Day 51 - Wednesday 30 November

Asheville, NC - Beckley, WV

This morning, we returned to the Biltmore Estate - http://www.biltmore.com/ , to take an audio tour of the mansion, walk through the conservatory, and drive around the magnificent estate.

After lunch, we drove north, through Virginia, and into West Virginia, where we overnighted in Beckley. We were unable to appreciate much of the beautiful countryside due to heavy rains, which hopefully helped extinguished the wildfires.

Day 50 - Tuesday 29 November

Winchester, Ky - Asheville, NC

Another long driving day, on a beautiful sunny day, across 3 states.

An early morning start, as we started the - https://www.myscenicdrives.com/drives/kentucky/red-river-gorge-scenic-byway . We took notice of the warnings, but we were unable to proceed due to wildfires.

We took a detour and drove through the beautiful Daniel Boone National Forest - http://www.fs.usda.gov/dbnf/ .

We dropped into Corbin to visit the birthplace of KFC - http://www.roadsideamerica.com/story/11449 .

We continued south into Tennessee, via the Cumberland Gap Tunnel.

We stopped near Morrison to look at the Cherokee Reservoir and surrounding mountains.

We then drove across the beautiful Great Smoky Mountains - https://www.nps.gov/grsm/index.htm , crossing into North Carolina, fortunately avoiding the nearby tragic wildfires.

We then went to Vanderbilt Mansion - http://www.biltmore.com/ - for the spectacular Candlelight Christmas evening.

Day 49 - Monday 28 November

St. Louis, Mo - Winchester, Ky

A long driving day, in the rain, through 4 states, listening to a fantastic radio station for most of the day.

After driving out of Missouri, east through Illinois, our first stop was in Santa Claus, Indiana, and who was in her element?

We then drove through the lovely countryside of southern Indiana, stopping at Leavenworth, to see the Ohio River.

We continued east and crossed the Ohio River, into Louisville, Kentucky, and stopped at Churchill Downs Racetrack.

We then drove further east, to Frankfort, Kentucky's capital city, and stopped at the Governor's Mansion and the Capitol Building - http://capitol.ky.gov/Pages/default.aspx .

We continued driving east, along - https://www.myscenicdrives.com/drives/kentucky/old-frankfort-pike
 - to Winchester, Ky, where we stayed overnight.