Wheels Through Time, The Museum That Runs

Originally we were planning on going to the Barber Vintage Motorsports Museum in Birmingham, Alabama (as suggested by Aunt Anne from Athens) but we just couldn't fit it in. Looks like a great place to visit and a good reason for another trip.

However, when visiting with Dan and Marian McConnell (Virginia friends) they told us about Wheels Through Time, the museum that runs in Maggie Valley, North Carolina. This museum is dedicated to cars, motorcycles; all kinds, all makes, lots of models and all the motorcycles still run. It was a quick ride from Asheville.

We were overwhelmed by the collection of vintage motorcycles. But the best part about Wheels Through Time was meeting the owner, Dale Walksler.





He is extraordinarily nice and loves what he does. He spends time with all of his guests and was genuinely excited to hear our story. He told us that the best part of his job is meeting people like us. He gets energy from the spirit and enthusiasm that we bring to the museum. We observed him visiting with everyone who stopped him. He rode a vintage cycle in the parking lot and stopped again to check out our bikes and just visit with us. He made us feel like we were the only people visiting his museum. We left there energized and even more excited about our journey.


















The "frost" photo was taken in Utah. Dale & friends rode vintage motorcycles to our Utah National Parks and to Bonneville Salt Flats. Again another piece of Utah on our journey.


























Randy was happy to pose next to the original wild one, Marlon Brando. He loves Marlon, the movie and his bike license is "YLD1" and he even has The Wild One tattooed on his back. Not just a little tattoo, his whole back. You can't imagine how shocked I was when he did this. I knew he was getting a tattoo, I just didn't know how big it was going to be. But you know Randy, go big or go home and that's what he did with this tattoo. But lucky me, I fall asleep every night with both Randy and Marlon. Not many girls can say they do this.





I loved the gallery dedicated to "The Girls" a photographic history of Women in Motorcycling. It was inspriational for me to see women who rode when women shouldn't be doing it. These women were amazing and paved the way for all women riders today. I left the Museum a little more confident about being a biker chick.















Dale does a TV show called "What's in the Barn" and the second season debuts on June 11. We've never seen it and now we'll be right in front of our TV watching and reliving the wonderful experience we had in Maggie Valley.








Another place we can't wait to go back to! Thanks to Dale for a memorable visit!

Asheville, North Carolina

Our visit to Asheville was uneventful because we arrived too late in the afternoon to really enjoy the town. Earlier in the day we rode the Blue Ridge Parkway and had a fabulous day.  (see earlier blog post on the BRP)

We first went to Green Man Brewery expecting dinner but we found a true brewery; beer and no food. It was an interesting, eclectic crowd and we had a tasty beverage and headed to downtown Asheville to find Wicked Weed a brewpub.

Wicked Weed was pretty good but our server was more interested in the single guy sitting next to us. I'm assuming he was single. Maybe not?

Wicked Weed had small samples making it easy to enjoy a few different brews. I had a honey lavender beer and a prickly pear beer and both were refreshing and amazing. Randy doesn't remember what he had but I'm sure he liked it. We had a quick dinner at the bar and checked out downtown.

We didn't go to the Biltmore, which is supposed to be amazing but the tour is $40 and a little over a budget. Perhaps on our next trip.

But what we did find was the Grove Park Inn. It sits up on in the hills of Asheville and is on the National Register of Historic Places. Truly incredible hotel with a patio view of Asheville.


The valet and bellman were a little concerned when we cruised in, parked our Harley's (liked we belonged there) and walked into the lobby.





We checked out the view from the patio, the lobby, and then the valet caught up with us and wanted to make sure we weren't leaving our bikes in front. I thought they looked pretty good parked in front of this impressive inn but the Valet had a different opinion.

We scooted out with the hope that someday we'll return. When we left, in my rearview mirror, I swear I saw the look of relief on the bellman's face.  Perhaps, when we hit the lottery we'll go there. Or, maybe a few of our kind friends will take us as their guests. If  I'm ever in Asheville again, I'll at least go there for happy hour, look over Asheville, and pretend that I'm part of the rich and famous. 

Rain, rain go away!

Wednesday, May 28, 2014

It's been interesting traversing the country and most of my writing has been about culture or food, which is my favorite topic, but today I'm going to jot a quick note about weather. Most days that's what guides us across the country.

Every morning, we wake up and the first thing we do is grab our phones to look at several weather apps. First to determine the temperature and secondly to look at the weather. When you travel in a car, you don't care what the weather is...you are in a comfortable, climate controlled environment. But on the bike, it's a completely different story. Weather dictates how we dress, what time we leave and what roads we take. If it's raining we spend all day dodging the clouds and following blue sky. This is the storm we were dodging.


Today was a day to dodge rainstorms. We left Cookeville, Tennessee  early this morning and have avoided rain all day. We did hit a couple of small rainstorms but it's so warm that we dried quickly. All of Arkansas, Louisiana, and Tennessee are in torrential rain storms. The forecast for the week looks grim.

We arrived in Little Rock, Arkansas at 6:00 pm, rode on a cool bridge over a beautiful river to find the historical downtown which wasn't that simple. We stopped at a McDonalds, to either wait out the storm or to find the downtown, a hotel and hopefully, a beer. It was sprinkling a little and we opted to keep going and headed toward the Stone Brewery (you knew we'd find one) however, in the blink of an eye, the heavens broke loose and we were in a torrential downpour. But the Brewery was in sight, so we kept going only to find it CLOSED! A couple of blocks away, we sloshed into a Shell Gas Station in what feels like a seedy side of town and with our trusted GPS found the historical district. It was only about 1/2 mile away, 10 minutes to the promised land, so like real pioneers, we headed out.

What a difference 10 minutes makes! Of course we aren't in rain gear - it's a hassle to put on and we've avoided the storm all day and by now it's too late for gear. For those of you who don't ride, rain gear is a rainsuit made of waterproof material that usually includes pants, jacket and rain boots. Also, those of you who ride with Randy, understand that he rarely stops to put on rain gear. He's of the theory that we can out-ride the rain. His theory worked today until we reached our destination.

I writing this from the Flying Saucer, Draught Emporium, in Little Rock's historical downtown, (yes, of course a brew pub) waiting out the downpour. Funny thing about this storm; we've been dodging it all day but tonight Mother Nature got the best of us. It's the very end of our day - and now I'm soaked to the bone. We only rode 1/2 mile and the rain soaked through my jacket, two t-shirts, my jeans and my gloves. I could feel the rain dripping down my helmet into my back. It was raining so hard that I couldn't see in front of me.

The best thing about dodging the rain is that you find fun little country stores, restaurants, under freeway overpasses and places like the Flying Saucer to wait out the storm. You meet lots of fun people this way. Tonight, we met a nice couple who felt sorry for us and shared their table. (the restaurant was packed)

We've just checked the radar and we have about 30 minutes to blue sky. I can see the sunset in the distance and a little blue sky. Then we'll make a mad dash to our hotel which is just 10 minutes away. Even if it rains more, I'm already soaked, so who cares!


Like a good ride captain, Randy just checked the weather radar again and Oh my stars, Randy just told me that next two days or riding will be in the rain!


I'm not going to trust Randy's theory tomorrow. I've learned my lesson, tomorrow I'll be in full rain gear. Mother Nature won today, but not tomorrow!

Blue Ridge Parkway

On Sunday, May 18 we said goodbye to Marian and Dan McConnell and hit the Blue Ridge Parkway (BRP)

It goes without saying that this ride was gorgeous, but surprisingly tiring. It's two-lanes, 45 mph and curvy. So curvy that we couldn't use cruise control, and with the traffic the clutch and gas hand was tired.

The day we rode the BRP was cold. It was about 50 degrees and sunny however the BRP is the crest of the hill, placing us at an elevation of 2000+. It's lined with trees, parks, houses and farms. The trees provide wonderful shade and I'm sure that on a hot and humid day, the BRP is the perfect ride to cool off on.

We stopped at Mabry Grist Mill a historic site, and working mill. It was built in 1810 and is working today. It was pretty neat to see and I can only image that there are a lot of family and wedding pictures taken there. Looked like great hiking in the area too but we hit the road. We were planning to be in Asheville by night fall. Notice though in the picture how bundled up and cold we look!







We stopped at Linville Falls, to warm up and unfortunately we didn't hike to the falls. It's a short hike but we were frozen. We did see a group of college students in the parking lot, getting ready for a hike. Unfortunately, one of the group members was getting busted for pot by the park rangers. Randy talked to them and I didn't think it was right to take a photo. At this point, we'd been riding since early morning and decided to pop off the BRP and take the quick way to Asheville.

BRP rises to an elevation of about 5000 and we cruised across the Lin Cove Viaduct, that is famous for engineering, architecture and fall leaves. All the trees were very green and I could only imagine the fall leaves - it would be amazing. We could see the viaduct before riding over it...very cool experience and the views were incredible. Here's a couple of photos - the fall leaves is by Paul Purser.





The BRP was gorgeous and it was fun to be on such a historic parkway.

Dry, Wet or Moist Counties?

We all know that Utah has wacky liquor laws. It's a regular topic of conversation with our friends. It's frustrating because most of the laws make no sense. We debate, discuss and call our legislators who make the crazy laws, lunatics.

I haven't thought much about other states liquor laws, until this trip. Many states don't sell alcohol on Sundays and some states have several dry counties. It's kind of challenging to figure it out.

We discovered that Tennessee sells hard liquor and wine in liquor stores, some types of beer in the food stores but not all food stores. It just depends. Randy went to three different stores to find beer and wine.

So far, Kentucky has more dry counties than anywhere we've been. It's a big deal here and they've recently changed a couple of laws so it's been on the news a lot.

Kentucky categorizes alcohol sales by the following:

- Dry - no sales at all
- Moist - some sales in restaurants, golf courses, wineries
- Wet - full sales


It's so confusing that they put out lists and maps so consumers can figure out where to go. Most of the entire state is Dry. We made sure our hotel was in a "wet" county.








We also found a liquor store that has the best selection of beer that we've ever seen. They also fill growlers which is quite unusual. Best of all, they open at 7:00 am, which is great because you can pick up a six-pack on the way to work. You never know when you'll need it! We visited two different liquor stores and took a few photos. We were like kids in a candy store...so much fun!

















































I really like the portable wine glasses - perfect for travel.   

Also These cute little "buzz balls" are pina colada's.

Along with the wine, these are rreat for packing in your lunch to get you through the tough days at work.  :)






Both these stores have only been open for about a year because the county was dry until just last year. Right now there's 3 liquor stores in Murray, Kentucky and the folks there are pretty happy. They think Kentucky laws are nuts too.

See, Utah isn't the only state with quirky liquor laws!

Cheers!

Facebook Friends to Real Friendship

I don't remember when I joined the Ladies of Harley (LOH) Facebook page but it's been a while. It's a great site to visit with women riders, receive encouragement, advice and online friendship.

A few months ago, one of the posts was about naming your Harley. I don't have a name for mine, but if I did I'd probably call her "Lil' Red" or simply "Gurl". (BTW, GURL stands for Gorgeous, Unique, Red-haired Lady). Bike names are usually unique and special to the rider. One name caught my eye, "Scarlet" because she's a 2013 Softail Deluxe, red and white. Her license plate is "O'Harley". Put it together and you get "Scarlet O'Harley" -- clever!

Scarlet O'Harley's owner is Marian McConnell and she posts often on the LOH site and always great comments and suggestions. Not only is Scarlet, red and white, Marian wears red leather jacket and chaps as well. Striking and memorable.

When Randy and I started planning our road trip, I reached out to all my female facebook motorcycle pages asking for advice and got lots of great tips. One unusual surprise came from Marian who invited us to visit her near Roanoke, Virginia.

I was pretty surprised that she invited total strangers into her home. I posted that we just might take her up on her offer. Roanoke was pretty close to where we'd be so Marian and I connected and planned a couple of nights at her home with her husband Dan McConnell and her mom, Tillie Millen.

What??? Staying with total strangers??? Yup, that's what we did. Remember, we're total strangers to Marian and her family as well.

Marian lives on 34 acres in rural Troutville, Virginia in a wonderful home with a view of McAfee Knob, in Catawba Valley. What is unique about her property is that it's also home to Murder Hole Cave! When I learned that, I did hesitate a little about staying with her. I wondered why anyone would live near such a scarily named place and I started thinking about horror and slasher movies, nearly freaking myself out!

Meeting Marian was a treat! We both were excited to meet, and hugged each other like old friends. She's funny, charming, kind and we instantly hit it off. We're close in age, love Harley's, our hubby's and life itself. Through facebook, I felt like I'd already known Marian a long time.



Marian is a musician, singer songwriter, artist, caver and author. Her husband calls her a "Renaissance Woman", an excellent description. What I found was a wonderful woman who was easy to talk with. We knew lots about each other through facebook and we easily fell into conversation as if we had known each other for a long time. Over beers on her beautiful deck, in the wonderful Virginia sunshine we chatted about Harley's, trips, and life.

We both don't ride with women, not because we don't want to, but in our circles, there are few women riders. We both ride Softails and if we lived closer I'm sure we'd spend time riding together - just the girls.   


Marian and Dan are riding through Utah this August and we're hoping they'll visit us or we'll hook up and ride with them through Utah. It will be great to see them again!

Our journey is pushing me out of my comfort zone in many ways. Accepting Marian's invitation was a risk but that risk was a good one to take. A lot of people really hate facebook, but if you look past the silly status updates, and focus on the people in the photos, you may find more than an online friend, you might just find real friendship.

Virginia!

We left Jonesborough on Friday, May 17 in cold and damp weather arriving in Salem, Virginia meeting our hostess Marian McConnell at the Hanging Orange Market. It was exciting to ride in and find her waiting for us! Unfotunately, I was too cold to even think about taking her picture...Marian took this of us. We were so happy to get off our bikes and just stand in sunshine.


We headed across the street to Billy Barns for lunch and to warm up. We were frozen to the bone! Even though the sun was shining the air was chilly and damp. Riding in cold, damp weather is really tough - it completely zaps your energy. The warmth of the restaurant was exactly what we needed.

After lunch Marian guided us through gorgeous countryside stopping to get a great view of McAfee Knob, that overlooks Catawaba Valley, which is part of the Appalachian Trail. The view from our vantage point was breathtaking and I can only imagine what it's like from the top of the Knob.

A few miles through the country we arrive at Marian's and I was faced with a packed gravel and dirt driveway with a curve! Yikes! Marian had warned me and I just got my gumption up and followed her up the hill. I was pretty happy that I made it. 

MURDER HOLE CAVE...oh my!
We parked our bikes at the cave entrance and what an entrance. It's slightly shrouded by trees and brush, but the hole is HUGE! We walk all around it and take pictures. I'm a little nervous standing so close to the edge. Marian tells us that people and animals have fallen in and died in the cave. EEK! In spite of my trepidation about staying with total strangers with a cave on their property, Marian was a great guide and didn't attempt to push us in. So far, so good!

Marian is an author and wrote a book entitled Murder Hole which was recently published. Marian gave us a signed copy and I'm excited to read it, especially since I survived my visit to Murder Hole Cave. Here's the cover of her book and  check out this website for an overview of the legend of the cave http://ww2.roanoke.com/roatimes/news/story137647.html

We had a fabulous afternoon on Marian's deck enjoying the Virginia sunshine. Marian introduced us to her husband Dan and her mom Tillie who welcomed us warmly. We felt at home and it felt like we were in the company of old friends.

After a home cooked dinner, we went with Marian and Dan to a Blue Ridge Grotto Cavers Club meeting and saw an amazing presentation about Dry Cave which isn't really dry but rather wet. The photos were incredible and beautiful. Caves have a whole beauty that most of us never see. Everyone at the Club meeting were genuine cavers with an amazing passion for exploring, documenting and protecting caves.   We learned from Dan that "cavers rescue spelunkers" and he's an expert in rescue missions. 

We also went to the Third Street Coffee House which was a remarkable experience and place. It's only open on Friday nights, it's non-smoking, no-alcohol and provides singer-song writers a platform to showcase their music and songs. The place was packed and we had a great time, listening to 3 different singer/songwriters. We'd never been to a place like this before. A fabulous experience. I could have sat and listened to music for hours. In her free time, Marian books the musicians for most of the events.
Saturday found me enjoying an off day, again doing laundry (even on the road it piles up), writing and just hanging out at the house. Dan and Randy went on a sightseeing ride and Marian was off at a gem, mineral and jewelry show selling her new book.

Our conversation centered mostly around the rides that we've done and the McConnell's upcoming road trip to the west. They'll be touring all of our favorite destinations, Yellowstone, Cody, Moab and we'll excited to see them this summer in Utah. 

Dan grilled us the thickest steaks ever.  Marian pulled out a ruler and measured for us - imagine 2" thick steaks grilled to perfection - we ate every bite!  Saturday evening was even more amazing because after dinner we enjoyed a private accordion concert by Tillie who was simply fantastic.


Randy played the accordion in elementary school and he even picked it up again. He didn't remember anything but he looks pretty good holding it.


Dan and Marian also played several songs for us and told the stories behind the song. One of my favorites was a song Marian wrote about her Deluxe, Scarlet O'Harley. Fabulous!







Sunday we parted from Catawba Valley after a terrific ride along the Blue Ridge Parkway up to Roanoke's Historic Star. The star is lit every night and it's huge! It's even on the National Register Historic Places and was installed in 1949. It overlooks Roanoke Valley and we could see McAfee Knob in the distance. The view was spectacular.

We took lots of pictures and didn't say goodbye, but we'll see you again.



We loved visiting Catawba Valley and even more so because we had the chance to meet new friends. Marian and Dan were fabulous hosts and showed us a side of Catawba Valley that we would have missed. We're so grateful for their friendship and outstanding visit. Meeting Marian, Dan and Tillie was an incredible experience and it all happened because of Facebook!

Jonesborough, the oldest city in Tennessee

When Denver Olmstead, from the Utah Arts Festival, learned we would be near Tennessee she immediately invited us to stay with her parents, Lori & Stan Omstead. Lori and Stan live in Jonesborough, the oldest city in Tennessee.

Well, this trip is supposed to be about new adventures and meeting new people so why not? We had no idea where Jonesborough was but we worked it into our travels and we're glad we did.

We left Athens early Wednesday morning (May 14) and rode north through amazing countryside eventually winding our way through the Moonshine Highway and the Tail of the Dragon. Weather was gorgeous and it was a perfect day.

Jonesborough was a fabulous surprise! The downtown was quaint and charming and we immediately fell in love with the town.








Our first stop was gas and the second...yes, we found a brewery! We filled up our growler at a super-small craft brewery called The Depot.

The country side was gorgeous, and we were excited to meet Lori and Stan. Our connection was immediate and the conversation just flowed. Lori and Stan had planned the perfect evening... a fire in the backyard and a hot dog roast. Randy was in heaven! Great conversation, a roaring fire and fireflies made for a remarkable evening.









Jonesborough is the home of the International Story Telling Festival and we learned that the Olmstead's moved from Utah to Jonesborough so that Lori could hone her craft. Yes, Lori is a storyteller and started the Vernal, Utah Storytelling Festival. Wow!

We went to the International Storytelling Center and had the good fortune to hear storyteller, Sheila Arnold. Sheila told us a moving story about Betsy Cosner, a recently freed slave looking for her son Peter. Sheila told the story in historical garb, and she was so convincing that we were all lost in her story.


She put the story together from real stories from slaves beginning from birth in the slave auction house in Alexandria to her present day as a freed slave working as a housekeeper. The story was exquisitely told, with details about her life that moved us to tears. At the wrap up she brought up that slavery is alive in our world and said that we have to tell stories about the past, in order to remember the 200 Nigerian girls who were kidnapped and others that are currently enslaved.


After hearing the story of Betsy Cosner, it's hard to believe that slavery happened in our country and that it's still happening today. If you don't know about the Nigerian girls, just google #bringbackourgirls

Although storytelling is very popular in Utah we had never been to one but now we are hooked and can't wait to visit the Timpanogos Storytelling event in the fall.

Dinner was at a fun pub called Cootie Browns and then we headed off to the Willow Tree Coffeehouse for some great local music. Wow! Fabulous evening rocking out to two local bands. The first was Random Tangent and this was their very first public performance. The second, was a cover band that reminded us of Devo - they opened with two Pink Floyd songs and towards the end of the set sang a Brooks & Dunn song!


King Super and the Excellents was a good time and they had unusual costumes and incredible stage presence. A good time was had by all but I think Stan had the most fun!



I have to give honorable mention to the Olmstead's cats, Bella and Percy. They were special kitties and took to us quickly. Bella liked to sleep in the crook of Randy's arm and at night, desperate to get out to stalk the critters.







Jonesborough was extraordinary, but what made our stop special is that we arrived in Jonesborough as Denver's friends and left as friends of Lori and Stan. Till we meet again!