Appalachian Road Trippin’

[Borealis]

Appalachian Road Trippin’
by Francis Ferry, NLN baseball beat writer

October 15, 2030: Asheville, NC – Shortly after the Borealis dispatched Crystal Lake and jumped a plane for the Land of the Rising Sun, I was invited by PEBA Commissioner ‘Harry’ Castle to come to his office at PEBA HQ, in Asheville, to discuss new plans that the League was drumming up for the 2031 season – what the League has already dubbed ‘PEBA25’, in recognition of the Leagues 25th season.

For those of you who are used to reading my game accounts, you might wonder why I was heading east and not Far East, it’s simple – I won the little best of 7 Roshambo with Ray, and so he had to do the first leg of what we hope – anticipate - will be two trips to Japan. I will be covering game 6 and any needed game 7 for the paper. So nice of Ray to take the for sure trip – and I say that with all sincere sarcasm.

My flight from Chicago’s O’Hare to Charlotte was uneventful, and I rented my car and headed off to Asheville on the 74, then switching up the I-26 as the road dove into the Appalachians. Beautiful country, of course, and I was well familiar with the drive and the town of Asheville, having covered plenty a Winter Meeting and Draft since I began covering the Borealis for the Northern Light News back in 2011 – hard to believe it’s been 20 full seasons since my first Aurora assignment.

The Commissioner was a bit vague about what he wanted to chat about – all he would say was he wanted to share some designs, and ideas, and get a ‘press perspective’ regarding how ‘process will proceed’ – yeah… vague. But my conversations with ‘Harry’ in the past, while working for both the Borealis and the parent company, Golden Entertainment, have been head-scratchers – ‘Harry’s a thoughtful guy, but he can be hard to nail down sometimes – although get a martini or three in him and… look out...

He greeted me, enthusiastically, at the entrance to HQ – out in the street, car keys in hand and a backpack half slung over his shoulders, and after the usual pleasantries, he directed my to his car, which we climbed into and drove off. I asked where we were going and he would only say he had something exciting to show me – it was going to ‘blow my socks off’, good thing I was wearing jeans. He spoke rapidly, with excitement’ about a property he wanted to show me – ‘just up the road a little ways’, as we connected back to the I-26, headed north, before exiting onto the little 19E as it wound it’s way up a narrow canyon, and soon enough we transferred to the 221 and found ourselves dropping into the town of Boone.

Now a little about Boone – first and foremost it’s the home to Appalachian State University, what was once a small school, but with Florida State bolting the ACC for the SEC back in 2026, it was the Mountaineers who were chosen to replace the Seminoles. Over the last four years, as a result the town has grown, the school has grown, and construction is rampant.

I have been told by the reliable source, no less than Aurora GM, Will Topham – it was back a couple of years when Hurricane John almost took out the Draft, that Boone is also home to an ‘amazing’ miniature golf course that winds up along a mountain slope – he said he discovered it during his tennis playing days. Magic Mountain, I believe it was called, and he told me I was to check it out if I ever was in Boone. And so, here I am in Boone. With ‘Harry’ and Will being cousins, I hope this isn’t some ‘blind date’-thingy of sorts.

The town is quite lovely, for those who have never been here, and the mountain vistas – with the leaves all around in their east coast-fall glory of reds and golds, give this town quite the picturesque sense. It reminded me of many a small, eastern mountain village I’ve visited over the years. Quaint pizza shops, Ice cream, creative art galleries, Boone had it all.

As The Commissioner pulled up to a building that appeared to be a new construction and yet an older, remodeled theater (or such), I began to mention how the town reminded me of a town in New York state I loved visiting as a child – but he hushed me up, looking around, secretively – “Just look” he said, “imagine, fill this space with dreams” and with that he hopped out.

The building was huge once you passed through the doors, a large lobby space that belied the once ornate structure that again reminded one of the old movie theaters of your grandparents days; yes, this must have been a large theater once upon a time, and as one passed into the auditorium, you realized that it’s street front was hiding it’s immensity quite well.

Although still under construction, one could see that this thirty-foot ceilinged place was being divided up into floors and spaces – dare I say galleries? I turned to ‘Harry’ to ask a question – the obvious question, and he just raised his hand – stopping it before it came out, and just smiled.

I couldn’t let him stifle the reporter in me. “Harry, you invited me here, you brought me here, and you aren’t going to say anything?” I looked around as the space was impressive in it’s ‘reconstruction’, it’s foundation near complete – some electrical wiring still hanging from walls and ceilings, floors with poured cement being smoothed, paint being applied. “Why? If you’re going to remain secretive, why bring me here?”

And ‘Harry’s reply? “I want you to tell the world, big things are coming to the Planetary Extreme Baseball Alliance.”

With that, he turned and walked back the way we came, through the lobby doors, out the front door, and across the street to get a cup of coffee. I followed him into Bald Guy Brew and grabbed a cup, too. We sat at a table where the day’s paper sat, and he checked the sports page and smiled. “I see ‘Tugboat’ had another memorable playoff outing last night”. I nodded to that as I was checking out what Ray had to say about the game. “Do you think they can do it?” I asked, and as he stood to walk out the door for our drive back to Asheville, he replied, “I’m the Commish, I have to be impartial. But…” he paused and looked around to see who might be listening, “you know I hope so…” and with that he winked and opened the car door for me – such the gentleman.

The drive back was quiet – we discussed family, baseball, life in the Appalachians and how it differed from San Francisco or Aurora. But whenever I brought up the subject of the building he showed me, he just stared ahead, keeping his eyes on the road, his hands at ’10 & 2’ and smiled. Something was up, and he just wanted to tease everyone – and turn me into the teaser.

And so I tease.

I spent the night at the Hilton, before flying home, back to Aurora –prepped to watch game 2 on my laptop as I write this story – it’s not going well for John Turner at the moment. I’m not sure what to tell you, my loyal readers – ‘Harry’ was so tight-lipped about it all, but he did let leak that perhaps, if things went right, there’d be an announcement at the start of the PEC. “I might even do it on that PEBA podcast – you know the one I’m talking about? Make it kind of an exciting thing.” So… Stay tuned?

That’s the best I got for my trip to Carolina.