Bob’s RV Body Shop

With a recommendation from Carl Webber, the President of the North Carolina TARHEELS Newmar Kountry Klub, we headed to Bob’s RV Body Shop in Marion, NC to get the boo boo fixed on the Buses Bus.  I already got the bill from the Swan Bay Resort to replace the electrical post and fix the sewer line – $1,000.00.  Received the estimate from Bob’s – $4,000.00.  Ouch!  Total of five grand for the boo boo!

View from the hospital bay:

Before and after pictures:

They did an outstanding job!  The paint matched perfectly.

While waiting for the repair, we took Bear and hiked the Catawba falls.  Nice hike and Bear got a chance to play:

While waiting for the paint to dry, we headed into Asheville to see the Biltmore Estate.  When you buy the tour of the estate you can enjoy getting on the grounds the night before.  So, we did the wine tasting and had dinner at the Bistro.  I had the vegan paella – interesting and tasty.

Spent the following afternoon touring the mansion.  Biltmore is the largest house in the United States – just under 179,000 square feet!  250 rooms!  43 bathrooms!  125,000 acres!  Huge!

The barn complex had a petting area, playground and exhibits:

Got to witness a blacksmith performing his craft!

Outside pictures of the Biltmore mansion:

And the gardens:

The interior was fantastic.  Here are pictures from the Winter Garden, Banquet Hall, Salon and Billiard’s room:

The Banquet Hall is 2,100 square feet!  These pictures are from the Music Room, Library, a view from the Loggia, and the grand staircase:

George Vanderbilt’s library touted 22,000 books.  Going up the staircase to the second floor and seeing the rooms that the Vanderbilt family utilized:

George Vanderbilt’s bedroom, Edith Vanderbilt’s bedroom, their daughter, Cornelia’s bedroom and a bathroom.  The third floor was dedicated for guests and included a living room and enough bedrooms to host 32 guests.  The recreation area was located in the basement:

These are pictures of the indoor pool and gymnasium.  The pool was 70,000 gallons and did not have filtration or chlorine so they only kept water in it for three days!  There was also a bowling alley and a “Halloween” room.  Also in the lower level was the servant’ domain which housed the kitchens and laundry facilities:

There was a huge walk-in refrigerator and freezer.  The servants also had a dining room and bedrooms on this level.

What a fabulous visit and estate.  I highly recommend coming to Asheville and seeing this American gem and learn the story about the family, the heirs, the construction, the architect and grounds genius’s, and how they maintain this place.  But, after a long day of viewing this historic mansion (one that I studied during my architectural schooling years) we were exhausted and headed back to the Busse Bus.

The next day we took the jeep into Twisted Rod to get the tire fixed as we had a slow leak.  Met the nicest people there that charged us $10.00 to plug the tire.  They also allowed dogs so Bear got to meet some new friends.  With faith in the plugged tire, we drove over to Black Mountain to have lunch at the Trailhead.

We were able to sit outside and have Bear join us!

Next we headed over to tour new Newmar models at Tom Johnson’s RV (now another Camping World) place.  The new ones are really nice!  And expensive!

We got back in the nick of time to pay Bob’s for fixing the Busse Bus.  Since it was around 5:00pm we decided to leave the following morning.  As we were setting up for the evening, Dawn from the Twisted Rod stopped by and asked us what we were doing for dinner.  With no plans, we said “nothing”.  She invited us out with her husband, Tony, for Mexican food.  Very nice couple!  Here’s a picture of Tony and Dawn Brown with Kat and I:

What a great stop!  People were soooo friendly there.  Even though it cost us a lot of money, we thought it was a great place to be.