By MONTE DUTTON

Ever since I moved to the mountains, I have thought about going to see the Asheville Tourists play. If I had been a betting man, I would not have predicted I’d be sitting at HomeTrust Park on Friday night.

I also wouldn’t have predicted I’d get so much done on my screenplay Friday. I had fallen short of expectations on Wednesday, when I’d spent much of the day catching a ride to Clinton, S.C., to pick up my 30-year-old Ford pickup, and on Thursday, when I was simply unmotivated.

On Friday, I felt so happy with myself that I abruptly decided to set off for Asheville, there to watch the Tourists face the Greenville Drive. It was Dollar Dog Night with a postgame fireworks display.

Until recently, McCormick Field was the name of the facility. It was originally constructed in 1924, mostly of wood, and renovated in 1959, 1992 and last year. The field’s dimensions have changed little over the years, but now there are chair seats and a huge, gaudy scoreboard. It’s a bandbox, kind of.a reverse Fenway Park with its 36-foot-high monster wall in right field, not left. Left field is 326 feet from home plate. Right field is 299 with the wall. Center is 393.

First, an observation. Asheville Tourists is a great minor-league nickname. Greenville Drive is kind of bland. Hub City Spartanburgers is god-awful, but I’m sure it sells lots of jerseys and caps.

I bought a Tourists cap, which meant I was watching incognito because I am a lifelong Boston Red Sox fan and the Drive is Boston-affiliated.

The crowd was listed at 4,001, which, given that the capacity is listed as 4,000, seemed a mite exaggerated, probably due to season ticket holders who stayed home. I’d say the yard was about 80 percent full.

Parking is a mess, but a trolley bus with a friendly driver took me and a passel of fans right up to the bottom of the entry ramps.

Everyone was kind and friendly, even Mr. Moon, one of two mascots, who bumped fists with me as he paraded along the walkway on the third-base side. I started out on the first-base side but rambled around to take pictures.

The Drive scored a run in the second inning, right before I got there, and then seven more in the sixth, but the Tourists, a Houston affiliate, made something of a game of it in the ninth. Kyle Walker struck out with the bases loaded and two out, making the final score 8-4.

Hudson White belted a three-run homer to drive the Drive.

I listened to the Red Sox beat the Dodgers, 9-4, on the way home, thanks to satellite radio. July was the most successful month in Red Sox history. They were 21-4.

Live sports tend to leave me excited. When I got back to the shoebox, my travel-trailer home, I was up to 2 a.m. watching a great old movie, Odds Against Tomorrow, with Harry Belafonte and Robert Ryan.

Last night I dreamed in peaceful sleep of shady summer time / Of old dogs, and children, and watermelon wine. — Tom T. Hall.

Wellpilgrim.com takes its name from John Wayne, who liked the phrase, and the Kris Kristofferson song “The Pilgrim: Chapter 33, Hang on, Hopper.” The title of the site comes from my favorite song, Michael Burton’s “Nightrider’s Lament.”

If you’d like to contribute to the site, I can be reached at Adventure Village #6, 15 Adventure Ridge Road, Brevard, N.C.    28712.

I’d appreciate it if you’d consider buying one or two or five of my books, which are available on Amazon and at other bookseller sites. Two novels, Cowboys Come Home and Lightning in a Bottle, are available in audible versions.