In this special holiday episode, host Jeremy Markovich meets the man from Gastonia who became the world's largest manufacturer of Christmas ornaments and used his power to make North Carolina more tolerant of all religions.

This episode was originally released in 2018 and was adapted from: "The Unlikely Ornament King of Gastonia" which appeared in Our State magazine's December 2016 issue.

Additional music: Blue Dot Sessions

North Wilkesboro Speedway is hosting the NASCAR All-Star Race, a quarter century after its last major event. Why did it sit empty for so long? And how did it finally reopen? In this episode, host Jeremy Markovich takes a look back as a historic place now looks toward a new future.

More Reading:

• "Ghosts of North Wilkesboro" (2015) - SB Nation
• "The Inside Story of How a Dead NASCAR Track Finally Reopened After 26 Years" (2022) - North Carolina Rabbit Hole
• "A Night When Anything Was Possible" (2022) - North Carolina Rabbit Hole

Music via Blue Dot Sessions under a Creative Commons license.

Shortly after I moved to Charlotte in 2005, I became a Carolina Panthers fan because it was much better than being a fan of the Cleveland Browns. A few years later, I became the producer of the Panthers postgame show on a local television station. A few years after that, the production moved from the station to the stadium. It was there that I first heard a piece of information that I hadn't actually considered before: The screaming panther sound—the noise that you'd hear during home games whenever the Panthers did something good like get a first down or make a third down stop—was not actually the sound that a real panther makes.

You can read more here: https://www.ncrabbithole.com/p/panthers-arent-real

Closing song: "Riverboat Ron" by Crab Claw

After 2 1/2 years, host Jeremy Markovich is breaking his silence to explain, well, where he's been all this time, why you haven't heard any new episodes since then, and what happens now.

Read more here about the immediate plans for Away Message and its new home at the North Carolina Rabbit Hole.

In the season finale, our hikers reach the Outer Banks of North Carolina and end of the Mountains-to-Sea Trail. Now, more than a year later, we see where they've ended up and how the trip has affected their lives.

As our Mountains-to-Sea Trail thru-hikers approach the end, one final challenge remains: A kayak trip down two of North Carolina's most well-known waterways. All will have to grapple with problems that could potentially stop them from reaching their final destination.

In this bonus episode, host Jeremy Markovich talks with long-time hiking guide Jennifer Pharr Davis about how anyone can prepare for and pull off a trip on a trail, from day-trippers to thru-hikers on North Carolina's Mountains-to-Sea Trail.

Read Davis's story about hiking the Appalachian Trail from the October 2015 issue of Our State magazine.

Read more about her 2017 hike of the Mountains-to-Sea Trail.

Learn more about Davis and her company, Blue Ridge Hiking Company.

In this episode, we travel to Roseboro, a small eastern North Carolina town that sits on the route of the Mountains-to-Sea Trail but doesn't actually have any good places to hike. Yet. We also meet the trail angels that hikers depend on to get to the end, and talk to a woman who's attempting to finish the MST in just 30 days. Find out more about Tara Dower's attempt to beat the fastest known time on the MST here.

As Erin Brennan and Aaron and Lexi Harris pass the halfway point on the Mountains-to-Sea Trail, the path undergoes a dramatic shift from footpath to roadside. In this episode, we take a closer look at the parts of the MST that only attract the most intrepid hikers, and discover what it takes to bike and hike your way through a world built for cars.

When it comes to trail towns along the Mountains-to-Sea Trail, Elkin stands out. So how did a quiet place in the North Carolina foothills go trail crazy? We find out, thanks to the men who are building footpaths as fast as they can.