23-25 July 04

Ride to Waynesville North Carolina

Jim Berkley Ride Leader

WOW what a weekend!! Bikes started pulling into the K-Mart parking lot around 9:15am along with Vera’s daughter and son in law in a pickup truck with trailer. As we were standing around and talking to each other Olin Slice noticed that George Persons rear tire was bald, so George took off to get a new tire and said that he would catch up with us. At 10:00am Jim Barkley (ride leader) called for everyone to gather around for a ride briefing. Rick Floyd (Chapter 124’s Chaplin) was asked to give thanks to the Lord for giving us such a pretty day for our ride. Now it was time to crank up all 19 bikes and head out for Waynesville, NC. We stopped in Pelzer for lunch as planned where George hooked up with us riding Mary Ann’s bike. He could not get a tire for his and rather than miss the ride he just switched bikes. Just before the state line Jim had planned a rest stop at Jarrett’s Grocery. Now was the time for everyone to put on there helmets. Once we got into the twisters Jim adjusted his speed so that everyone could keep up and not have us stretched out over a mile on those twisted roads (and there were some good ones). As we got into Waynesville we were sitting at one of the lights and Johnny and Judy (with her camera) was waiting for us, this brought the total bikes up to 21. For supper, Jim had reservation for us at the restaurant next door (Sagebrush Steakhouse) to the motel (The Lodge Motel). For those of you that could not make the ride try to imagine 34 bikers at one table talking about the ride, their bikes and eating all at the same time; of those 34 three of them were teenagers.

Saturday morning Frank loaded his wife’s bike on a roll back to take to the Harley shop to fix a flat rear tire. It seems she had picked up a nail some where along the ride. 10:00am everyone had wiped down their bikes and gassed up for another fun day of riding. Jim, being true to his word took us on some of the best twisters in that part of North Carolina. We stopped at the Barbeque–Inn on Rte.19 for lunch. After lunch it was ride down the “Devils Drop” to the Blue ridge Parkway, where we made several stops for pictures. About ten to twelve miles from the end of our ride it started to rain so Jim pulled over in order for us to put on our rain gear. Jim Woods hit an oil slick and high sided his bike into the grass where he broke his left collar bone in three places and one rib. You would have had to been there to understand this next part, those that knew what to do for an accident (medical) tended to Jim and the rest righted his bike and checked it out for damage. Calls were made to get Jim to the hospital, plans were made on how to get his and Gerri’s bikes back to the motel, where Mike Clark was waiting for the group, he had ridden up in order to make the ride home with us. Once everyone and all of the bikes were back at the motel we ordered Pizzas for supper and waited for a call from the hospital about Jim’s condition. Vera’s daughter Vicky, and husband Billy, went to the hospital in the pickup truck to get Jim and Gerri. Johnny and Judy had waited with Gerri at the hospital until Jim was released. We sat around and made plans on how to get his bike home. It was decided that we would split up into two different groups, one taking the interstate with the truck with Jim Wood and the other to take the back way home.

Sunday morning everyone was up and ready for the ride home. Jim Berkley had made reservations at a motorcycle camp ground for breakfast. What a beautiful place to camp! Due to the weather it was decided that we eat there and then make our way to the interstate for the ride home. Upon getting ready to leave the camp grounds, some of the group decided to take the back roads all the way home instead of the interstate. Everyone lined up, those going to the interstate up front and those going back roads in the rear, and off we went. At a rest stop just before we were to get on the interstate, a phone call was made to see how Jim was making the ride and we were told that they had just past us and that he was doing fine. After riding around 60-70 miles on the interstate (very, very boring) Jim pulled over for a rest stop again we called to check on Jim Wood.  We were told that if we would look just up the road from where we were, we could see them. The group with the truck came down to where we were. The gear that was in the back of the truck was unloaded and put on the bikes, cause we were only about 50 miles out of Columbia and riders were going to start to pealing off, going their different ways home after a very eventful weekend.

This weekend trip again shows just how great the members of Chapter 124 really are. When it comes to leading a ride, finding a good place to eat, planning a weekend trip, or in the case of an emergency, you can always count on someone within this chapter to come forward.