The Whirlwind Tour

To Pigeon Forge, back to MB and the north to Martinsville Virginia

Chapter One-Ashville North Carolina

What started out as a short trip to Ashville North Carolina turned into a small adventure. Nearby Pigeon Forge, Hurricane Mathew, plus a death in the family turned our plan for a four day ride into a two week odyssey.

Tuesday September 27

Today we drove from our home in Myrtle Beach to Ashville North Carolina, a distance of about 300 miles. It was an interstate drive, we picked up I-20 in Florence and I-26 in Columbia, taking it all the way to our destination. We camped at Rutledge Lake RV Park which is just on the southern outskirts of Ashville.

The Bus at Rutledge Lake RV Park, Ashville NC

When we pulled into the campground I was struck with that feeling of DejaVu and said, I've been here before. I stayed here when I was traveling alone trying to decide in what direction my new life would go. Eventually I was able reinvent myself, although my goal of being a beach bum became being a southern gentleman who lives at the beach. That last part came about after meeting Millie, the southern bell who would capture my heart.

Earlier this summer we had to cut our planned three month road trip about a month short. So I guess I was harboring some unsatisfied wanderlust, and when Millie told me she had never been to the Biltmore Estate I made a plan to take her to the Vanderbilt home.

Because she had wanted to see the estate for a long time I decided to make the visit a special one. I studied the many different tours offered at various times throughout the day and the more I added, the longer and more detailed the plan was becoming. The more I thought of following a time schedule to catch each individual special tour, the less appealing this plan became. I decided the original idea was to do something special for my wife so that's what I was going to do.

The Biltmore

Chapter Two-The Biltmore

Wednesday September 28

I booked a private tour of the mansion which consisted of Millie, myself and our guide Tom. We mostly relied on Tom's expertise to guide us through the mansion and we saw all the highlights of the house tour, but we also got to go behind the ropes to see and touch things that others only viewed from the designated pathways.

Millie meeting our Biltmore guide Tom

Tom took us anywhere we wanted to go. We ventured from the lowest basement level to touching the underside of the slate shingles from inside an attic peak. We went outside on a narrow walkway at the top of the house walls. Some 80 feet above the ground, we could touch the hand carved gargoyles that guard the property.

The attic

Gargoles on the roof

More than just seeing the house our guide had many stories to tell. There was not a question asked that he did not know the answer. He was a walking Google app of knowledge about the estate and the Vanderbilt family.

In the Banquet hall

Banquet hall

In the basement

Millie and Tom in the Butlers Pantry looking over Mrs Vanderbilt's daily menu

Larry and Millie in the Winter Garden

After our tour it felt good to sit down in the Stable Cafe for a meal before winding up the day with a drive around the estate. Both of us had done enough walking today, not to mention climbing hundreds of steps, so decided not to walk the paths thru the gardens adjacent to the mansion. They were lackluster anyhow as it was between seasons. We drove around the garden and then continued thru the forest and pastures to the exit.

I'm not going to ramble on about details of the Biltmore, but will leave you with a couple interesting facts I thought noteworthy. The Biltmore was not the home of the family patriarch, Cornelius Vanderbilt. It was built by his youngest son, George Vanderbilt. The house has no structural lumber, it is built of iron and brick, covered with limestone. Because they didn't have filtering systems back then, every time someone used the 70,000 gallon indoor swimming pool, it was drained, cleaned and refilled, a process that took two days

My final thoughts on visiting the estate. I don't think I would have enjoyed it years ago when my life was centered on work and leisure time was fleeting. Now that I have the time and curiosity I found it very interesting. Being a mechanical guy I found the structure and it's advanced use of technology fascinating, the family history interesting and largely due to Downten Abbey, I even enjoyed the period living and working area's for both the Vanderbilts and their staff. The tourist entrance fee is rather expensive, but the estate isn't going anywhere, so wait until you're ready to appreciate it and then go.

Chapter Three-Mount Mitchell

Thursday September 29

Today we went on a road trip in the jeep on the Blue Ridge Parkway. It runs right through Ashville and the Highest point of land east of the Mississippi is 35 miles up that scenic drive. The elevation in Ashville is just over 2000 feet and we were several weeks early for peak falls colors so all the vegetation was still green.

On of the scenic pull offs on the Blue Ridge Parkway

The parkway climbed it's way thru the mountains and at around 4000 feet elevation we started to see the colors of fall and feel the crispness of clear nights and frosty mornings.

At about 4000 along the Parkway

At 6683 feet Mount Mitchell is the highest peak of the Appalachian Mountains and the highest peak in mainland eastern North America. As you can see in the picture the mountain top was in a cloud this day and with a temperature that had to be in the forties, we didn't stay up there too long.

Highest point east of the Mississippi

A few feet below the summit, close enough for us in this weather.

Chapter Four-Pigeon Forge

Friday September 30

If you have a wife like mine you can't be this close to a music mecca without stopping to see a show. Pigeon Forge is a multi-faceted vacation resort with about a half dozen theaters so we figured we'd scoot on over and catch a show or two. What's a hundred mile trip when there's music in them there hills!

Pigeon Forge Tennessee

Driving Note: From Ashville take I-40 to exit 443. Take the Foothills Parkway (rt 339) to left turn on rt 321, take 321 to Gatlinburg and go north on 441/321 to Pigeon Forge.

Millie in Riveredge Campground

We stayed in the Riveredge Campground which is on the lower part of town. All the theaters are grouped on the upper side, which meant we had to allow a half hour driving time for any shows we attended. That's OK, driving the Pigeon Forge Parkway is kind of like cruising Ocean Blvd at home which we do all the time. It's a constantly changing Kaleidoscope of people and flashing lights, there's always something interesting to see.

We picked up some coupons for a show that only performs on Friday night, so on our first day in town we went to the Country Tonight Theater. The show, called American Oldies, is a Rock and Roll revue. It was entertaining and we did enjoy it, but we considered it on par with performers who travel the campground circuit in Florida.

Saturday October 1

We spent the whole morning at the Great Smokies Flea Market, located up where Pigeon Forge Parkway ends at I-40. The flea market has 200,000 square feet under roof, over 1000 vendors and I didn't buy anything. Millie bought a heating pad, probably due to the many miles we walked. On the way home we ate lunch at the Apple Barn, a perennial favorite in Pigeon Forge, it is legendary for it's home cooking.

Waiting for a table at the Apple Barn

In the evening we ventured back uptown to see a show called “Soul of Motown” at the Grand Majestic Theater. This is a polished performance equal to the No Name shows in Branson Missouri. No Name shows is a moniker I invented for music venues featuring working musicians with no nationally known star as headliner. It's not meant to be degrading, in fact most of the time they are very good and always reasonably priced.

Sunday October 2

We went for a drive in the country on the west side of town, stopping to tour any campgrounds that looked interesting. Eventually we came back into town at it's north end and turned south on the Parkway to head back to our campground. Along the way we stopped at Floyd Garrett's Muscle Car Museum which houses one of the largest collections of American muscle cars in the nation.

I know which of these beauties I am taking home!

After touring the museum we went to Pizza Hut where our meal became a smorgasbord of pizza. Arriving a little before two we had a choice of a pizza buffet or menu items. We opted for the menu because we usually get the 2 med pizza special, best bang for the bucks and leftovers for several meals at home. As we waited for our order, our waitress asked if we wanted a couple slices from the buffet, as it was past 2pm and they were getting ready to close it. She brought each of us a plate with several slices. As she cleared the buffet she brought us another plate full of pizza. About then our order came out and we literally had the whole table covered in Pizza. None of it was wasted, we ate leftover pie for many days afterwards. Our hard working and friendly waitress made our day and I hope we brightened hers.

Pizza Pa Loosa

I have one more story about our campground. We were parked on the very last row of the campground and there was a high bank behind us. While walking Maggie I noticed there was a spring coming out of the bank, it looked for all the world like a clear mountain spring. The following morning Maggie and I walked up the road adjacent to the campground. It was a very steep climb up the hill. Cresting the top I was surprised to find the area above the “spring” was a water run off retention pond! Made me wonder how many people drank from the spring!

Chapter Five-The storm approaches

Monday October 3

As this trip progressed I kept thinking of ways to expand it. I was planning of returning on I-40 through North Carolina and stopping to visit the Airborne Museum at Ft Bragg. From there we would continue east to Atlantic Beach before running the coast south to our home. But, as you know Hurricane Mathew was bearing down on the US coast. Before we left home I checked the Hurricane center website and there were no storms in the Atlantic. So we left without securing the furniture on our balcony. Mathew spawned and flew across the ocean in just a few days and now that the storm was targeting South Carolina we would have to go straight home.

We had another unplanned occurrence, Millie's late sister's husband died. Our new plan became, go home, secure the condo, get funeral clothes and head to Martinsville Virginia. We would be there to personally express our condolences to her nieces and nephew and we would ride out the hurricane 200 miles in from the coast. 

We had a little time before the storm and several people had told us we should visit Maggie Valley. The nearby mountain vacation community was on our way home so we decided to spend one day there. We drove the short distance and booked a site at Cross Creek RV Park, which is right in the small village. The campground had good WiFi and cable TV, but on the morning of our departure I noticed my auto-transformer was boosting. That means the campground electric service had dropped below 110 volts.

After setting up we did a driving tour of the town and the nearby community of Waynesville. Granted my opinion is based solely on a drive thru, but I think Maggie Valley is more of a place you'd want to own a mountain cabin and less of a place you'd go for a typical vacation.

Maggie Valley NC

The nearby town of Waynesville has done what many towns, large and small, try but fail to do. That is keeping the downtown main street vibrant after Walmart comes to town. I guess it's where all the cabin owners of Maggie Valley go when they get tired of watching squirrels.

Waynesville NC

I know my critique isn't fair after my admittedly short visit, but I've traveled around some and I think I'm pretty good at quick assessments.

Chapter Six-Heading towards Mathew

Tuesday October 4

We drove home today, a reversal of our straight shot on the interstates. We refueled at the Flying J in Columbia SC and arrived back in Myrtle beach in early afternoon.

There was excited anticipation in the air, all the neighbors were asking, who's going and who's staying. The Governor is evacuating the low country down Charleston way and is saying to be prepared for an evac order for our neck of the woods tomorrow.

I also have this note on my calendar, “We finally finished drinking the awful Canadian bottled water.” This may sound surprising, I know I had this preconceived notion that water in Canada bubbled up from crystal mountain springs and tasted like an elixir from the gods, but we found the locally bottled water to be very heavily mineral laced.

Also from my calendar: Refueled Motor home, all service stations have lines of cars at the pumps, imagine the hardware and grocery stores are busy.

Wednesday October 5

We spent the day putting all the balcony furniture in the spare bedroom and packing the motorhome for the funeral trip to Virginia. I also took down the three ceiling fans on the balcony, both as a precaution and to refurbish them. I need to paint some rust spots and replace the remote controls when I hang them back up. The buttons on the remotes have succumbed to the humidity and only work intermittently. I am going to replace them with a different brand and hope they hold up better outside.

Preparing for the storm

Governor is warning of an evac order for Zone A (That's us) tomorrow.

Chapter Seven-The evacuation

Thursday October 6

Governor called for evacuation of Zone A (areas closest to the beach) this afternoon. We decided to beat the rush and left home at 6:30am this morning. We drove straight through arriving at Indian Heritage Campground in Martinsville Virginia at noon. We are 200 miles due west of the coast and 250 miles northwest of Myrtle Beach where the hurricane is forecast to make landfall.

Took the jeep to the car wash, can't go to a funeral with a dirty car!

Friday October 7

Rainy day, no wind, mid 60's, damp. That's my calendar notes for the day. We did go out and visit Ernest and Nancy for a bit. On the way home we stopped at Capt Tom's Seafood Restaurant for dinner.

Saturday October 8

Today was Sam Moore's Funeral and it poured rain all day. They had the service at the funeral home but canceled the grave site interment because of the weather.

When we got back to the motorhome Maggie was ready to go out and play in her pool so we put it under the awning to get it out of the rain and put warm water in it. She's a happy dog!

Maggie's pool

The hurricane is hitting Myrtle Beach today, power went out at the condo at 5:38pm. It would remain out for 24 hours.

SpringMaid pier in Myrtle Beach

 

Sunday October 9

Today we visited with Millie's sister Lucille at her new home in Greensboro North Carolina. It's only about 45 miles from the campground, Greensboro is just south of the border and Martinsville is just north in Virginia. We also visited with Jimmy and Brenda Self (Lucille's son) in their new home, also in Greensboro.

Chapter Eight-Aftermath

Monday October 10

The power and internet service was restored at our condo yesterday afternoon. I have a directors meeting scheduled for Tuesday so we drove home this day. We had no storm related road closures, detours, slow downs, nothing, it was a pretty uneventful ride.

We did see the occasional tree down in North Carolina but didn't see any significant damage until we got to the area between Marion and Conway South Carolina. Mostly we saw many trees down and some rivers out of their banks, but nothing blocking any roads. Myrtle Beach was the same, mostly tree damage but here some of the trees fell on the power lines.

In the days that followed all the rain from Mathew started draining down from North Carolina and all the low lying areas along the rivers suffered devastating flooding. The water was as much as 18 feet above the normal height.

Along the Wacamaw River in Conway SC

As for our building, the Cane Patch survived with no major damage. On the high ground here on the island, we had no flooding. The biggest concern was one of the electrical transformers in the building malfunctioned and we had four units with only single phase current. It took the power company several days to correct this. The only tragic event for the Cane Patch was one of our residents died during the hurricane from a heart attack.

We would be many days cleaning up, helping neighbors and doing some repairs, but life at the Cane Patch goes on. The ocean will smooth out the beach, the sun will dry the rain and soon in Myrtle Beach my daily acclamation will ring true once again, “Every day's a holiday!”

Every day really is a holiday when you live at the beach.