Back to Marion, NC for repairs
8/27/2019 - Now for a little history on the beginnings of the Vanderbilt fortune:
Cornelius Vanderbilt Sr. (they called him the Commodore) came to Staten Island, New York from The Netherlands, penniless. He talked his mom into lending him $100 at the age of 16 so he could buy an old boat. He saw a need for a way for people to get to and from Staten Island. He set up a ferry route and began making money. He bought more boats paid his mom back. Later on, he sold the Staten Island Ferry and reinvested in railroads. When he died in 1877, he had turned that $100 into $100 million. His son, William, inherited the entire estate. When he died in 1885 (only 8 years later), he had turned the $100 million into $200 million (at that time, he was the richest man in America). In today dollars, that would be about $6.4 billion. That was the beginning, from there William had four sons (and 4 daughters). His oldest son was Cornelius II (after his grandfather, the Commodore), who built The Breakers,. Then came William, Frederick, and George (who built The Biltmore). The Vanderbilt fortune faded in the mid 100's when 10 of the Vanderbilt mansions in New York were torn down and the other houses were sold or turned into museums. Well that is all for history today.
When we left the Biltmore, we all went to the stables, which were converted to shops and a couple of cafes and a restaurant. We had lunch in the restaurant (converted from the horse stalls) where we ate in an actual horse stall, watering and feeding areas included. The food was a little pricey, but good. Afterwards, we shopped and I bought 2 books; 1)on the house and grounds, and 2) on the Smokey Mountains, the Blue Ridge Parkway, and the Shenandoah Valley (these are all the places we do not have time to see on this trip).
We drove Trish and Susan back to their campground in Asheville, picked up Molly (Trish's dog) and her things for a 4 day stay with us while Trish takes her coach to Mississippi to a repair shop near the manufacturer of her coach. Molly seemed to adjust to our rig, and our dogs alright. She slept with Tom and I (which we were expecting).
08/28/2019 - Still waiting on parts. About 2:00 the parts arrived, so we packed up the motorhome and moved it to the shop. We waited in the lounge, with 3 dogs, for the rest of the day. About 5:30, Melissa, our Service Assistant, came in to tell us that the part from Newmar repaired the back-up camera, but the part from Freightliner only fixed the tail lights (it did not fix the dash a/c). We were considered "road worthy", so we could leave. But we decided to stay to see what it would take to fix the dash a/c. They will need to call the company that built the system in the morning. Back to our camping spot and dinner.
08/29/2019 - They called us in the morning to bring the coach back into the shop. We packed up again and moved to the shop. We waited in the lounge again for a couple of hours while they diagnosed the problem with the dash a/c. Finally, Melissa told us that the compressor had to be replaced (a four hour job), and they ordered the part from Freightliner. Hopefully, it would be here tomorrow. We moved the coach back to our camping spot, and called to cancel all of our plans for Kentucky---the horse farms, and the Jim Beam Distillery tour. At least we had free camping for 5
nights here.
08/30/2019 - Hooray, Freightliner came through with overnight delivery of the compressor. Again we packed up and moved the coach into the shop, while we spent another day in the lounge with 3 dogs. At lunchtime, I drove to McDonalds for lunch. We ate outside under a shade tree. I think the dogs loved it. This time they drove the coach directly to our spot after they finished the work, and we drove the Jeep with the dogs back to the RV. It was too late in the day (about 5:30) so we stayed the night.
08/31/2019 - Headed for Nashville when we left in the morning. It was a long 325 mile trip. We made a stop for fuel, and a stop for lunch and dog walking. On the way, we came across a fire in the Smokey Mountains. I thought these pictures were apropos.
We arrived at Two Rivers Campground in Nashville. It's really NOT two rivers--there is only one river, the Cumberland River, but it winds around the campground and is seen on both sides--go figure! Trish and the girls beat us there. The campground is on Music Valley Dr., only 1/2 mile from The Grand Ole' Opry and Opry Mills, a very large shopping mall.
We visited with girls when we returned Molly to her home. Trish was very pleased with all the work that was done on her coach, and knew what was left to do when she gets home. Now that both RVs are fixed, we can finish our trip.
Cornelius Vanderbilt Sr. (they called him the Commodore) came to Staten Island, New York from The Netherlands, penniless. He talked his mom into lending him $100 at the age of 16 so he could buy an old boat. He saw a need for a way for people to get to and from Staten Island. He set up a ferry route and began making money. He bought more boats paid his mom back. Later on, he sold the Staten Island Ferry and reinvested in railroads. When he died in 1877, he had turned that $100 into $100 million. His son, William, inherited the entire estate. When he died in 1885 (only 8 years later), he had turned the $100 million into $200 million (at that time, he was the richest man in America). In today dollars, that would be about $6.4 billion. That was the beginning, from there William had four sons (and 4 daughters). His oldest son was Cornelius II (after his grandfather, the Commodore), who built The Breakers,. Then came William, Frederick, and George (who built The Biltmore). The Vanderbilt fortune faded in the mid 100's when 10 of the Vanderbilt mansions in New York were torn down and the other houses were sold or turned into museums. Well that is all for history today.
When we left the Biltmore, we all went to the stables, which were converted to shops and a couple of cafes and a restaurant. We had lunch in the restaurant (converted from the horse stalls) where we ate in an actual horse stall, watering and feeding areas included. The food was a little pricey, but good. Afterwards, we shopped and I bought 2 books; 1)on the house and grounds, and 2) on the Smokey Mountains, the Blue Ridge Parkway, and the Shenandoah Valley (these are all the places we do not have time to see on this trip).
We drove Trish and Susan back to their campground in Asheville, picked up Molly (Trish's dog) and her things for a 4 day stay with us while Trish takes her coach to Mississippi to a repair shop near the manufacturer of her coach. Molly seemed to adjust to our rig, and our dogs alright. She slept with Tom and I (which we were expecting).
 |
| L-Molly; and R-Lucky |
08/28/2019 - Still waiting on parts. About 2:00 the parts arrived, so we packed up the motorhome and moved it to the shop. We waited in the lounge, with 3 dogs, for the rest of the day. About 5:30, Melissa, our Service Assistant, came in to tell us that the part from Newmar repaired the back-up camera, but the part from Freightliner only fixed the tail lights (it did not fix the dash a/c). We were considered "road worthy", so we could leave. But we decided to stay to see what it would take to fix the dash a/c. They will need to call the company that built the system in the morning. Back to our camping spot and dinner.
08/29/2019 - They called us in the morning to bring the coach back into the shop. We packed up again and moved to the shop. We waited in the lounge again for a couple of hours while they diagnosed the problem with the dash a/c. Finally, Melissa told us that the compressor had to be replaced (a four hour job), and they ordered the part from Freightliner. Hopefully, it would be here tomorrow. We moved the coach back to our camping spot, and called to cancel all of our plans for Kentucky---the horse farms, and the Jim Beam Distillery tour. At least we had free camping for 5
nights here.
08/30/2019 - Hooray, Freightliner came through with overnight delivery of the compressor. Again we packed up and moved the coach into the shop, while we spent another day in the lounge with 3 dogs. At lunchtime, I drove to McDonalds for lunch. We ate outside under a shade tree. I think the dogs loved it. This time they drove the coach directly to our spot after they finished the work, and we drove the Jeep with the dogs back to the RV. It was too late in the day (about 5:30) so we stayed the night.
08/31/2019 - Headed for Nashville when we left in the morning. It was a long 325 mile trip. We made a stop for fuel, and a stop for lunch and dog walking. On the way, we came across a fire in the Smokey Mountains. I thought these pictures were apropos.
 |
| The Smokies are Smokin' |
We arrived at Two Rivers Campground in Nashville. It's really NOT two rivers--there is only one river, the Cumberland River, but it winds around the campground and is seen on both sides--go figure! Trish and the girls beat us there. The campground is on Music Valley Dr., only 1/2 mile from The Grand Ole' Opry and Opry Mills, a very large shopping mall.
We visited with girls when we returned Molly to her home. Trish was very pleased with all the work that was done on her coach, and knew what was left to do when she gets home. Now that both RVs are fixed, we can finish our trip.
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