Yeah, I don't know.

SPEAKER_00 16:23

I'm sure it's not Cotabba Falls.

SPEAKER_01 16:25

It's not a falls hike.

SPEAKER_00 16:26

Okay, because that's but my point that's stairs anyway. Sorry.

SPEAKER_01 16:29

No, but my point is is all the little things. So down to like I I think I catch people off guard when I'm walking around, even through town, or driving on a back road, and I'm like, wow, that's an amazing tree. And it's such a small thing. It's a tree in someone's front yard or in their farmland, but it's like it's a cool tree. That's a cool tree, and I think that's what people miss. Honestly, I think the locals miss it more than anything.

SPEAKER_00 16:51

You're exactly right. You need to go on the treasured tree walks if you've ever been on them. They're pretty cool. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 16:57

Or and like you mentioned, we have a lot of waterfalls. There's none like downtown Black Mountain, as there's never a waterfall on a downtown, but it's like get outside and go adventure. There's a lot of outdoor exploration.

SPEAKER_00 17:09

That's the draw of waterfalls. I I understand that it's there for me too, but uh, what is it? Is it the water?

SPEAKER_01 17:14

Is it part of it is the aesthetic part, part of it's also to get a little out outwardly or worldly and is the the sound and frequency of the water, like so returning to nature, but also moving rushing water ionizes the air. And so there's some science to it as well.

SPEAKER_00 17:35

Oh, now you're gonna nerd out on it.

SPEAKER_01 17:36

Yeah, that's a little bit everything. So it's like, what's why would you not want to go see a water?

SPEAKER_00 17:41

I know, but what because the hike is usually why I don't want to go. So if only they had one at down to the mound, I'd be good. Like, I'd like to go to Catawa Falls because you can go, you know, you can you can do 20 stairs. There's 508 of them. It's one of my gifts and talents, is I count steps. So I can tell you how many steps there are. But but you also can can can go only 20, and it's the same waterfall at the bottom as it is 10. So you don't have to do the whole thing.

SPEAKER_01 18:07

Well, and if you look if you do the research, there's a lot of super intense hikes, and then there's a lot of really short ones. I mean, you just stay at the bottom, you get to see the waterfall still. That's pretty cool. So there is something for everybody. Sure.

SPEAKER_00 18:18

Okay, that makes sense. Scientist. I didn't know you were a scientist too.

SPEAKER_01 18:22

I got called nerd a lot in in school.

SPEAKER_00 18:24

Really?

SPEAKER_01 18:24

Oh, for sure.

SPEAKER_00 18:25

I don't think of you as a nerd.

SPEAKER_01 18:27

I appreciate that.

SPEAKER_00 18:27

It's a compliment. You're smart, but you're not a nerd.

SPEAKER_01 18:30

I don't wear the glasses all the time. Yeah. There you go.

SPEAKER_00 18:33

Okay. Okay. All right. So I heard a rumor that there was one state that Jordan had not been to.

SPEAKER_01 18:41

So there's actually four stakes. But the reason Maine is gonna be last is that's where we're eloping. So that is. Oh, isn't it?

SPEAKER_00 18:49

You don't call it eloping if it's not a big thing.

SPEAKER_01 18:51

All right, well then it's a destination.

SPEAKER_00 18:53

Wedding with nobody.

SPEAKER_01 18:54

Yeah. It's a planned elopement. Planned elopement. Or a destination wedding with minimum. With no friends.

SPEAKER_00 19:01

Okay, good.

Escape The 828 Augmented Reality Tours\n

SPEAKER_01 19:01

All right. So yeah, we're gonna finish our northeast trip in Maine. And so she'll hit all 50 states.

SPEAKER_00 19:07

Are the other three in the northeast? Yes. Okay. What else?

SPEAKER_01 19:11

Which states?

SPEAKER_00 19:11

Yes.

SPEAKER_01 19:12

Uh Connecticut, New Hampshire, and Rhode Island.

SPEAKER_00 19:15

Rhode Island won't take long.

SPEAKER_01 19:17

Or Vermont. We're hitting all five states, but one of the- Oh, there's five now. Well, there's only four that she hasn't gone to, but I know we're hitting all five.

SPEAKER_00 19:23

Okay.

SPEAKER_01 19:24

So sometimes you can duplicate.

SPEAKER_00 19:26

Yeah, sure. That's okay. Yeah. Well, we need to talk before you go on that trip. Spend some time to go.

SPEAKER_01 19:31

You got some suggestions? Oh, yeah. Fantastic. Let's spend some time up there. And it'll be in hard time, but it was taught. Stend a hard time up there?

SPEAKER_00 19:39

Yeah, I went to high school there. So boarding school.

SPEAKER_01 19:42

Fair. And that's that is close to hard time, I would imagine.

SPEAKER_00 19:44

It was pretty close, but I loved it. It was good for me. Yeah. All right. So y'all are getting married, but it's a secret, and we're not going to tell anybody.

SPEAKER_01 19:51

Yeah, I didn't know I was supposed to keep it a secret.

SPEAKER_00 19:52

Well, it was funny because in the business club one week people were telling stuff as we went around the room, and you go, Oh, I'm getting married in Maine this year. I'm like, what? How do I not know this?

SPEAKER_01 20:01

Well, it had the story has evolved quite a bit from our initial, like, oh, let's just go do it. Because it was gonna happen in Portugal at one point, and that didn't, yeah. That was gonna be like, hey, while we're here, but you got in a fight and that would have done that. No. But it was like, all right, let's plan it. And then of course you have families, you have friends, and so now it's gonna end up being a year-long event.

SPEAKER_00 20:23

Okay.

SPEAKER_01 20:24

But I was like, Oh, we're gonna keep it simple. I couldn't have been more wrong.

SPEAKER_00 20:28

You were you were wrong.

SPEAKER_01 20:29

Yeah, used to that. And so now in uh June is when we're getting married.

SPEAKER_00 20:35

Oh, we have a date now.

SPEAKER_01 20:36

Yes. Yeah, the chat is starting to be planned. Yeah, but you told me that you stopped listening when you're done talking.

unknown 20:43

What?

SPEAKER_01 20:43

You told me that the last time I told you we were getting in the married. Okay, probably did. So June. June? Yeah. Like in three or four months.

SPEAKER_00 20:54

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 20:54

Yeah. What is it? April now? Yeah. Yeah. May June. Two months. Oh, two months. Always have to count them out. That's okay. Um so yeah, so married in June. We're having a family reception because they were family. Yeah. I mean in July, and because our families are all in different places, that's gonna be it's kind of hard to ask people to come for like a lunch. And it's yeah. So doing one here in North Carolina, and then around Thanksgiving, doing one down there, we're gonna have friends come by, which I need to talk to you about, in August. And then next year, we've given people enough time, we're trying to get like an all-inclusive because we're keeping it simple. End quote, air quotes, in next probably winter. So I mean, literally from June to winter. That's almost yeah, it's like nine months of wedding activities.

SPEAKER_00 21:43

Okay.

SPEAKER_01 21:44

Well, that most of them. But isn't that what the marriage is? Is like just wedding activities for the rest of your life?

SPEAKER_00 21:49

I guess so. Sure. It's supposed to be. That's the dream. Yeah. But I think that's the most elaborate elopement I've ever heard.

SPEAKER_01 21:56

Tell me about it. I I try to keep things simple, and as you've noticed, whether it be personal or work related, it never stays simple.

SPEAKER_00 22:03

No, my life is simple.

SPEAKER_01 22:04

I'm a pretty simple person, I think.

SPEAKER_00 22:06

I don't think so. I think we aren't. Yeah. So let's say you were having just an elaborate wedding, like, you know, big Mac Daddy wedding, where would you have it in Black Mountain or Swannanoa?

SPEAKER_01 22:21

That would be tough. I think s because I'm a more in the nature area, Swannanoa might provide A little bit more sp open space, like less congestion. Sure. But she is also a lot fancier than I am.

SPEAKER_00 22:37

Really?

SPEAKER_01 22:38

Well, and it's funny because all of her friends would say the like she's the least bougie person they know. But if you know me, she's like she's not used to being called bougie.

SPEAKER_00 22:47

Okay.

SPEAKER_01 22:48

But I think we would end up doing something fancy.

SPEAKER_00 22:51

Okay.

SPEAKER_01 22:51

A little like somewhere in the middle, but that leaves it not in the middle of the woods.

SPEAKER_00 22:54

Okay. Have you been to In the Oaks? Do you know anything about that place?

SPEAKER_01 22:59

I have not.

SPEAKER_00 23:00

Really cool. You need to get you need to get in there. Oh, I just tr I just trumped you on something. There we go. That's exciting. Yeah, it generally is. Anyway. No, you need to go see this place. It's really cool. Okay. Anyway. Yeah. Very cool place. And it's being renovated and redone and all this stuff. So it's it's gonna be really cool. You're I'm telling you now, you're gonna have to look it up. You have to Google it.

SPEAKER_01 23:22

Fantastic.

SPEAKER_00 23:23

It's really cool. Yeah. Anyway, let's talk about people behind their back. What about Tammy Potter? She cracks me up, she makes me laugh.

SPEAKER_01 23:32

I love that everything she has to stay is to say starts with a laugh.

SPEAKER_00 23:38

Yes, it does.

SPEAKER_01 23:39

I never noticed everything starts with a laugh. And it's genuine. Like you and you look at her, she's got a huge smile on her face walking in the door, even for the eight o'clock in the morning meetings.

SPEAKER_00 23:50

Yeah, with donuts and stuff. I'm like, what is that? What time did you get up, girl?

SPEAKER_01 23:55

And even when she can't make it to the meetings, there's always a shout-out for her. They are so involved in the community. Whether it's with the tourists, with local businesses, the the chamber, the visitor center, and they're doing their the they are, I should say they are the presiding sponsor for this podcast too.

SPEAKER_00 24:11

So that's kind of cool. Yeah. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 24:13

Does not surprise me in the least.

SPEAKER_00 24:14

Yeah. But uh yeah. So and then my uh the other extreme, the opposite end of that would be Hope Burke, who's like always even killed.

SPEAKER_01 24:24

And and she's a sneaky one though. Because when she gets it in there, she's I think she even surprises herself. Yeah. The I like to move it, move it, move it, move it. And it makes she cracks a smile, one that's like she's not trying to, and she still does.

SPEAKER_00 24:38

That's right. It she just makes me laugh. She was my first friend in Black Mountain, so it's kind of funny.

SPEAKER_01 24:44

She's very friendly.

What Visitors Miss About Town\n

SPEAKER_00 24:45

She is. She is great. Yeah. And then we've got a lot of new people. Like all of a sudden.

SPEAKER_01 24:51

You have killed it.

SPEAKER_00 24:52

Well, it doesn't have anything to do with me. It just all of a sudden I I know what it is?

SPEAKER_01 24:56

What? The consistency. Yeah. Even when things were not where we wanted them, they were getting there. And that's when a lot of people slow down, they try to change things up, and you knew you had a winning formula. Yeah, you just had to keep going. Yeah. And the snow thawed, and then everyone came out of the woodwork, and you've got 30, 40 people at each of these meetings.

SPEAKER_00 25:18

It's pretty fun.

SPEAKER_01 25:19

Yeah, fantastic.

SPEAKER_00 25:20

It's good. And it's what we've wanted for two years. It only took us two years to get there, but we got there. Yeah. And we meet every Wednesday morning. Might as well give it a shameless pass. Absolutely. Every Wednesday morning at eight o'clock. We start on time and end on time at nine o'clock at the Black Mountain Bistro, which is right next door to the visitor center. So, Paul Krauss, thank you very much for coming in today. I appreciate you and always have a great time when we're hanging out. But it's kind of fun to be doing something where we have to somewhat remain serious. So that was fun.

SPEAKER_01 25:51

Way we were remaining so serious. Just no cool, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 25:55

Good job. Good job. Thanks for joining us on Exploring the Valley. Until next time, keep celebrating the pride of our community and discovering the magic of the mountains. In the meantime, you're free to move about the valley.