Rio Travelers: ASHEVILLE, NORTH CAROLINA

Last stop - Asheville, North Carolina! The Biltmore Estate, egg in a bag breakfast, a painting demonstration by our "artist in residence", the Farewell dinner and more games. This time it was a Pancake Toss with judging for the number of pancakes caught as well as the style in which they were tossed and caught. A fun time was had by all.

The Biltmore Estate, built by George Vanderbilt in the 1890's is the largest private home in the country and is still owned and operated by the family. It has 43 bathrooms and at least that many bedrooms and a dining room with a table that seats 38. Unfortunately, photos of the inside of the house are not allowed so, if you haven't seen it, plan a visit. It and the country around it are breathtaking.

One of our guests, Monte Toon is a watercolor artist and he was gracious enough to treat us to a demonstration of his techniques. A very enjoyable evening was had by all who attended and I think there may be a few of us who try their hand at watercolors after watching Monte. His work can be seen on his web site. www.monte-toon.artistwebsites.com

Our Farewell dinner, held at a local restaurant was sad because, after 39 days together, it was time to say our good-byes. As with all our trips, it is hard to leave our new friends but, because of our traveling lifestyle, we are able to say "See you down the road" and mean it.

On that note - this will be our last post for several months. We will head home to Florida until sometime in June when we will head out again for points north and west. We will visit friends in New Jersey and family in New York then head to Vermont for two rallies. Our Maritimes trip was cancelled but we are scheduled for the Big Sky trip through South Dakota, Wyoming and Colorado that starts in early September.