Nappanee, Indiana - North & South Carolina - Sevierville, Tennessee

Nappanee, Indiana

We took our Motorhome to the factory (Newmar) for minor warranty service. We enjoyed taking the factory tour.  Newmar is currently rolling 8 Motorhomes per day off the production line.  Newmar is an Amish owned company that has been in business for a very long time.  Doesn't that seem weird ?  The Amish don't use electricity in their homes, travel only on bicycles or horse and buggey but, they come to work and use electricity to build modern Motorhomes.  A lot of their employees are Amish and it certainly shows with their work ethic.   When we were in one of the production buildings, one of the production workers came up to me and personally "thanked me" for buying a Newmar coach.  I was impressed to say the least.  I love their horse and buggies. 

Look what we found in Indiana. Old RV Hall of Shame ( I mean Fame )

The smallest RV...it was designed for a child. 

The Oldest Travel Trailer in the world. 

1913 Travel Trailer and Model "T" Ford

Star Streak II, this is a custom all aluminum motor home built in 1988 using a 1976 Cadillac Eldorado Chassis. 

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After our warranty work was complete, we started our journey to Seveirville TN for a get together with 30 other Newmar owners.  On the way, we stopped in Gaffney, South Carolina where Freightliner manufactures RV chasis.

We had our 12,000 mile chassis maintance (wow, 12,000 already) at the Freightliner Factory and took a cool tour.  Daimler Chrysler owns Freightliner. This plant manufactures chassis for RV's, School Buses, trucks (UPS trucks is one of their largest customers).  At this plant, They produce 100 chassis per day. 

This is our diesel can. It holds 105 gallons of diesel fuel. That's a lot of money in fuel...Yes, it costs about $400.00 to fill our tank.

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BMW Factory Tour

Spartanburg, South Carolina

This fascinating and amazing factory produces the BMW XSeries. They produce 1,000 BMW XSeries in 1 day. No cameras are allowed in the manufacturing factory. Here are some outside pictures and BMW museum pictures...

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Biltmore Estates

Asheville, North Carolina 

This stunning home was built between 1889 and 1895 by George Washington Vanderbilt. Mr Vanderbilt wanted the architect to replicate the estates of Europe for his Biltmore home.  This home is the largest privately owned house in the United States which is 178,926 square foot and has 250 rooms.  One cannot really imagine the enormity of the Biltmore  without actually visiting it.

Mr. Vanderbilt died in 1914 from complications from an emergency appendectomy at the young age of 51. 

The Biltmore house was open to the public in 1930. This was done during the depression to help the financial situation for the estate. 

The original acre of his property was 125,000. After his death, his widow, Edith completed the sale of 85,000 acres to the federal government. This was Mr Vanderbilt wishes that the land remain unaltered and the property became Pisgah National Forest.  Over the years as finances demanded, Edith sold more property. To date the family owns 8,000 acres. 

To date, the Biltmore home is still owned by one of the Vanderbilt descendants. They employee 1700 people to take care of this historic home. (Yes. One thousand seven hundred )

We were not allowed to take pictures inside the home. 

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Kitty Land

Jack in a box (my favorite wine)

Thank you for all the Birthday wishes. I had a great September even though I turned another year older. Wishing everyone happiness and excellent health. Looking forward to October, Halloween is one of my favorite Holidays. 

The picture below was from the RV Hall of Shame. We should be ashamed of this old picture in borrowed hats. 

Gail & Jeff