In all seriousness I assume you want the NC mountains, but you can have that, without Ashville. Areas like Blowing Rock, Grandfather Mountain, and Boone seem to have less of the harmonic convergence crowd. And, they're (in my opinion) closer to a much nicer section of the BlueRidge Parkway. And you would be much closer to 'civilization' like Winston-Salem or Raleigh. (W-S is still 'Red' but Raleigh is not.Yet I still like W-S) And you can hit Virginia a lot sooner. Asheville is REALLY out there in western NC. It's also an eight+ hour drive to the coast. Something to consider if you like the coast.
There's still a lot of 'red' in and around Raleigh. Durham and Chapel Hill are very 'blue'.