In the late 1880s, George W. Vanderbilt, then a young man of 25, found the perfect spot in North Carolina’s Blue Ridge Mountains for a 250-room French Renaissance château to be built by his friend, architect Richard Morris Hunt. The great château would be called “Biltmore House” and it is the largest private residence in America and a National Historic Landmark.

Construction of the house in Asheville, North Carolina began in 1889 and while 1,000+ workers toiled away for six years, the house was far from complete when Vanderbilt officially opened its doors to friends and family on Christmas Eve in 1895.

The centre-piece of the 8,000-acre estate is a four-story stone house with a 780-foot façade. The house is a whopping 175,000 square feet (four acres) with 33 bedrooms, 65 fireplaces and 43 bathrooms!

Inside, works of art by Renoir and Sargent, among others, adorn the walls. A chess set and gaming table, belonging to Napoleon when he was in exile on St. Helena island, are on display in the salon and Chinese goldfish bowls from the Ming Dynasty can be admired in the library.

At the time of its completion, Biltmore House, with central heating and electricity, was considered one of the most technologically advanced structures ever built and is still admired today for its innovative engineering. It used some of Thomas Edison’s first light bulbs, boasted a fire alarm system, an electrical call box system for servants, two elevators (lifts), elaborate indoor plumbing for all the bedrooms and a relatively new-fangled invention called the telephone!

The front view of Biltmore House.

The side and corner angle of the house.

Ava Gardner was born on December 24, 1922 on a tobacco farm in Grabtown, North Carolina. She is buried at the Sunset Memorial Park, Smithfield, North Carolina, next to her brothers and their parents. Smithfield is just down the road from where we were staying and the town has an Ava Gardner museum, dedicated to her life.

Gardner first came to fame after her brother-in-law posted a photograph of her in the window of his New York photo studio. At the age of 18, MGM Studios became aware of her and signed her to a film contract based strictly on her beauty.

At 19 she married Mickey Rooney but they divorced a little after a year due to Rooney’s serial adulterer tendencies!

Gardner married for a second, and equally brief time, to jazz musician and band-leader Artie Shaw. Third time lucky was to Frank Sinatra whom she remained married to for some six years. In her autobiography, she says that Sinatra, who left his wife Nancy for her, was the love of her life. Allegedly, Sinatra and Gardner remained good friends for the rest of their lives.

In 1955 after three failed marriages and dissatisfaction with Hollywood, Gardner moved to Spain. She remained there until 1968 and a tax issue forced her to move to London, England. She lived out the remaining 22 years of her life in the London.

In January 1990 Ava Gardner died in Westminster, London at the age of 67.

Gardner mainly appeared in small roles until she drew attention for her performance in The Killers, 1946. She was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Actress for her work in Mogambo, 1953, and also received a BAFTA Award and award nominations for other films.

Raleigh is the state capital of North Carolina and is also known as the “City of Oaks” for its many oak trees that line its streets.

Today, Raleigh is one of the fastest growing cities in the US. According to a September 2016 Forbes article, Raleigh is the second best urban-living city at a price people can afford; it is the second easiest city in which to find a job; it is number two in America’s hottest spots for Tech jobs with plenty of opportunities for programmers and engineers away from Silicon Valley, California; it is number three in America’s 20 best cities for young professionals; last year U-Haul reported that North Carolina is the number one state for growth; Raleigh is one of the seventh hottest start-up regions; it is number five on the list of America’s next boom towns; and, North Carolina is number five among the top US moving destinations.

And, fortunately for Mike and Miss Poppy, Raleigh is one of the top 10 cities for beer lovers with some 21 craft breweries. Here they are trying a couple of them today!

Mike and Miss Poppy at Clouds Brewing, Raleigh, NC. The staff were so sweet to Miss P. bringing her a bowl of water and offering her treats.

Mike and Miss Poppy at the Big Boss Brewing Company, Raleigh, NC. No problem with Miss Poppy coming inside on a hot afternoon! She made lots of new friends and thinks she would like to work as a greeter!

We are now at the Raleigh Oaks RV and Cottages Park in North Carolina where we plan on staying three nights – a drive of some 160 miles from our last RV park.

We are keen on exploring “the Research Triangle” which takes in the cities of Raleigh, Durham and Chapel Hill. It is one of the most prominent research and development centres in the US with a mix of high-tech start-ups, global Fortune 100 companies such as IBM, Cisco and Sony Ericsson and cutting-edge research institutions including Duke University, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, and North Carolina State University. This thriving hub of innovation is home to more than a dozen pioneering industries including biotechnology, pharmaceuticals, clean technology, and information technology.

Our interest is from the perspective of a potential future retirement area as North Carolina has a good climate with winters that are totally manageable, an OK tax regime, it has good medical facilities and more importantly for Poppy, it has beautiful trees and lots of them!

Since arriving in North Carolina I have never seen so many trees as there are here. Everywhere you drive, as far as the eye can see, it is just green.

Yesterday, we drive out to the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. The university is very impressive with attractive departments and halls of residence spread over miles and miles and each of them with well-manicured grounds. With all these high-tech companies in the area, the universities are very well supported and it shows.

We also take a walk along Franklin Street in downtown Chapel Hill which is a student night-life hub as it is lined with trendy bars, restaurants and of course, craft breweries.

Poppy’s paradise!

While staying at the Briarcliffe RV Resort in South Carolina, we take a drive out to the U.S.S. North Carolina, which is permanently moored in Wilmington, North Carolina.

The battleship, commissioned in 1941, at a build cost of $70,000,000, participated in every major naval offensive in the Pacific during World War II.

With a compliment of some 2,300 men: 141 officers, 2,115 enlisted men and 85 marines, and nine 16-inch bad-boy guns, the battleship is equipped for just about every eventuality. It even had a soda bar dispensing sodas, ice-creams and sundaes!

The self-guided tour is excellent but what really made a difference on this battleship is a “Crew’s Memories” section on every information board. The memories are from original members of the crew and really bring alive what life was like serving on the battleship.

After touring the battleship, we head into downtown Wilmington for lunch and a walk around. It is a very trendy, happening area with lots of great restaurants and craft breweries, Mike’s favourite!

In 1961 the people of North Carolina raised sufficient funds to buy and restore the U.S.S. North Carolina which was moved to Wilmington as a tourist destination.

The battleship also carried two Kingfisher scout planes.

The city of Myrtle Beach in South Carolina is found on a man-made island, separated from the continental United States since 1963, by the Intracoastal Waterway.

It is a mecca for golfers boasting approximately 100 courses of varying levels of difficulty and price-range, and almost just as many companies vying to find the right golf package for whatever your heart desires.

Other than golf, Myrtle Beach is a major tourist destination attracting some 14 million visitors each year. The area has miles and miles of pristine beaches, water sports and parks, fishing, amusements, theatre, hundreds of restaurants and hotel resorts galore.

We are staying at the Briarcliffe RV Resort, a 300-site park, with a clubhouse and pool, a store, basketball court, mini golf in addition to all the regular stuff such as laundry facilities, showers and restrooms.

The park also backs up to the Intracoastal Waterway.

A sailing boat on the Intracoastal Waterway this morning.

A marina located at the back of the RV park.

But, it could have been so much worse! And, as ever, bad things happen in threes!

A catalogue of mishaps has shaped our day. Miss Poppy thinks that we should have called-in a “duvet day” and stayed in bed and I tend to agree with her!

Today is a travel day as we head from Hilton Head Island to Myrtle Beach, South Carolina, some 160 miles away. We plan on staying there two days checking out the area.

We are traveling along the I-95 and decide to exit for fuel. As we pull into the gas station, we realize that; a) the gas station does not sell diesel (which we need); and, b) there is absolutely nowhere for us to turn around! The only option we have it to disconnect the Jeep, reverse the motor home independently, and try across the street at a BP station which is advertising that is has diesel. No problem, but, and of course, it’s raining and storming……………….what else would it do when you have to be outside!

In the US, diesel fuel is marked by a pump a with green nozzle, regular fuel has a black nozzle. In Europe, it is the other way around. I know this well as I always have to really engage my brain the first time I fill up with petrol in London and again, when I return to the US.

Mike inserts his credit card, hits the diesel button, picks up the green pump and nothing. He repeats his actions and nothing. After several minutes the transaction is null and void! He contemplates the situation and realizes that he’s in a European-owned gas station and that he needs the black pump for diesel …………………can you imagine filling a 125-gallon tank with the wrong fuel………. oh my!

After traveling through terrible weather for most of our day, we call ahead to the RV park as we will arrive after the office closes. No problem, they will leave a gate key and instructions on where to park pinned to the notice board.

We arrive, pick-up our instructions and head to our site only to find that there is someone already parked there. Needless to say, it is just pouring with rain. I get out and trawl the immediate area and find a lot that is unoccupied.

For the second time in a day, we disconnect the Jeep, and Mike does his magical reversing act and swings the motor home on a pin-head to get it to fit on the site. The back of the motor home is hanging some three feet over the back of the pad and we are very, very close to our neighbours!

We will learn from all this!

From left: Artie and Miss Holly don’t care about our mishaps as long as they can look out of the window from their vantage point of the dash-board!

Interestingly enough, we are staying at the Hilton Head Harbor RV Resort & Marine in South Carolina, a park that has 200 RV sites and 16 of them are for sale! This is the first time we have seen this and it aroused our curiosity as to why you would buy a lot in an RV park and how much you would pay for it.

Walking around today, we looked at a good number of the sites for sale, what they offer and why the prices are so dramatically different. For example, the park has a number of sites that directly overlook the marina and several them are up for sale at a cost of $250,000. Sites in the centre of the park, without a view, and varying in size, privacy and accessibility, range from $52,000 to $85,000.

As to the question of why you would buy one, I don’t think that we are yet qualified to answer that one. But, we have some ideas! If you really like an area or are from there and will visit each year or want to have an extended stay, then I guess you buy a site, use it when you need to and with 2.5 million visitors to Hilton Head Island each year, you rent it out when not using it. Likely in summer months, in a place like this, that’s an easy task and in winter, which are usually pretty mild, you might get some takers. Otherwise the lot sits empty! As we travel more, I am sure that this answer will get refined!

An iconic Airstream in the RV park. This kind of lot goes for around $65,000 – it has space for your tow-vehicle, a picnic table and a fire pit.

This lot overlooks the marina and has a price tag of $250,000. The RV is what’s known as a fifth wheel and needs to towed by a heavy-duty truck (non commercial). The inside of this RV is much larger than our motor home.

Hilton Head Island is a foot-shaped barrier island located off the Atlantic Coast of South Carolina. The island is some 12 miles long and 5 miles wide and is commonly known as part of the Lowcountry, a geographic area stretching along coastal South Carolina and Georgia and including Savannah, Bluffton and Beaufort.

Approximately 40,000 people live on the island permanently with numbers soaring to over 2.5 million visitors a year enjoying the 23 golf courses, six marinas, 300 tennis courts, 13 miles of public beaches, boutique shopping, art galleries and hundreds of restaurants to name a few things of interest.

The Lowcountry also encompasses salt marches, cotton and rice plantations canopied by beautiful oak trees dripping with Spanish moss, an amazing range of wildlife including Alligators, Blue Herons, White Egrets, Dolphins and much more. Needless to say, none of these critters are leaping out in front of me to pose for the blog!

All that is super fun, but the reason for us being here is to re-connect with my brother –and-sister-in-law, Ron & Shari, and Mike’s cousin and her husband – the gorgeous George and Lorraine!

They all came over last night for a Barbie – our first official motor home party – and it was especially nice for Ron & Shari as they joined us in Alabama back in February to see the initial construction of Roxanne. For them to see it all finished and decked-out was super.

Ron & Shari Krywanio at the Tiffin plant in Red Bay, Alabama. 

From Left: Lorraine, Shari, Ron, Mike, me and gorgeous George at Head Island Harbor last year.

Tuesday, May 9.

We travel across Florida from Pensacola to Jacksonville, some 335 miles along Interstate Highway I-10.

It is a wonderful route as the I-10 is a well-maintained freeway with immaculately kept rest areas about every 40 miles. In each rest area there are two sections, one for cars and one for trucks with a “pull-through” bay for each truck.

With a motor home, as with a commercial truck, the last thing on earth you want to be doing is reversing especially when you have a car attached to the RV. In fact, you physically can’t do it, so maintaining a forward direction is essential. In these rest areas, you can pull into a bay, attend to your business, and then drive forward and re-join the freeway. In Florida, it would seem, most of the rest areas have night-time security enabling drivers to sleep at ease.

We overnight at the Flamingo Lake RV Resort which is a park with some 300 sites located on a lake. It would seem to “Mrs. Inexperienced-RV’er” that they are marketing to a range of different clients: 1) those stopping for a night or two; 2) RV owners who have kids and want to go somewhere for the weekend where there are activities; and, 3) folks who are full-timers and want the camaraderie of neighbours, the freedom to up-stick and move-on when they want, and the ability to access activities if they want.

Wednesday morning, we head from Jacksonville, Florida to Hilton Head Island in South Carolina via the I-95 – some 170 miles.

Oh my, what a difference. There was only one rest stop in the 150 miles we travelled!

We are now on Hilton Head Island at the Hilton Head RV Resort & Marina where we plan on staying three days.

Harbor Town Lighthouse, Hilton Head Island, South Carolina.