Friday...
After arriving late Thursday afternoon, on Friday I hung around the Alleghany Inn helping to get things set up and prepping for the cookout. It was a drop-dead beautiful day, and most of the folks that arrived Thursday night took full advantage of the whole day to ride. Our Friday night cookout was a rip roaring success with tasty burgers and tube steaks (hot dogs). A variety of chips and all of the burger accoutrements rounded out the menu with a choice of carbonated liquid sustenance and a ton of water. Vicki Gill and Genie Vess volunteered to slice the onions, but I think next year we'll do that outside instead of in my room. Whew! At least Vicki rounded up a can of Glade spray (Clean Linen aroma...very appropriate for a room at the Inn), and the onion odor seemed to be short lived.
Saturday...
I had the treat of riding with Ann Redner on one of the routes. Frankly, I don't even know which one it was as I was just following along, and neither of us had our bikes GPS equipped. We "sort of" intentionally strayed from the prescribed route and ended up on a very cool little gravel road running along next to the Dan River. The cool river water was really inviting, but we finally decided we'd proceed onward and maybe find some lunch (though she handled it with great aplomb, perhaps she was ready to leave the gravel roads while riding her VFR1200...not the usual dual sport bike). Stopping in Meadows of Dan, we squeezed in by sharing a table with a guy that was sitting by himself. Although we tried to include him in the conversation, between Ann and me, we sort of monopolized the discussion. Realizing it was getting late in the afternoon, we took a shortcut back to Sparta via the Blue Ridge Parkway (if only ALL short cuts were such as this one). That evening we had a fine BBQ spread from the Baywood Boys BBQ restaurant including coleslaw that I liked (not always the case), baked beans (only problem was that we almost , but not quite, ran out), and topped the whole thing off with banana pudding. Baywood Boys BBQ is located in downtown Sparta, and some of our guys tried their wares on Thursday night. Everyone seemed to be happy, and that made me happy.
It won't surprise too many people, but we took donations for the Ride For Kids with the prize being a 1-night stay at the Alleghany Inn. Pat Mogavero was the winner, and we'll be making a $555 donation to the RFK in the club's name thanks to everyone's generosity. My hat is off to everyone that participated.
Sunday...
Don Moe, Ken Gill, and I took a short ride over to Damascus via US58 and back mid-day Sunday (I had ice cream for lunch in Damascus!). We saw a few miles of damp pavement and a few isolated rain drops on face shields as we got closer to Sparta. After our return, it cleared up, and we had an absolutely superior evening (a little overcast, but no rain, and pleasantly cool).
Our last 10 holdouts made the traditional trek down to the Mexican restaurant at the other end of town for dinner Sunday evening, and I think everyone left more than stuffed.
Monday...
And guess what today looked like...another beautiful day with sunny skies. It really made we wish I'd had a way to ride up there and back rather than having to be on 4 wheels due to having to carry so much stuff.
When I got back to Knoxville (~205 miles from Sparta), the temps were about what they've gotten to the last week...10-15 degrees hotter than Sparta. Yechh! I've been in Sparta when it was pretty toasty, but it sure was nice being there this year with temps that much cooler than most of the surrounding areas.
Thanks to the 70 hardy souls that made the trek to Sparta. I enjoyed the heck out of the weekend, and I say we ought to do it again next year. I wish I could reserve the weather for a repeat, but at least we'll have a repeat of the fine riding in the area and fine lodging at the Alleghany Inn (the staff bent over backwards to take care of us). A bunch of people went ahead and made reservations for Memorial Day weekend 2017. If you think you might go, it wouldn't hurt a thing to go ahead and make your reservations now. Make your reservations at 888-372-2501. All king beds have been replaced and they are in the planning stages of replacing the double beds with queen sized mattresses.
While you may not care what room you are in, if you've been there before and have had a specific room that you've enjoyed in the past, ask if it's possible to get that room again. They'll try to accommodate your request as best as they can.
If you didn't make it, you should be disappointed. Put it on your calendar now for next year.
