I recently had the opportunity to attend the Mountain Moxie motorcycle event held at the Switzerland Inn in Little Switzerland NC. Little Switzerland is located on the Blue Ridge Parkway just south of the town of Spruce Pine NC and the Inn is a beautiful facility with majestic views of the mountains of North Carolina. If you are riding the Snake, NC route 226 or maybe the Blue Ridge Parkway I would suggest you stop in and for a meal or spend the night, the accommodations are really nice and the staff is wonderful.
OK, now why attend the Mountain Moxie, it is the largest women’s weekend motorcycling conference on the US East Coast. Mountain Moxie is a 3-day event dedicated to women who love motorcycling and the men that ride with them. So why on earth did I attend, trying to pick up some chicks on bikes. Hardly, let me explain.
I started riding when I was 16 years old and my first vehicle was a Cushman Eagle, my brother had a Greeves and I had access to Norton’s, Triumph’s and the like. All those wonderful 60’s machines that everyone wants today. Then along came marriage, the Navy and a family so no more riding. Then in 2014 Mary my wife of 46 years passed away from cancer. I retired and I got the urge to ride again. Much to my surprise my daughter and son-in law purchased an old dirt bike for me to work on and keep my occupied during retirement. Well, that ignited an interest that had been dormant for a long time and then came the new Kawasaki Versys and two old Honda’s and the dirt bike was sold to a friend.
I met some great neighbors who ride, joined the Time Warp Vintage Motorcycle Club and my son-in-law gave me a copy of Ted Simon’s Jupiters Travels. I also discovered Danell Lynn on Facebook. Danell was traveling over 53,000 miles to all 50 States to set a Guinness Record. I followed Danell’s blog and read Ted’s book and that was the inspiration to begin my travel adventures on a motorcycle.
Much to my surprise Danell was one of the featured speakers at this years Mountain Moxie so naturally I had to attend to hear her presentation. Its not often that you have a chance to hear someone in person who was inspirational in your starting to travel via motorcycle.
That weekend it rained cats and dogs all weekend but fortunately no sentient beings were harmed. Instead of riding my motorcycle I traveled to Little Switzerland by car, high winds in the mountains and rain are not my cup of tea. I had just experienced lots of rain on the Natchez Trace trip and did not need any more for a while. So nice and dry I arrive at the Switzerland Inn on Thursday night and while sitting in the lobby wondering what the weekend would have in store for me much to my surprise Danell spotted me from across the lobby and gave me a warm welcome. We sat and talked for a long time sharing our experiences and she was very interested in my tales of adventure and starting over again later in life. Her father is an ex military guy and I think we have a lot in common raising strong independent children. The next day Danell presented a very interesting critique of her Guinness record adventure and she received a very warm response from the group.
If you have a chance check out Danell’s web site at http://www.danelllynn.com/ Buy her books and follow her Blog you won’t be disappointed. Her latest book 1 Woman, 1 Motorbike, 1 Year is a collection of blog posts written by Danell during her year long journey to all 50 States and Canada that set a Guinness World Record. I am sure she will have lots of exciting adventures to share with us in the future.
