May 6, 2015.  Yesterday Brad felt 100% better, but still not good enough to explore Asheville.  So I left Doris in charge of entertaining him while I took the monster truck into town to visit the Biltmore Estate.  I have seen it before, of course, but it is always a draw to me.  I love the 3-mile driveway through woodland gardens designed by Frederick Law Olmsted.  The house, as sister Nancy would say, “always ceases to amaze me!” with its 4 acres under one roof, 240 rooms, 43 bathrooms, 4-story wrought iron chandelier in the grand circular staircase, and 70,000-gallon indoor swimming pool in which may have swum (although probably not in synchronous formation) Henry James, John Singer Sargent, Edith Wharton and General John J. Pershing!

To my best estimate, there were about 5,000 guests there yesterday — a Tuesday while school is still in session — which at $63 a pop (excluding expenditures for food, drink and Downton Abby themed tea sets from the gift shop) brings in at least $315,000 per day from the house tours alone — and there are lots of other amenities, such as an inn, a winery, horse-back riding, off-road Range Rover excursions, and things like that.  All these revenues combined appear to be more than adequate to keep this remarkable property running smoothly and attracting tourists for decades to come.  Hats off to the Cecil family who have done so much to keep this landmark piece of history at is prime and opening it up for all to see.

The truck and I made it back to our mountain top aerie just fine at about 3 pm, where I found Doris and Brad enjoying the view and chatting amiably with our neighbors.  We played some cards (I won consistently, as you can see from Brad’s “Queen” sketches on the scorecards).  A drone whizzed and hovered above us.  We cooked hamburgers outside and enjoyed our last evening on this wonderful Airstream adventure.  Time now to head for the barn.  Hope to see you all soon!