2015 Maggie Valley Motorcycle trip
Day 6
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June 30
 When I wake up in the morning I can usually tell the weather by looking at Donna. Smile...sunny. Scowl...rain. She wasn't happy this morning. Bless her heart. My motto is any day I'm not at work is a good day...rain or shine. I think Donna feels like the rain is cheating her out of vacation time. The weather girls said there would be a break in the rain. When it does we are heading to Asheville to see the Biltmore Mansion. Today Pat cooked pancakes. He even brought his own griddle. Everyone said they were great. I didn't have any. I love pancakes but the majority of the time they don't love me. So I abstain to avoid any potential intestinal death on vacation. The same goes for biscuits & gravy.
The weather broke as predicted and at 10:46 we took off. Just in case we wore our rain gear.
The sky is clearing nicely although some of the roads are still drenched in spots. We took I-40 as it was the fastest route.
 Even though this is my fourth trip to the Biltmore I can't say I know exactly how to get there. Thankfully the route is well marked. Traffic wasn't bad and soon we were entering the grounds. The car in front of us is from Indiana. 
 At the ticket center we stripped off the rain gear, then went inside and purchased our tickets. I had pondered doing one of the extra cost tours. However, I hadn't did my research so I didn't know which one I wanted to do...so we took the standard tour. Pat & Christy watched the Biltmore video while the others smoked.
 I took a picture of this because it struck me as contradictory...a handicapped sticker and a mountain bike. It could all be legitimate, but handicapped parking sticker abuse seems to be rampant these days so maybe I'm being overly sensitive. Draw your own conclusions.
 John & Debby and Donna & I decided to be rebels and ride to the Biltmore mansion without our helmets. We made it about 100 yards to the ticket booth where the security guard asked us to wear our helmets. Busted by the man!
 The road to the mansion is about 3 miles long and the speed limit is 20mph. We followed an Infiniti G37 convertible on the way in. One day Donna and I were talking about convertibles and this was the one we both liked. This one was from Texas. 
 When we got to the parking area the attendent directed us to a lower lot in the back. When we were here in 2007 there was motorcycle parking up front near the entrance. We (motorcyclists) have been downgraded. It was a considerable walk from here so we waited for the shuttle.
Here is the truck I need to pull the 5th wheel that I can't justify. The shuttle dropped us off at the front of the mansion. Everyone snapped a few pictures then we headed inside for the tour. We've did the audio tour twice so today we're doing the self guided tour. This way we can look at what we want instead of what the audio tour directs us to. We noticed a few routing changes during this tour. In 2007 we went to the fourth floor but it was blocked off today. After the tour we met in the courtyard for lunch. Donna & I decided to go to the vendor that sold hotdogs. When Donna placed her order she said she wanted her hotdog with coney sauce. They said they didn't have coney sauce. Donna got aggravated, "$7 for a hotdog and no coney sauce?" She was giving the poor order-taking girl some hell. When we went to the other side to pay for it Donna noticed there was a container of coney sauce by the other condiments they put on. She asked the guy if she could get coney sauce on her's. He looked at her funny and said they didn't have coney sauce. Donna's horns were starting to show and she said "It's right there" as she pointed to it. He looked at the container and said "That's chili. I've never heard of coney sauce." Ahhhhhh...we've hit a language barrier. We're Yankees in the South. Now it was funny. The guy asked every employee in the restaurant if they knew what coney sauce was and no one did. Donna got her hotdog with chili and she was happy. After lunch we went to the shops. In the main gift shop they had wine tasting. Donna did some tasting and got a bottle of wine. It all tastes like paint thinner to me. We briefly checked out the other shops then headed to the restroom area. We all regrouped there. It was a nice shaded spot to sit and they have water fountains. The sunshine had made it warmer than I liked. We decided to check out the gardens next.
 When we got here I could hear the angels singing in Donna's head. She is a flower nerd. She likes to smell every rose and she did here. Watch out for the bees. I took pictures of the roses she liked. We spent some time here. Around 3:30 we decided to make our way back to the bikes. John & Debby took Pat & Christy for a tour of the fish ponds while the rest of us lazily sat under a shaded pergola. We didn't have to wait long for the shuttle. 
When you leave the parking lot you drive across the front of the Biltmore grounds. We stopped and took pictures of the bikes in front of the mansion.
 The exit road is ~5 miles long. It goes by the gardens, through the estate, passed the winery, and eventually to the gate house. When the road gets to the winery you come to a tee. Go right to exit or straight to the winery. Or at least it used to. It appears they are building another inn and there is a lot of construction. Following the traffic arrows led us to a circle drive at the winery which led us back to another intersection where the arrows finally point you to the exit. I don't know if it was construction confusion or what, but the traffic pattern was a mess. 
 We came back the same way we went. The clear skies have given way to big, dark clouds. We made it home dry.
 Tonight is rib night. I get to tease Mike about his meat. It's fun watching him prepare it. Mike's ribs have been a vacation tradition for many years.
 John needed to run to the gas station for supplies and Pat asked if he could tag along on the trike. When they left the station John took him to the vacant Ghost Town in the Sky parking lot and let him drive it. What famous actor used to work at Ghost Town in the Sky? Click here for the answer.
 Even in a picture I can still smell these ribs. The girls made fixins (deviled eggs, baked beans, cauliflower) and we had a wonderful supper. A lot of paper towels were used. Debby also made TWO strawberry pies. The first pie didn't last the night and the second pie was very nervous.
The Biltmore. The trike ride. Mike's ribs. Strawberry pie. It was too much for Pat. Zzzzzzzz... Later we retired to the living room and looked at trip pictures. Pat had brought his Apple TV box. He and Christy could send their pictures from their Iphones to the TV through the Apple box via Bluetooth. Very cool and nerdy. For some reason the USB connection on the TV limited Debby and Jerri's SD cards to 100 pictures so Pat loaded them on his laptop and broadcast them via Bluetooth. Speaking of Bluetooth, I finally remembered to ask Pat about his Bluetooth headsets. He said he liked them a lot. They would last almost two days on a charge. Another benefit is that as long as he and Christy have their helmets on they can talk to each other...like if Pat is pumping gas and Christy is in the store. It sounds really cool. The problem for me is if I want to talk on the radio and hear the stereo in the helmets I need a bunch of Bluetooth adapters for the Goldwing. According to the Goldwing forums trying to get all the adapters to work together can be very challenging. Another reason for an updated Goldwing. Tonight when we were on the deck we heard a crunching/scraping sound. It came from the same house that whizzer boy lived at. Apparently his mom got a little close to the garage door. Ooops! You could hear her talking and there might have been some alcohol involved. Depending on the weather we are planning a shopping trip to Cherokee tomorrow. Stay tuned.
82 miles. Click here for the next day's adventure.
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