BEING IN TWO PLACES AT ONE TIME

I have sooooo asked for this a million times, with the way work and life is in general there are not enough hours in the day. Well today my sister and I traveled to Cumberland Gap National Park to see the sights and my wish came true. Hard to see in the photo as a cloud bank rolled in (which looked like snow clouds) but I am in both Virginia and Kentucky at the same time.

There is a point out on the first ridge where KY, VA and TN all come to a point, they wouldn't let me down there as they thought I might get lost. Do you blame them....

The following three pictures are from Pinnacle Point Overlook in the National Park, the first one is looking at Kentucky, the second one is looking at Tennessee and the third is overlooking Virginia.

FINGER LICKING GOOD

Well I missed the World Chicken Festival which just ended Sunday. It is held in London, KY. Why you might ask of all places in the country???

Well believe it or not the home of Colonel Sander is right down the road in Corbin KY and is home to the original Kentucky Fried Chicken. I can say I have eaten at the very first KFC in the world. Actually this is my second trip here, stopped once before with my father when we visited my sister in the past. If you are interested in how Sanders became a Colonel click here.

THE DRAGON WAS TAME THIS TIME

So I found my self too close not to make it to Deal's Gap and the famous home of The Tail of the Dragon, which is Route 129 that goes from Tennessee into Kentucky. It is a blast if you are looking for some thrills on two or even four wheels. With 318 turns in 11 miles your hands are full, trust me I tried to figure out a way to get some video but safety came first here. Click here to learn more.

I made my first trip north on the route and got stuck behind an ambulance as they were taking someone off the route due to an accident, so that killed some of the thrill. What to do? Make a u-turn and head back to the other end, that is exactly what I did. Took a break grabbed a snack and made my third run heading back north to make way to my big sister's house for a day.

UTTER, TOM-TOM AND BIKE ARE TAKING A DAY OFF

I rolled into Big Sis's house last night and we are relaxing and catching up. Going to do some sightseeing and do it in one of these strange vehicles with 4 wheels.

WAIT UNTIL YOU SEE THE HEATING BILL FOR THIS HOUSE

The Biltmore Estate is one of grandest privately owned homes in the country. It belongs to the Vanderbilt family and has some extraordinary history and facts about. The weather here is 10x better here and it takes a good day if you want to see the entire grounds of the estate. I will post a link this afternoon to the website so you can explore more. Click here to learn more.

From the highs of the mountain to the lows of the Biltmore valley I am now off to tame the dragon.

BEING KING OF THE HILL IS NOT SO GREAT

The plan was to get up really early and be on top of Mt. Mitchell for the sunrise. Why Mt. Mitchell, well because it's summit is the highest elevation East of the Mississippi.

Well no surprise, I over slept and rolled out kind of late, which was OK because as you will see the weather at the summit for not kind. The first picture is from across the valley looking at Mt. Mitchell, yes the summit is engulfed in clouds. The next picture is the entrance to the park and as you can see the weather is sunny and warm. However 3/4 up the mountain things got nasty and at the summit it was like being in a different state. Temps were in the 50's the wind was 35 to 40 mph and the mist, fog and rain were just icing on the cake ( or mountain top).

As you can imagine I did not stay long and decided to start to head back down for a ride to the historic Biltmore Estate in Asheville NC.