6 October – Pigeon Forge

 Today was forecast to be wet, so we took Mick’s ute into Pigeon Forge for lunch at the Hard Rock Café, then we went for a drive in the mountains above Gatlinburg. 

We saw bears! We saw 2 on the side of the road eating, then a bit further on we hopped out of the car to look at a historic log cabin and barn. There are around 80 old homesteads in the Smoky Mountains National Park. When we turned back towards the car park there was a mum and her 2 cubs walking down the hill past us. It was a bit nervy having a nursing mother bear between us and the car as they get very protective of their cubs. We stayed still and they ambled on past and down the track. We made sure to make lots of noise walking back!

The rest of the drive was uneventful. We saw a turkey on the roadside, and stopped at another historic homestead (no bears at that one!) and got some photos of creeks and the surrounding trees.

We stopped in Gatlinburg for moonshine tasting at Sugarlands. There were 13 flavours in the tasting, ranging from blackberry to peanut butter. There was an apple pie flavour that tastes like apples when you drink it and caramel when you breathe out after it goes down. Dinner was at Bubba Gumps Shrimp Factory. The rain finally arrived and looks set in for the night.

5 October – Pigeon Forge

 We rode the motorbikes over the mountains to a place called Cherokee for lunch and back. At the top of the range we found that the Appalachian trail meanders along the range. It traverses 14 states, from Georgia to Maine. The range top is also the Tennessee / North Carolina border.

The views were spectacular. Quite unexpectedly cold up there too.

4 October – Asheville to Pigeon Forge

Today was a travel day. We went up and over the Smokey Mountains, with stunning forest views. The leaves are just starting to turn yellows and reds, so we hope to see some good autumn colours soon.

Pigeon Forge and the surrounding areas are very “theme park”. Lots of dinner and a show places, rollercoasters, Ripley Believe it or Not, Hollywood Waxworks and so on. We passed a “Trump Store for American Patriots”…

On arrival at the RV park, we had issues with the auto levelling jacks on the RV so we had to buy some blocks and go old school by putting chocks under the front wheels to get it level. A roving repair man came out and looked but the pump and motor for the hydraulic system need replacing. We met up with Steve’s brother and sister-in-law who have rented a nearby cabin for a few nights, and we will do some sightseeing with them in the morning. We are planning to ride the bike over the range to a place called Cherokee and back.

3 October – Asheville

 Today we visited Biltmore Estate. It was constructed by George Washington Vanderbilt II between 1889 and 1895 and is the largest privately owned home in the US. The estate cost about $5 million to build in 1889, which is just over $150 million in today’s money. The house is 175,000 square feet, which is more than four acres of floor space. It has 250 rooms, 35 bedrooms, 43 bathrooms, and 65 fireplaces and is designed like a French chateau.

The road through the estate is stunning, designed so each turn reveals a new vista. We were lucky enough to see a mumma bear with her two cubs frolicking about near the ticketing building. We stopped and took pics and video from the safety of the van.

We started with the Backstairs tour which takes you through the servants’ parts of the house. We went through passages and hidden stairways that the servants used to run the house seamlessly and unseen by the family and guests. The guide described the house like an onion, with servants’ layers and family layers separated. We saw the butler’s pantry, the servants’ bedrooms, the electric annunciators (for calling the servants instead of the old call bells), and the dumb waiters that moved food from the basement kitchens. Unusually, every servant had their own bedroom with shared bathrooms.

Following that we did an audio tour of the public rooms, the family rooms, the guest suites, and the basements. The house has an indoor swimming pool, a two-lane bowling alley, its own electric generator, central heating, and telephones. The guide described it as a smart home of the 1890s as it had every mod con of the era. The house is breathtaking, with art, tapestries, furniture and fabrics. We toured the kitchen and laundry, the storerooms, (they even had a walk-in fridge) the house operated similarly to a small commercial hotel when there were guests in. The Vanderbilts entertained regularly, with house parties and events.

We had a quick lunch in the stables, now converted into a café. We had the Tastes of Appalachia, a platter with pulled pork, chicken, baked beans, salads, and roasted carrots. Tasty!

The most interesting tour was the Rooftops tour. We went up to the roof and onto a tiny balcony to look at the gargoyles up close, out onto the domed roof that covers the grand staircase where we saw some of the original gold embellishments on the copper capping, and into the attic to see the inside of the structure and how the slates were individually wired to the iron beams. The house was made of iron, bricks, and limestone so as to be as fireproof as possible. From the roof, we had spectacular views of the surrounding gardens, over to the mountains in the distance.

2 October – Charleston to Asheville

 After stocking up on groceries and fuel (60 gallons) we set off for Asheville. The interstate highway had road works on and off for the entire trip, so it got a bit slow in places. We saw a truck that had rolled over on a straight section of the road – no idea how. The driver wasn’t hurt, he was walking around with the tow truck driver.

As we headed into North Carolina we climbed up the mountains. The scenery was pretty and its great to see that the colours are changing in the trees. We are hoping to see the autumn colours.

1 October – Charleston

 Today was our last day in Charleston, and we headed into town for a final look around. After a wander through the streets, we had a delicious lunch, then visited the Provost and Dungeons. The building was the original Customs House, and with over 100 ships arriving and departing each day, it was a busy place back in the day. It was used as a lock-up for prisoners for a while, hence the name, before becoming a post office and finally a museum.

We then had a quick look at the old slave market. It is closed on Sundays but still worth visiting. It was very sobering to consider the tens of thousands of people who were bought and sold like cattle. 40 percent of the enslaved people in the US passed through Charleston.

We walked by the waterside park, saw the Pineapple Fountain, and discovered Carriage Lane where the horse and carriage ride horses are stabled.

Then back to the RV for dinner and prep for the move to Asheville tomorrow.