April 16th - Monticello

It is another rainy day, but after almost perfect weather since leaving
Denver the beginning of February, one really can't complain.

Decided to take a little detour and visit another place on my bucket list -
Monticello. Although not as grand as the Biltmore, it is really special.
Thomas Jefferson designed every aspect of Monticello, constructing and
modifying its buildings and landscape over a period of 40 years.

The home sits on 5,000 acres and is where Jefferson retreated to after "the
hated occupations of politics". As to politics and government - we have not
changed much.

It was great to get a history lesson about Thomas Jefferson and the times
from the wonderful guides at this national treasure.

Another great day - time to get some miles in to make it to a Lacrosse game
and then to Maine to spend some time before heading back to Colorado in
mid-May.

April 15th - The Biltmore

The Biltmore, located in Asheville, North Carolina is billed as America's
largest home. George Vanderbilt officially opened up the 250 room house on
Christmas Eve in 1895 after six years of construction. The home and grounds
were opened up to the public in 1930 to help increase tourism during the
Depression and to generate income to preserve the estate.

The self-guided tour takes you through the grand spaces filled with
beautiful art, tapestries and antiques. One also gets to get a glimpse of
the private quarters, and for the times - very modern conveniences as well
as the servants areas. This home had a gym with private dressing rooms, and
indoor pool and bowling alley.

It was a cloudy day with a fair amount of rain, so I did not spend much time
in the gardens designed by Frederick Law Olmstead, opting instead to visit
the dryer nursery filled with an amazing array of flowers and plants. I
thought it was a nice touch, that in one of the buildings there was a lady
playing the harp with garden chairs provided so one could sit and enjoy the
music in this lovely setting.

Next up was a visit and tour of the winery where they craft more than 35
varieties.

Great way to spend a rainy day!

April 14th - BMW Plant

Today was a big day for me. I tried to get a tour to the BMW plant in
Spartanburg, SC when I was leaving Florida in 2013. It seems one has to
book very, very early. This time I planned accordingly and got in - what a
place.

I visited the day before to check out the performance center and spend time
in the museum. The first car on display was an exact replica of my first
BMW, a turquoise Z3. The pictures are some of the models on display here in
the museum.

Arrived ready for the tour - what a place!

The models made here are the X3, X4, X5, X6, and beginning next year they
will also produce the X8, at which time they will be the largest BMW
manufacturer in the world (surpassing even the German plants). Seventy
percent of the cars manufactured here are shipped overseas.

They complete 1200 cars per day and it takes 32 hours to produce each car.
It is really quite a feat when one sees that the cars are all produced based
on custom orders or orders from dealers - meaning, that on the line there
could be an X3 with and X6 or X4 behind it. Every car has a computer
attached to it to make this possible and to make sure that it meets the
ordered specs. Not the normal assembly line process.

Besides building a great car - BMW has created a great work place with more
than 8,000 associates and a turnover rate less than 3%.