This was a sentimental journey for Claude and me. The very first Wing Ding we attended was at the Knoxville Convention center in 1990. Claude had held the position of Maryland State Director in GWRRA for a short time. We went to this rally to work. We covered security most of the time, if I remember right. That is checking arm bands to be sure these were legitimate participants. It was not hard work but it kept us very busy. I remember it being great fun even though there was a lot of work involved.
We were living in Montgomery Village, Maryland at the time and rode down with several other couples.
Al and Patty Vogel were with us and he was the Assistant State Director in Maryland.
Dave and Phyllis Ayers were also with us. They had been dear friends before this particular ride. I'm sad to say this particular rally was the beginning of the end of that friendship. We were less favored by Phyllis after this and we never really knew the reason why. Dave supported Phyllis in this but didn't seem as adamant as Phyllis was in the break off of the friendship. I just remember how cold she was all during the rally. The last day of the rally we all met in one of the couples rooms to plot our journey back. It was painfully clear that Phyllis did not care to ride home with Claude and me. So we stayed later the next day at the hotel and left after them. Al and Patty headed to Memphis to see Elvis stuff.
One of those really awkward moments happened on the drive home. The one tourist thing I requested on this trip was a stop in Ashland at the Biltmore for a tour. Claude biked us to the Biltmore and as we cruised the parking lot we noted the bikes of the Ayers and the other couple. We parked some distance from it but we all knew each others bikes very well. Claude and I purchased our tour tickets and thoroughly enjoyed our tour. We did not run into the Ayers or the other couple at the Biltmore.
There is a winery on the estate and we next drove there to tour the winery and have some lunch at their restaurant. Sure enough, there were the bikes for our friends. We didn't see them on the tour or during lunch. When we went to the bikes they were there. It was sooooo awkward. Clearly we were not wanted on that ride but clearly we were all leaving to head back to Maryland. We agreed to all ride together. Has to be the worst, bar none, ride I have ever been on in my life. Try as we may, we could not understand why the rift and why so intense.
There was another couple with us. I cannot remember their names. She worked for Baskin Robbins and they had just begun a relationship. She loved to read romance paperbacks while he drove. He was not really tall and a Gold Wing is a big bike. When we would stop and take 'butt' breaks, he would slow down and she, reading and not paying attention, would slide off the seat. We all laughed about it but when we got to Knoxville, she had bruises down the insides of both her legs from sliding off that bike.
Aside from those sad memories of a lost friendship, this year's Wing Ding was full of good memories as well. We still have a few old friends from our years with GWRRA that were attending this rally. We were able to get hugs and catch up with some of these dear people. We even had dinner with some of them one night. These are true friendships because they endure no matter what silliness may happen.
The Knoxville Convention Center seemed different to me. And it was. There was lots of remodeling done to provide for a World's Fair held there at some point and I really don't remember any of that architecture at all. In 1990 there was a stream that flowed along the front of everything and we had bikes lining the walk in front on both sides of the street. Hundreds of bikes. This time there was a huge tent-like pavilion along the stream across from the Convention Center and a large grassy field in front of the Holiday Inn across the other street. This grassy field had been a parking lot in 1990 and the field events were held there. This time our field events and bike shows were held at a separate location named Chilhowee Park. This is by the zoo. They had large buses providing free shuttle service to and from the Convention Center. This was a good way to do this but it kept the mass of bikes separated between these two locations.
We arrived Thursday afternoon after a lovely drive down I-75 to Knoxville. We found a nice parking garage for my car a block from the Convention Center. We would use that lot for the entire visit. While looking for a parking place we passed this interesting statue in downtown Knoxville.
We went to Wing Ding registration first.
Then we saw our first old friend. He was standing behind the Leadership Training Program Table. His name is Ed Nahl. He worked with Claude when Claude created the Leadership Training Division as it was called long ago. Claude was asked to create this entire division to train officers and provide training modules for the members enjoyment as well. Ed worked with Claude then. Ed had lots to do this Wing Ding because Knoxville had torrential rains the beginning of the week, flooding had occurred and changes had to made in some of the training schedule.
We then went to the basement level where all the vendors were spread out over lots of floor space. It was fun to see some vendors that came to the rallies when we were riding all the time and that were still selling things at Wing Ding. We also realized it doesn't take long to walk through a lot of vendors when you don't have a Gold Wing to add stuff to. We still found a few vendors we wanted to go back to purchase things from when that time came.
We ran into Curt and Betty Dixon and had a great chat. They are from Virginia and also worked with Claude in the Leadership Training Division. Curt's professional career had been as drug enforcement agent. He would be gone long periods of time and Betty didn't know where he was and could not contact him. Curt is also a great artist and we have three pieces of his artwork hanging in our home. These are such good people and a hoot to visit with.
As we exited the Convention Center we found Tom and Mozelle Edwards. They are from Idaho and were the Region Directors for that part of the United States. They have not changed at all.
I mentioned to Claude that dinner in Gatlinburg might be a fun idea. We were staying outside of Knoxville off I-64 and on the way to Sevierville, Pigeon Forge and Gatlinburg. I noted there was a Bubba Gump's restaurant in Gatlinburg that might be a fun place to eat. The hook was swallowed and our destination set.
We headed to our hotel first to check in and then on to Gatlinburg. It was about 4pm when we left but we hoped to beat the crowds if possible. It was perfect timing. We got there and they had a seat for us right away. Within a few minutes, the line was forming at the door. We feasted on shrimp and more shrimp.
We ordered a shrimp cocktail to share for an appetizer. I'm not sure why exactly but this particular shrimp cocktail was delicious. The texture of the shrimp was perfect and the cocktail sauce was also perfect. I really thing I use the shrimp to get more cocktail sauce in me. Goodness...it was so delicious that Claude kept saying, "Do you want another?" I kept saying, "This was really good but I don't think I should have another." Then the light bulb in my head went off and I realized the poor guy wanted another and was hoping I would share it with him. So we ordered another and enjoyed it before our dinner arrived.
After a nice dinner, we strolled down the main drag in Gatlinburg to work a little of that dinner off. And to check out the ice cream possibilities for dessert. In the evenings in the summer the city of Gatlinburg hires musicians to stroll the streets and entertain you. We totally enjoyed these. The first was a bluegrass music group. Then we saw cloggers and eventually we saw a quintet of men singing a form of barbershop country music. It was a very interesting mix.
We did find ice cream and also a store that sold nuts. Then we hiked the hill and headed to our car to make the journey back to our hotel for the night.
We determined to put that 'Do Not Disturb' sign on the door and sleep until our bodies woke up of their own accord. We were both very surprised when that awake time was 10:30am. I never, ever sleep that late. We had a leisurely wake up and get ready, then we headed to the Convention Center.
Our first stop was the vendor's floor. We ran into Verna Dudley. This is a spitfire of a lady who lived in Virginia when we first met her. She and her hubby, Vernon, were the Couple of the Year in Virginia and then I believe Region B after that. They are both so full of energy it is a pure delight to be around them. They have moved to North Carolina now.
Verna told us that Mike Wright, who had been the Executive Director for GWRRA some time back was very, very ill and not expected to live. He had some type of strep infection that went to meningitis and they did not expect him to pull through.
We looked at the pin stripers doing their work and then found JB and Dawna Hamilton guarding the door to the vendors entrance. The bikers also come through that door to get work done on their bikes like pin striping and lights added, etc. They looked great and were just the same as years before. JB is the perfect one to man that position at Wing Ding. He gets a lot of guff from people and he doesn't take any of it personally. He know just how to tell them what can and cannot be done. Maybe it is from years of experience. He and Dawna have attended 27 of the 33 Wing Dings over the years.
We made our purchases. I even got a new pair of sandal like heels. Amazing what you can find at a motorcycle rally. I had a pendant that needed a long silver chain and I ran into one of those at a great price as well.
After our purchases were made we headed up the escalator to find some lunch. At the top we ran into Benny and Shirley Garcia. Shirley was married to Paul Hildebrand originally and together they founded GWRRA from a small group of friends they made while biking in Arizona. From those meager beginning and working out of their home there is now and organization of about 75,000 Gold Wing owners all over the world. Shirley and Paul did divorce and each remarried. Shirley and Benny Garcia are just good to the bone people. They had wonderful hugs to share. Claude is a favorite of theirs for all the good work and service he provided over the years. It was great to catch up with them.
Kit Lyman was the next friend we saw. Again, this was a tender meeting. Kit's wife BJ had been the National Office for GWRRA. She loved Claude, called him 'Fluffy', and was a dear friend. She passed away suddenly this year. Kit is still very emotional when he runs into dear friends. His tears flowed freely when he saw Claude and he just gave him the biggest bear hug. Claude just looked into his tear filled eyes and said, "It's hard, isn't it?" Kit shook his head. Kit's brother was traveling with him and we met him also. This was a tender reunion but a very good one for Kit and for us.
We headed back to the car to deposit our purchases and then back for some lunch. Even though the bikes were not as plentiful with the split set up for this rally, I wanted to get some pictures of the ones we could. We finished our lunch in air-conditioned comfort and then headed outside to find a row of bikes. There was a bridge and the front of the Holiday Inn that had some bikes parked on and in front of them.
A lot of the bikes were covered because we had huge rain showers in the afternoon while we were inside. Two of my favorites on this little stroll were the hot pink trike and the trailer made like a very old Ford car.
Next we went up in the Sunsphere. There were great views from up and there. The nice thing was it was all enclosed which helps with height issues. I took pictures of all the views as you walk around the sphere. The floor we were on is right at the bottom of the sphere part. The first picture is looking at the Tennessee River, the second picture is downtown Knoxville and the last is of World's Fair Park in front of the Holiday Inn.
We determined we would take the free shuttle to Chilhowee Park and see if we could find Roger Losonio. This park is a lovely place for their field events...except, they had horrid rain storms in Knoxville the night before. We didn't find Roger at Chilhowee Park but we did run into him when we got back to the Convention Center. He told us he got a call the night before and the parking lot was flooded and bikes were in the water. He headed back to the park and helped move these bikes to dry ground. Here are some pictures of upturned trees by the winds and the water flooded into the grassy areas of this park.
We grabbed the next shuttle back to the Convention Center. Tonight was dinner with friends and we didn't want to be late.
As the shuttle pulled into the Convention Center, we saw our friends sitting on the wall by the Holiday Day Inn. Curt and Betty Dixon were there. Betty heard us trying to sneak up on them. Bill and Peg Zortman were there as well. Peg was our newsletter editor for the Leadership Training Program. She and Bill live in Pennsylvania. They were also the Pennsylvania State Directors for a time.
While we were waiting for one more family to arrive, Roger Losornio walked up. He left Chilhowee Park while we were going over there in a shuttle. He was done for that day and we had a good visit while waiting for the family to arrive. Claude has on his bookshelf in his office a carved roadrunner bird. Roger made this and gave it to Claude many, many years ago.
Bob, Joanna and Michelle Crawford arrived not long after. They were camping in their enormous motor home they take to NASCAR races. They are Pennsylvania residents and live not far from the Zortman's. They too were Pennsylvania State Directors at one point.
Now our crew was all here. We ate dinner at the Holiday Inn buffet and had a good visit. Such fun to be with old friends. None of us are riding our bikes anymore for various and sundry reasons. But the love of riding is still there and those wonderful memories. Lots and lots of really good memories.
After dinner it was back to our hotel for the night.
Saturday morning we got up and had a late breakfast at Cracker Barrel. Then we drove to the Museum of Appalachia for a visit there before heading home. I'll blog about that next.
The ride home was torture. There were warning lights on signs that said 'Tune to 1620AM for information'. I turned to that station and, sure enough, there had been a major wreck on I-75 at mile maker 134 at 4am that morning. All lanes were blocked and alternate routes were encouraged. Since we were headed to the Museum of Applachia and since it was before this exit, we hoped all would be well before we got to that place on I-75. It was not and we had bumper to bumper traffic most of the rest of the way home. We did finally stop at a Shiloah Steakhouse and have some very welcome dinner after we got into Kentucky.
We were very, very happy to be home Saturday evening. We had a great trip and loved renewing old friendships. Miles may separate friends but their hearts can transcend those miles and when reunited it is like you never spent time apart. Now...isn't that just a cool thing!!!
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