2006 Wings over the Smokies Trip

Well Slick and I just got back from our “Wings over the Smokies” rally in Fletcher NC. We started out last Friday around 7 am and headed off on our trip. Slick and I had breakfast with her parents in Hickory NC. That part of the trip was pretty interesting, since it was a bit nippy at 7 am. We dressed in layers and we were still pretty chilly. Let me tell you, nothing will wake you faster than traveling down the highway at 70 mph when it is around 60 degrees. If you are not too familiar with that temperature, just deduct about 20 degrees and you can imagine how we felt. Anyway, we got to Hickory and met her parents for breakfast. We were pretty chilly at that point and were glad to stop and thaw out. We had breakfast and right before we left it started to drizzle rain. We didn’t freak out or anything. We just grabbed our rain gear and suited up. Actually we should have done that at the beginning of our ride because the rain gear was really good at keeping us warmer. We learned a good lesson there.

So we got suited up, wiped down the bike and headed toward Fletcher. Not long after we started the rain started to end and it actually got a little warmer. We got to Fletcher around noon and looked for our hotel. We checked in and then headed toward the rally to register and find our other Goldwing chapter members.

After we registered we hooked up with Craig, Melinda, Bryan, Donna, Johnny and Anthony. I was told when I first got with our chapter to watch out for my buddy Craig. I was told he would have me buying all kinds of stuff at the rally. And he did. We got there and he took us out shopping for goodies. To be honest, I had planned to buy only some shark fins and a name plate at the rally. But that didn’t happen. Before I knew it, I had a new chrome luggage rack (with bag), new pegs and break peg, shirts, pins and other things I had not planned to buy. But I have to admit, thanks to Craig, I did get some great deals. The man knew so many people at the rally, it was scary. Below is a photo of Craig, Bryan and me. My son calls us the 3 Stooges!

Friday night was really interesting and real adventure. Most of the members of our group did not want to ride our bikes back to the rally from our hotel. So we all decided to take Bryan and Donna’s van back to the rally site from the hotel. We all wanted to go back and listen to the live entertainment (The Embers). The memorable part of the van ride was that we crammed 10 people inside the mini-van. Now that was tricky and painful. We had so many people in the van that it looked like we were a bunch of illegal’s trying to cross the border and we were afraid the border patrol would spot us. I was just thankful we didn’t have a crash because some of us would not have survived the crash. At least if we did have a crash, I would probably have not felt any pain because I was numb from the waist down. Did I mention we had to ride back to the hotel too?

As for the Embers, if you get a chance to see them, I recommend you do. They were great and from Raleigh NC. We all had a great time Friday. Below are some pictures of the bikes we saw:

Saturday morning came and Slick and I headed out for breakfast at our favorite breakfast joint, Denny’s. We love those waffles! We filled up Big Red and headed back to the rally to do some more shopping. We bought more stuff. At 9 am, we worked (if that is what you want to call it) at the games table until 10 am. After a hard hour at work, Slick and I went for a walk and started looking at the bikes that would be entering the bike show. There were some really nice bikes there. Then after we left the bike contest parking lot we started walking around and looked at the other displays. It was amazing to us to see what people can do with motorcycles. There was everything you could imagine there at the rally for motorcycles and the deals were pretty nice too.

Around 2:30 pm, Slick and I headed back to the hotel so we could get ready for the night events and the closing ceremony. Saturday was also the day there was going to be some large drawings for money given away. Two of the drawings, Slick and I entered. One of the drawings was at 3 pm. Of course we didn’t win anything for that drawing, but we did at the later big drawing. What happened was that 11 members of our chapter put in $10.00 a piece to win the large 50/50 drawing. Well, we won it. They actually drew Slicks number and we won $1068.00. That was close to $100.00 a piece. We contributed the win to that goofy chicken Ro Ho. It wins all the time. Now all the members of our group are scrambling to get Ro Ho back so they can win. Now that is pretty funny. After the drawing and closing ceremony we headed back to the hotel for a pizza party and some fellowship. It was fun.

On Sunday we all prepared for our trip back. We were a little concerned about rain due to some powerful storms that were coming through the area. It rained like crazy Saturday night and all the bikes got wet. Luckily, I took the time to cover my bike up and my bike was not soaked. After getting packed we all discussed the routes back we were going to take back home. Our 4 person group just took and a straight shot back on interstate 40 and highway 64. Get this, we had no rain. Now that was luck and the ride was a great one.

All in the entire trip was great. We had a great time and a lot of laughs. We are looking forward to next year.

Until next time and happy riding!

Pappy