There’s just one thing better than a good hotdog…and that’s two of them. I stumbled across Tania Olbeter the other day while driving through Columbus. After having a couple of her Nathan’s all-beef franks, I knew the second time wouldn’t be by accident. Her hog dogs are that good!

Tania, whose business is called “Break Out the Buns,” sets up shop almost every Monday through Friday in the corner of the parking lot of O’Reilly’s Auto Parts on West Mills Street in Columbus. You can’t miss her. A large “hot dogs” banner catches your attention and a bright umbrella is your beacon to pull on over. And in the few minutes I was there to grab a couple of dogs and a few photos…a number of folks were driving in as well.

Tania says she’s there most days from 11 until 2 unless it’s a bad rainstorm. Her hot dogs are worth the drive. You can get them with any (or all) of more than a dozen toppings. She also has sodas and chips. And if you like, you could just stay in your car and eat them drive-in style.

Tania’s cart hitches up behind her car and she can bring it to your place for a catered event. You can find Break Out the Buns and Tania on Facebook, Instagram, and by emailing her at [email protected].

Everyone loves a good hotdog…and these are great! You're going to find me there again and again.











Click on each photo to see the full-size image.

I wouldn't say it was a slow news day today, but my day did start off with taking our geriatric miniature poodle (inherited from an uncle) to her senior check-up. Shayna (the poodle) doesn't particularly mind the vet visits and the folks at Bonnie Brae in Columbus are very nice to her. But she is quick to whip around and bite you if you call her a bad name or ruffle her feathers.

​So Dr. Nick and Nurse Kristen know she has to wear what they call a "party hat." I'm not 100% sure if Shayna thinks the party hat is silly, dumb, or above her poodle status...but she accepts it and is generally a good girl. She also knows she'll get plenty of liver treats throughout the process. Shayna is nearly 15 and my uncle got her through a rescue...so know one is really sure of her age.

Thanks folks at Bonnie Brae.

​When I caught up with Bear Tyler this afternoon he was slinging boiled peanuts. I didn’t get a chance to witness any barbering going on, but I’m guessing there’s a chair in the back of his classic 1966 food-truck “conversion.” It’s a site to see as well as the good-looking and mighty-good tasting peanuts coming out of the serving window. Check out the “salty dog platter” which is made up of several kinds of pickled peppers and a heaping pile of boiled peanuts.
 
Bear founded Bullhded Peanut Company in 1971 with hard work and grit and that’s what he still throws in the mix today. And yes, that’s the spelling of Bullhded. You’ll have to ask Bear why. 

​Mitch is a Polk County native. He knows just about everyone and pretty much everyone in the county knows Mitch or at the very least one of his relatives. Think Stott’s Garage, Stott’s Corner, Stott’s Ford, and his dad, Bobby Joe Stott owned Stott’s Chevrolet, which for years sat on the NC-SC state line.
 
By age 13 Mitch was working after school and summers as an auto mechanic at Stott’s Garage on Landrum Road. But even before that he was training as a mechanic. Some of his earliest memories are of assembling plastic models and taking apart and putting back together just about anything he could get his hands on. And all of these years later, Mitch is a professional mechanical engineer and he rightfully boasts that he’s self-trained. 

There are a lot of stories you could get from Mitch, but this short story will touch on just two. For six years Mitch was a professional drag racer and was named one of the Top 100 drivers of all time by Drag Illustratedmagazine in 2015. He was picked for this honor for being the first to break the 6-second threshold of racing a drag car on a quarter-mile track in Darlington in 2003. With Mitch in the driver’s seat and crew chief Ted Chavarria on hand, their car reached a speed of 231 mph to make the quarter-mile in 5.985 seconds. This time is still hailed as a milestone and the record itself held for several more years.

As Mitch was transitioning out of the racing world full time into other things, he found he had more free time to enjoy other hobbies. One of those was flying remote control planes. In 2008 while Mitch was flying one of his planes he found himself a bit frustrated with how the pneumatic landing gears were or in some cases were notworking. The gears started turning in Mitch’s head and all of that mechanical engineering and his incredible sense of how things work caused the proverbial light bulb to turn on in his head. He felt he could design and engineer electrically operated landing gears that would be reliable every time. The commonly used landing gears remote control planes use are pneumatic and depend on air pressure. They’re prone to leaks and other issues and the air tank has to constantly be replenished. So what often happens is the landing gear might deploy but there’s not enough air to keep it locked in place. The remote control plane, not an inexpensive item at all, comes in for a crash landing. 

Mitch set out to see if he could turn his hobby into his next profession. He solicited the help of a former crewmember of his, Ron Word, to help him come up with the electronic module that would be needed to run electric landing gears. Ron said he was pretty sure he could do this and in 2008 the two of them started “Down and Locked,” the business that would make a difference for model plane pilots across the world. Mitch had since bought out Ron’s share of the business and operates it today out of the end of a real airplane hangar tucked away in Green Creek that sits adjacent to Mitch and Joyce’s home. Yes, Mitch does fly real planes himself and has held a private pilot’s license for years. There aren’t many people who have a 1,700-foot airstrip next to their house.

Down and Locked is an amazing small business that remote control pilots all over the world depend for safe landings. It’s fair to say most people in Polk County have no clue this business exists. Mitch’s product is in remote control planes all across the world where people fly RC planes. His shop is filled with UPS boxes of all sizes ready to ship his product. It is an engineering marvel, but there’s also a constant battle to keep up and on top of competition. Cheap products out of China are an issue just like it is for thousands of US companies. Mitch cautions people that you get what you pay for with those cheaper imports. He stands behind his landing gears and other custom designed model plane parts. Mitch talks about the importance of customer service and that’s something a would-be user is not going to get when ordering a cheap part from overseas. The day I went over for the interview I could see Mitch’s customer service in action. While I was taking photos Mitch was making multiple phone calls on behalf of a customer who was in Florida to fly in a competition. The customer needed a replacement part and needed it that day. Normally, Down and Locked would have picked and shipped the part overnight even if they had to do a custom machining of it. But the pilot needed the part now, not tomorrow, so Mitch was calling one shop after another to see if he could get a machine shop in the area of the competition to machine this small $3 part to Mitch’s specifications so the pilot could get his plane back in the air and back in competition. 

It was exactly one year ago today when I posted my first “real” story as Foothills Faces. That was the story about Martha’s Amish Bakery and it was a perfect choice for my start. So today is my lucky day that the first anniversary of this blog and donut day at the bakery ended up being the same!
 
By the time you read this, the donuts might be gone. It’s a sellout every Saturday and Saturday is the only day they make their incredible melt-in-your-mouth treats.
 
Even though the bakery had been going since 2014, the name change just happened about the same time I went in looking for my first story. While I don’t necessarily plan to revisit each of my past stories as this next year progresses, I wanted to stop by the bakery just to check in. My sharing their story helped get flour sack full of new blog followers.

Gay Barefield has been a busy person for much of her life. She was once in upper management in a software development firm faced with pressures of deadlines, finding clients, and a never empty in-box. Gay knew something needed to change and the sooner the better. She made a fateful decision to give up the corporate life, go back to school (while still working), start her own business, and move to a farm in the Green Creek area. She’s never looked back.
 
The farm is a certainly more than a hobby farm but the work brings her great joy. Gay and her husband enjoy taking care of their two horses, a donkey, and a couple of dogs. They also raise a lot of their own food and get most of the rest from local growers at the farmer’s market. And all of that was part of the “slowing down” Gay knew must happen.
 
The farm life is just part of the path Gay took in moving from corporate life to a life less stressful. And in the process she’s learned a lot and is now helping others find their path or trail to a simpler life. In fact, she calls herself a “Life Journey Trailblazer” and Zen Chick is her “company” name. But now the company is just Gay and is far removed from the big business rat race. 

More to know
Gay can be reached at [email protected].

Phone is 864-680-1604.

Her massage therapy business, “The Healing Touch,” is open Tuesday through Friday. Check out the Zen Chick website at: www.ZenChick.com.

​Lyddie still has her Etsy store online and a year or so ago she opened up shop in “Workshop Vintage Market,” a business in downtown Shelby filled with an eclectic assortment of dealers. Right now this works well for Lyddie as she works to build the business into a full-time career. But now in addition to running her shop, helping when she can at home, and other tasks a young entrepreneur is faced with…Lyddie is holding down three jobs while also enrolled at Western Carolina University. She’s a nanny to two families, manages the local Loft Outlet’s Instagram account (and occasionally works there on weekend as well)…all the while finding every chance she can to go pickin.’

Dad’s Collectibles in Saluda is filled top to bottom, corner to corner with history and it’s obvious that owner Mark Ray is not just a shopkeeper. He’s part historian and part storyteller and can tell you the background of each item crammed into his shop. When you leave, you will have been enlightened.
 
On first glance you might think Dad’s Collectibles is a toy store. Not at all, though of course any of the items could be played with. And there are certainly items that children would love to get their hands on. Mark has Hot Wheels and is even a Breyer distributor for their line of equine items.
 
But this is most certainly a treasure store for adults. Mark has always been an enthusiast of die cast models whether it’s planes, trains, or automobiles. If it rolls or flies there’s a good chance Mark has it. These items are incredibly detailed down to the last bolt and they are truly collectibles.

He lives and breathes this passion for keeping history alive. In fact, he set up shop in the Historic Saluda Depot so that he could help keep the museum portion of the depot open on a daily basis. And if you wish to dig a bit deeper, Mark was also one of the influential folks who helped convert the old depot building into the museum that more than 10,000 people a year visit. 
 
Mark has had a love affair with models since childhood. What’s nice, he says, is that “what one can’t afford in full scale they can afford as a model.” His parents were involved in various forms of transportation. His mom was a flight attendant (called stewardess back then) for a few years back in the mid to late fifties until she married his dad and was forced to give up her job. His dad worked with Ford Motor Company for many years and was also a regional sales rep for Winnebago. His granddad worked as paymaster and treasurer with Queen City Coach out of Charlotte. It would seem natural that his parents’ and granddad’s work experiences led Mark to this hobby, which led to this being his work. 

To most people, they just dream about turning a hobby into their profession! To Mark, it just seemed natural.

Mark would love to see kids put down their smartphones, iPads, and Bluetooth headphones and see them instead get dirt under their nails and sunshine on their faces. Collecting something like a classic car, plane, or train could start that new interest in something other than electronics. 
 
Mark reflects, “At the end of the day, Dad’s Collectibles is my way of remembering some of the past and some of those treasured times in my youth and this is one of the few stores that puts you back in that era. You can’t move forward into the future if you don’t know your past.”
 

LJ Meyers runs Homeward Angels and his angels are white doves. A white dove release is an impressive site and one that can help heal, bring great comfort, and some needed joy to those who are mourning the loss of a loved one. And a white dove release can help celebrate a wedding, a major anniversary, a memorial service, and other landmark family events.
 
This story isn’t meant to give you the science and facts behind a dove release except to say that these are all homing birds and are trained by LJ to return to their loft at the end of a release. And in all cases these doves are safely back at home before LJ gets to his driveway even if their starting point was hundreds of miles away. 

LJ grew up in New Jersey but has called the Foothills home for over 30 years. He discovered the Carolina mountains and foothills when he was a Boy Scout and his troop would take spring trips to new and interesting places. He thought if he ever moved he would have to check out this area.
 
LJ has had a love of birds and other animals ever since he was a child. When he was just seven years old he rescued a common pigeon he found stranded under the Route 23 Highway Bridge over the Pompton River near his hometown in New Jersey. His dad let him keep and take care of the bird. It was then that LJ learned that his dad used to keep birds and his dad knew of a man down the street who had racing birds. A new hobby was launched.

LJ works as a finish carpenter for his profession and he’s a superb craftsman. I know that firsthand. But LJ’s always looking ahead and he was thinking it was time for those birds to pay their way. He has over 100 of them and they need feeding and care every day. LJ was familiar with dove releases through his contacts in the racing community and thought that maybe this was something he should do. His mind was made up one weekend while sitting in his garden. He wasn’t looking for a sign from above, but out of nowhere on two occasions people approached him and asked if he could help do a dove release. One was for a wedding and the other for a funeral…two completely different occasions but both people were looking for a way to bring special meaning to their event. And from that point LJ knew that this was the right thing to do.
 
LJ had no idea what path this would take him, but he didn’t hesitate to start the journey. Now 11 years later he knows he’s made the right decision. He has no plans to retire from his carpentry work anytime soon, but he knows his work with the doves will continue well beyond that. LJ’s Homeward Angels have helped families and communities celebrate landmark events across 18 counties in three states. 

You’ve probably seen Tyrone Perry’s bright red coffee trailer parked somewhere on the side of the road. He’s become a familiar site in the foothills. I’ve enjoyed a cup of Tyrone’s coffee at the Farmer’s Market in Columbus, another cup somewhere in Landrum a year ago, and for this story I found him at Toby Wolter’s “details – luxury home furnishings” business on Ashville Highway between Tryon and Landrum. Toby invited Tyrone to set up Java Up at his shop’s location and it has worked out well for both businesses. It’s a generous offer for Tyrone who had to rent space when he first opened up his coffee window. 
 
Tyrone developed his love of coffee while serving in the Navy, which is where he headed after graduating from high school. He served nine years in the service including three years in Europe where he honed his coffee tastes. After his military career Tyrone landed with the Ralph Lauren Company and that led him to the foothills where he became the manager of the store in Gaffney. Tyrone decided fifteen years with the Ralph Lauren group was enough and finally found a way to drink on the job when he became the manager of Openroad Coffee Roastery in Columbus for a year. And that helped set up the move into being his own boss.

Maybe Tyrone will have his own fixed coffee shop at some point, but for now he’s playing it smart. It helps being able to scout out locations (location, location, location), keep overhead down by operating out of a food trailer, and not having to worry about employees. That could all happen one day, but for now Tyrone’s working hard to make his Java Up business a success. And it’s happening. He’s at the Asheville Highway “details” location on Fridays and has a regular stream of customers, many being local artists who come together at 10 o’clock for a meet and greet at Toby’s shop just feet away. On Mondays through Thursdays Tyrone and his mobile coffee can be found at Sherman College of Chiropractic in Spartanburg helping fuel and sometimes caffeinate students, faculty, and staff. Most Saturdays during the season you’ll find him at the Farmer’s Market in Columbus, and the rest of the time he can be anywhere. In fact, businesses occasionally bring him on site as a special perk for their employees. Yes, Tyrone hires out for special events of all types.

Java Up has been his business since August 2015. Tyrone cooks up a variety of coffee drinks including lattes, espressos, and other coffee specialties. He also can whip up a smoothie, serve killer lemonade, brew a cup of tea, and open up a bottle of some specialty waters and other drinks. All the coffee drinks are freshly ground each day. He does have a few packaged snacks if you need a little bit of sustenance. 
 
All of Tyrone’s coffee comes from Leopard Forest Coffee Company out of Travelers Rest. He says they are great roasters and has worked with them since he got started on his own. Tyrone sells their coffee both as whole bean and ground. 
 
Tyrone is taking it one day at a time. One day he might add another coffee truck or a coffee trailer; he might even open is own shop. But for now managing this and being a husband and father is more than a full-time job. Tyrone and his wife are parents to eight children. They homeschool their kids and his wife, Angela, runs most of that and also has a couple businesses of her own. That will have to be a story in itself.

​Tyrone does have advice for others looking to start their own business and that begins with doing your research. He is thankful for the help he got from the local SCORE organization, which provides free mentoring from working and retired business professionals.