For serious and fun minded motorcycle riders in the Greater Texoma area and beyond.

  Blue Ridge Parkway Trip
June 2007

Day 1 - Saturday

Rich Simpson (2002 Black GL1800), Jeff & LaWanda Henry (2004 Sparkling Red GL1800), Jerry Balmer (Ninja 650 crotch rocket), Romex Hines (2007 Metal flake Black GL1800) met at IHOP in Sherman, Texas and departed at 8:15 a.m. Rich was leading as we headed out US 82. The sky was cloudy and it looked like we were going to get wet, but as we continued the clouds broke up to partly cloudy and the weather turned out to be a beautiful morning. We stopped every 140 miles due to Jerry’s gas tank size. GL1800's can do 200 miles plus some.

Rich was our leader and he did a great job staying within the speed limit. When we hit Little Rock, Arkansas we were at the end of the 440 bypass when this hugh rain storm hit. It was raining so hard we could hardly see in front of our bikes and cars had pulled over to the side of the road. We kept riding until we were able to find an exit off the bypass and pulled into a gas station. We were all soaked to the bone. Jeff said LaWanda complained that her boobs -or - I mean boots were wet. We waited about 30 minutes and the rain let up a bit. We stated out again and it started raining more. We kept on riding and it quit. We talked to a trucker while we were drying out and he suggested that we take Highway 70 which is a back road that parallels I40 and goes all the way to Memphis, Tennessee. This information came in very hardy due to a backup on I40 and we would have been sitting in traffic in the sun for a little while. I like back roads anyway. Highway 70 was nice and not crowed with traffic.

We stopped and got out of rainsuits before getting back on the highway just outside of West Memphis. Then on the outskirts of Memphis it started to rain again so we stopped and put on rain gear again. We stopped at Buffalo, Tennessee which is a beautiful recreation area. Here the scenery starts changing and the mountains start to come into play. We walked to dinner after checking into the hotel and had a great meal and reflected on the events that occurred this day. Thanks to Jeff & LaWanda for blessing our meals everyday.

Day 2 - Sunday

We left Buffalo, Tennessee and headed for Waynesboro, Virginia. That was where we were supposed to be stopping for the night but it started to get late and we only made it to Roanoke, Virginia. Jeff called and cancelled our reservations for Waynesboro, Virginia. We met up with Rick Owens and his wife, Nelda, outside of Knoxville, Tennessee. It is always good to see people we know so far from home. We were all impressed with all the lights Rick Owens has on his GL1800. I don’t think he could have put anymore on it. Rick and Nelda trailered their bike to Marysville where they left the truck and trailer. We all got together and talked and ate lunch at McDonalds. We gassed up and headed out for Roanoke, Virginia and got our rooms. Rick was quite embarrassed when he dropped his bike with the wife on it. I’m sure he would have preferred me to leave this out. It just goes to show that not everything that happens on the road stays on the road!

We got our rooms and reflected on the day's events. The big Topic at dinner was Jerry Balmer inventing new Sign Language. What I have left out here is that the scenery started to change with all the greenery and mountains coming into view. The area was just beautiful. Back to Balmer and his sign language. Jerry started to invent his own sign language because he didn’t have a CB radio on his bike. Rich is leading this pack then there’s Jeff & LaWanda, Rick & Nelda, and Jerry is behind Rick and I’m bringing up the rear. So, Jerry starts pointing up at the sky and patting his butt. I’m behind him looking at this for several miles. Rich asked me over the CB what's going on with Jerry and I tell him I think he’s saying it going to rain. I tell rich he pointing up at the sky and patting his butt. What we found out later that night at dinner he was trying to say we need to stop and put our rain gear on which we did later anyway. We laughed all night over this one as Rich made up more by rubbing the top of his helmet then rubbing his belly which is suppose to mean he’s hungry. We all had a great dinner and this night Rick & Nelda got an emergency phone call and had to leave us. Nelda flew home and Rick went back to his truck and trailer. We enjoyed having them for the short while and we hope everything turns out ok with the emergency.

Day 3 - Monday

After breakfast and bike clean-up, we left for the Blue Ridge Parkway. The hotel was right at the Parkway so we got on at Highway 419 and Highway 220 then headed north. The speed limit was 45 mph on the Parkway. The Parkway was almost empty and not much traffic plus the roads were all curvy and the scenery totally beautiful. Just around almost every curve were wonderful views of extremely large pastures, old sheds, wood fences, manicured lawns and the views of deep valleys were breath taking. I think everybody heard me as I kept going “ WOW What a view!” on the CB radio. We rode all the way to the top of Skyline Drive and had lunch in Front Royal at Subway.

At this point we were one hour from Washington, D.C.. We saw all kinds of deer and wild turkeys crossing the road plus all sorts of other animals. The entry fee into Shenandoah National Park was $10.00 and the first several miles was gravel. We all agreed that the Blue Ridge Parkway was better. We stopped for a restroom break and ran across a Corvette club that had beautiful cars of all kinds. The Skyline Drive had many curves and great views and we thought we were going to get wet for a minute. Lots of little animals crossing the road from time to time. Some crotch rocket flew passed us one time flying at the speed of light. A little further down the road we saw a big branch from a tree in half of our lane, I wondered how the crotch rocket boys handle that one. Jeff said if we look close they may still be up in the tree. The speed limit on Skyline drive was 35mph. We were lucky and didn’t see any bears - either the wild type or the law enforcement type.

What you see is miles and miles of endless, gorgeous, beautiful mountains and around every turn there are breath taking views. We stopped for a small number of photo shots. We rode the curves mostly at 50 - 60 mph which is a good safe speed. Again, I have to emphasize - there were beautiful views around most every turn. We stopped in Front Royal for lunch, after which we went across the street to gas up. We met this biker girl whose name I don’t remember. She was very talkative and informative about some ride routes we could take but we declined due to our own agenda. She was riding an old Yamaha 450. We met and talked to a lot of nice people on the trip. People in cars seem to just move out of our way while driving the Parkway. Very nice people. We saw a lot of bicycle riders and a few joggers. Jeff knows more about the girl at the gas station. A former police officer, coast guard, military I don’t know. We got back on the Highway 81 going south back to Roanoke, Virginia. We returned to the hotel and went to the same place for dinner and got the same waitress.

Day 4 - Tuesday

After small minor breakfast and bike clean-up we headed south on the Blue Ridge Parkway. In my opinion this was the best scenic route segment on the Parkway. We all decided to find a place to have a real breakfast after about an hour of early morning riding. This day we rode into North Carolina and ran into a problem because none of the breakfast places opened until 10 a.m. Rich tends to get cranky when he hasn’t had his breakfast. Our speed was 50 - 60 mph. We had excellent riding weather and spectacular views around almost every turn. The mountains views were as far as you could see. Again the views are just breath taking. All roads were curvy - you can’t find straight section here anywhere and there is 500 miles of this, can you imagine that?!

So we come up on this place called Mabry Mills and I’m crying cause I’ve got to use the restroom really bad, if not I might have to find a tree. Rich talks about one of his customers that comes to the Blue Ridge Parkway every year and swears that this place has the worlds best cobbler. Ok - so Rich and all of us do our shopping first - then Rich suggest we all try the cobbler. So we go back in and all order cobbler. Now nobody makes better cobbler than my mom and that's a fact of life. I have had all kinds of cobbler - peach, blueberry, raspberry and others that I don’t remember. Folks let me tell you I have never had a strawberry cobbler and ice cream. I’m saying these people stole my mother's and grand mother's secret. They bought out this big old bowl and all of us went to town and nobody complained. If you stop here and you should please have some cobbler - you'll be glad you did!

More beautiful roads and scenery that never stops. The old rustic houses and barns, the fences, the fresh cut grass - all beautiful and elegant. We stopped at Blowing Rock, North Carolina because they wouldn’t let us cancel our reservation and this made for a short ride day. Next we ate at this local Mexican restaurant which was run by a Chinese guy. Don’t ask me how the food was because I ordered Buffalo wings and my meal was pretty good. Ask everybody else.

Next, We went shopping cause that’s what Rich likes to do. He ordered some things and had them shipped to his home. Blowing Rock, North Carolina is a very enchanting place because the shops have things that you won’t find anywhere else. We also looked at the real estate market there and you can find a lot of Million Dollar homes in that area. The furniture store which Rich took a picture of was unbelievable. The store is worth 20 times my house value or more. Rich got his shopping done and started talking to this older retired gentleman who is an ex-biker I think. Rich asked him what’s the local road around here that the locals like. The old gentleman's answer was go to Grandfather Mountain which was about 18 miles away for our evening pleasure ride. LaWanda did the smartest thing she could do and stayed at the hotel.

Let’s talk about “Captain Iron-Butt Balmer“ who rode a ninja 650 crotch rocket across country. You know we have to give the devil his due. I’m not calling Jerry a devil, I’m just making a statement. I warned Rich about following behind Jerry. He didn’t listen so here we go with Jerry leading us up to Grandfather Mountain (Highway 221) out of Blowing Rock. I warned Rich about Jerry falling way behind on the Blue Ridge Parkway and catching up to us at a high rate of speed in the curves. We find Highway 221 and Balmer gets in the lead. He cranks his throttle wide open around one of the most dangerous roads I have ever seen. We lose sight of him for a few minutes. Rich cranks his GL1800 flying with me right behind him for a little while. We’re flying around the side of a winding mountain that keeps on winding around with no guard rail. If you miss a turn here you go right off the side of this mountain. There was gravel in the road at some places which scared the you-know-what out of me. [Editor's Note: This HAD to be something - we have seen Romex take curves at speeds others would not attempt!] Still I proceeded to catch Rich while Rich proceeded to catch Jerry who is chasing a white van at an extremely high rate of speed. Being scared, I radio back to Jeff every now and then to see if he is ok. I hear him say, "I’m ok". I have an  RV pull out in front of me and try to run with us. I’m riding his bumper so he pulled off to the side and let me go by. I finally catch up to Rich and Jerry which has the white van in front of him flying around the curves and winding roads of this mountain. The tight turns are incredible, you don’t dare made a mistake here or you die going off the side of this mountain. The bikes are leaning into the turns and Rich scraped his Gremlin-bell which is hard to do where it is attached. Then a cable truck pulls out in front of the white van and tries to fly up the mountain with us but he can’t keep up and realized that he is slowing everybody else down so he pulls off the road. The race between Jerry and the White van is still taking place. Jerry thinks about passing the van but the van is flying giving Jerry a run for his money. Remember we’re flying up the side of a winding mountain road with no guard rail. Miss a turn and you go off the side of a 5890 foot mountain. We finally get to the top and we all stop and Jerry keeps going as if he is winning the Indy 500. He turns around and comes back when he realizes that there is no one with him. We all laugh about that hell of an experience. Going back down was an experience, too. Bit we went a bit slower and it was still an butt-tightening ride because we were on the outside edge going down with no guard rail and the road did a dip in the curves and came back up. Man was I glad to get back to the room safe and sound!

If you are doing the Blue Ridge Parkway and are in Blowing Rock, you must go up to Grandfather Mountain for the experience of a lifetime on Highway 221. Blowing Rock, North Carolina - awesome!

We need shirts that say we survived that road. By the way - at the top of Grandfather Mountain the white van turned in and drove by us and his plates showed that he was from Florida.

Day 5 - Wednesday

It was decided by the group that we would ride first and find breakfast an hour later. We stopped in at Crabtree Falls and they didn’t open until 10am. The man inside the store opened up and let us know where gas was and a great sit down breakfast place in Mt. Mitchell State Park. We rode up this mountain into the entrance and the temperature started to drop. I remember seeing 56 degrees beautiful and sunny morning and Rich almost dropped his bike on the switch back road that leads into the place. We were second to arrive there. They weren’t open yet so we all walked around to the back of the place and low and behold - the back patio had a bunch of chairs and the view was amazing. The view was rolling mountains for as far as you could see. It was a crystal clear day and according to the owner we were at the highest point on that mountain. The owner opened the back door and told us to come on in. He was extremely nice and very friendly and he couldn’t stop saying, "I wish I were going with you". The inside of the place was spacious and made of stone and beautiful cedar wood and the eating area was right in front of the magnificent view. They had all sorts of souvenirs such as shirts, stuffed animals, glasses and other good stuff. By the way - did I mention that the breakfast was great and the service first class? It was if we were having breakfast in heaven or just below it.

The ride after breakfast was unbelievable because other than one five miles of potholes, we ran into the “Spiral Curves“. The sign had a picture of a biker screaming and about to fall off his bike with arms and legs all out, plus three-fourths of a 360 degree circle on it. Jeff mentioned he'd like to have that sign in his garage. Rich said he wanted a tee shirt with that on it. I’ll admit that I’ve never seen a sign like that before. We went through what seemed like a million tunnels, maybe 12 or 13, I wasn’t counting all of them. There were gorgeous rock formations and we stopped at Mt. Pigah to rest, water and potty.

Interesting history of how the Indians were run off their land in the early days. We got to the end of the Blue Ridge Parkway at a town called Cherokee on our way to The Dragon. We turned onto Highway 28 which was very curvy and a nice road. Sad to report that Jeff had a little trouble here and lost it in one of the curves. Rich was off in his normal riding zone. Jeff & LaWanda were ok thanks to Jeff’s great riding skill. Jeff scratched up his left saddle bag a bit but said that should buff out. For more details on what happened, you have to ask Jeff because I don’t really know. After this little minor incident we decided to stay the night in Bryson City so we could rest up and do The Dragon in the morning. Jeff changed his mind and didn’t want to do The Dragon and that is perfectly understandable. No one can blame anyone for that.

Day 6 - Thursday

We headed for The Dragon after breakfast and a bike clean-up. Once we got on US Highway 19 towards the tail of The Dragon, My CB quit working after we pulled into that parking lot. Rich said something about we were going the other way. After the gremlins affected my CB, I couldn’t communicate with the group anymore. It was then that I rode into a white light and fell further and further behind. I was abducted by aliens who interrogated me and decided that I was of no use to them so they let me go at the tail of The Dragon. What else is a person to do when at the tail of a dragon? My answer would be to ride The Dragon or should I say Slay The Dragon? My ride continued on without the rest of the group. It took me into Kentucky and on to my hometown. Sorry for any confusion that the aliens may have caused.

It was great riding with everyone and I look forward to riding with each one of you again. Thanks for the trip of a lifetime and may God Bless and keep each one of you. You are all great and special people, again I thank you and salute you. Until the next trip “ Keep the rubber side down “.

The End.

Romex “RoadDog” Hines

Any more comments or stories on the trip? Send them to the Editor and we'll include them as an addendum to Romex's Trip Report....

Please NOTE: We have pictures and will put them up here on the website - but we need to download and process them first. We will send an email to RTMA Group to let you know when the pictures have be uploaded to the website. Thanks.... Ro & Ed.