Reddit's Fantastical Voyage Pt. Seven

11:45pm - Arrive at RDU, immediately taken to bar by Talking_Head

3:00am - Bacon candies and pickled egg taste test

Monday September 21^st

11:00am - Take bus into Durham

12:00pm - Working lunch with beers at Alivia's

2:00pm - Wander around Duke

3:00pm - Meet the fabled Karmanaut

3:30pm - The curse of car trouble continues

4:30pm - AMA with Karmanaut, "Cooking with Karma"

6:30pm - Meet-up at Cosmic Cantina

7:00pm - Realize bacon may have turned, onset of mild food poisoning

9:00pm - Go to the Green Room, learn proper rules for NC shuffleboard

11:00pm - Go to Chapel Hill. Food at Artichoke & Basil Pizza

11:30pm - New bar with Mario Kart, broken Rock Band, and darts

2:30am - Dropped off at airport

4:30am - Stumble through security

6:00am - Depart for Pittsburgh

After much confusion as to where we were staying and if we had a ride in Raleigh/Durham, we decided to book the crappiest motel we could find based on internet recommendations and call it good enough. We arrived in Raleigh planning on walking to our crappy motel, finding beer along the way, and filming a drunken taste test of the assorted bacon candies that Workroom had sent us in the care package. We were surprised to find a ride waiting for us in the form of Talking_Head, who ferried us off to a bar in Durham, showed us a small taste of the town, and took us to our motel, which was surprisingly not crappy (maybe a little disappointingly so).

Here Talking_Head presented us with a gift from his mom, a jar of pickled eggs, North Carolina style. We sampled the eggs as well as the bacon candies (there is [or perhaps will be, depending on when you look at this] a video over on FoodProof) before calling it a night.

In the morning we took a bus into Durham proper to get close to Duke, home of Karmanaut. He was tipped off to our trip (still lurking, if you ask me...) so we had already talked to him a little. We were to meet him when he got out of class at 3:30pm, so we killed a few hours soaking up internet access at a restaurant before heading over to Duke proper. He got out of class early and we were not in place to try and ambush him as he exited class, so he came and met us near the phallic Duke chapel.

And then more car trouble. Another dead battery. Cars do not like us. The score so far: dead batteries - 2; out of gas -1. Campus safety came and jumped the car and we were on our way. We forced Karmanaut at gunpoint to log back into Reddit for a limited time, and then had to force him off again at gunpoint. We also cooked some of the bacon that Workroom had sent for a forthcoming video segment, "Cooking With Karma". We told you guys it was useful for something!

Karmanaut kicked us out because he had a hot date (with a girl!), so we made our way to the apparently famous Comic Cantina to gather up some Redditors for a night around Durham and Chapel Hill. Also, Tom and I became aware that the bacon might have spoiled slightly in transit. I am very glad I only ate one piece. We had a few beers and burritos before going to a little pool hall called the Green Room to meet up with Talking_Head, who had just gotten off work.

This place was one of my favorite bars of the trip so far. It was league billiards night, but other than people studiously playing pool the bar was pretty dead. Drinks were cheap, ambiance was abundant, and they had tabletop shuffleboard. A friendly shuffleboard shark named KC taught us the proper Carolina rules for the game. Everyone had a good time. But some of our hosts for the evening wanted to show us around their neck of the woods, Chapel Hill. They took us to a pizza place and to a little underground bar that was having a gaming night with Mario Kart, broken Rock Band, and darts. After trying Rock Band, I played darts with Talking_Head while everyone else played Mario Kart. Before too long it was late, we were drunk, and another night of sleeping in airports beckoned.

Next stop: Pittsburgh.