Dan Propst with his new tag!

We began our trip at Front Royal, VA and ended in Cherokee, NC. The entire trip was outstanding. We camped both nights and had beautiful weather. Our traveling companions were Phil and Diane Gnapt. We were riding our 1994 Honda Goldwing pulling our custom made trailer designed as a 1955 Chevrolet Nomad.

The Blue Ridge Parkway is our favorite road.

We have one of the first BRP license tags on our Goldwing! — #0046BP

Chris White of Kernersville sent us the first photo of this historic occasion ...

We have received reports of their receipt in the mails today. The first twenty-five people who send to us their pictures with you, your bike, and your tag will receive a free T-shirt.

Please include your shirt size and mailing address!

Houck Medford
hmedford@brpfoundation.org

A real red letter day!

I remarked in one of my last columns that I almost hate to hear the phone ring.

The Foundation is perennially the bearer of good news; please consider what follows next as nothing but good news.

Our design team received new color proofs from the North Carolina Department of Motor Vehicles on Friday afternoon, March 20; the team called us this morning with their “final selection” on the correct color and we share the event with you today, Monday, March 23. They are now on their way back to Raleigh to get the presses rolling.

This many-month process has all been accomplished without medication prescribed for my pain. Thank every one of you for your patience and understanding!

Parkway Foundation contract designers have made selection from sample run by the North Carolina Department of Motor Vehicles (DMV)

Today is Tuesday, February 26. For the last two weeks, any time the phone has rung, I have winced … for we have been flooded by calls … where’s our tag?

Expectations of the state we don’t take seriously but we did receive today a color proof demonstrating the State of North Carolina’s new flat-plate printing process which will be used for all new motorcycle specialty tags and some automobile specialty tags. When our designers saw our company car tag printed with the same new process, they said ‘this needs to be better.” I agreed, but having never plowed the ground before with North Carolina DMV by asking the question, “Can you do better?”

We supplied DMV with a color test mockup file three weeks ago which they printed and finally returned to us in the mail today. It was obvious that there were some color preferences which our keen-eye designers have selected. These will be communicated to Raleigh tomorrow on the opening of their business day.

We expect DMV to provide us a timeline and you will be first to know. It will be posted on all of our social network sites simultaneously so you can bookmark your favorite.

Here are the links to our other social sites: Twitter, MySpace, Facebook Address1, Facebook Address2, Facebook Address3.

After this is all over, I will buy a round a beers at Tuggle’s Gap Restaurant at Milepost 165.2

Count on me! I have already told Cheri we are coming!

Typing that number just now it sort of feels like such a miniscule number, and doesn’t even come close to reflecting the major efforts put forth by individuals, businesses, and good old fashioned “word of mouth” news that there was major interest from motorcyclists to display their support of the Blue Ridge Parkway with motorcycle tags.

“It is all in their hands now,” said Bob Henard, one of the tag’s volunteer champions, with a sigh of relief. Foundation executive director Houck Medford and Bob Henard presented a full three-ring binder and a check for more than $11,000 to Kay Hatcher, head of the specialty license tag unit at the North Carolina DMV office in Raleigh last week.

So now we wait . . . let’s just hope we can get the tags in time for some spring rides!

From Gary and Debra Laney

We enjoyed the entire Parkway but our favorite section is between Mt. Pisgah and Balsam Gap. We are fortunate to live close enough to spend a lot of time on our motorcycle riding the most beautiful road in the world.

From Eddie and Wanda Laney

I really enjoyed the music center and the views were spectacular. We rode the whole Parkway on the motorcycle with a group of friends and had a wonderful time.

Randall Dezarn completes entire Parkway ...

Also rode the Skyline Drive and the Great Smoky Mountain National Park. Riding during the week is great because there is far less traffic, but be on the lookout for more animals on the road!

L-R; Mark Faust and ....the highest point on the Blue Ridge Parkway motor road at Richland Balsam, between Mt. Pisgah and Waterrock Knob

Our first day on the northern section down to Roanoke, VA was beautiful. We could not have asked for better conditions or more picturesque scenery. The sun was out, the road was dry, temperatures cool, and being away from work was great! We spent quite a bit of time exploring Mabry Mill and before the weather turned rain and fog. This did not stop us from visiting Mt. Mitchell, the highest point on the Parkway or reaching the final marker. Overall, it was experience.

Bob Henard working the show ...

I am convinced that if the Lord was remaking this man’s blood today, he would replace his hemoglobin with the Blue Ridge Parkway. The oxygen molecule would be substitued for a Parkway view.

Bob live’s in Raleigh and of the thousands of miles that were put on his Goldwing last year, most of them were accumulated driving from Raleigh to the Blue Ridge Parkway and back home. “Once I am on the Parkway, I feel like I am at home.”

Bob’s wants his Parkway motorcycle license tag in the worse way but also in the best way – he volunteered to man a booth for the entire weekend of the Goldwing Regional Rally this past weekend in Asheville. I would check in with him by cell to see “how he was doing.”

I arrived in the late afternoon of the last day to pick up our gear and supportive accoutrements that kept Bob happy and hydrated for three days. I overheard him give the presentation to the couple in the photograph. It could not have been better presented.

Thank you, Bob, for the 18 new tag applications and the ones that dribbled into the office over the weekend bringing our total to 258 of the needed 300.

Anyone else want to man a booth at your favorite rally? We will do what we did for Bob — pay for your room and gas.

On any given day on the Blue Ridge Parkway, especially during nice weather, there are often more motorcycles than there are automobiles. My wife and I are frequently talking to these folks in overlooks and after we tell them who we are and ask them if we can share any information with them, they are full of non-stop questions. This simply means they do not have the answers nor do not know where to go to find them.

One entrepreneur who I met this past weekend is making the most of this opportunity as he and his wife, Kim, have all the answers and are having fun sharing them – Mike and Kim tours between Blowing Rock and Gatlinburg. Mike is 60 or thereabout, was successful in the construction industry in Florida, sold out because he was “tired of making money” and traded it in for “a new quality of life.” He told me this weekend at the Quotations Coffee House in Brevard. “People love the opportunity to have a diverse experience which includes the ride, a tour, great food and even a raft trip down the Nantahala if you want and Mike will go with you!

No one else in western North Carolina is offering this service. Our Virginia neighbors have devoted a whole division of their tourism department to motorcycling, but North Carolina still remains asleep. The fruit is ripe!

If you are a do-it-your-selfer, there are excellent motorcycle guidebooks available. But if you enjoy the camaraderie of others, great food, stellar rides, and a personable and enthusiastic tour leader, Mike and Kim are highly recommended.

Share the Journey!

Dan Ermis at Mile Post Zero

Spent the night at the Best Western in Cherokee and got up early and rode my 1988 Honda Goldwing with my brother-in-law on his 2002 Honda Goldwing. Temperature was mid 60’s to 70’s, clear blue beautiful sky and we got a lot of great photos. Plan to go again soon!

We enjoy riding over to Mt. Airy and eat at Snappy Lunch. The owner started working there in 1943 and bought it in 1960 and he is still there today. While in Mt. Airy we like to visit North Carolina Granite Corp. to see the World’s Largest Open-face Granite Mine In The World. This year we visited Pilot Mt. State Park. There is an incredible 360 deg view from the top of the mountain.

We also enjoyed stopping a couple of years ago to see the D-Day Memorial in Bedford Va. There are so many great things around the Parkway to see that it would take a long time to see all of them. That’s not counting all of the sights on the Parkway itself. I feel fortunate that I live close enough to get up on the Parkway within 1hr and 45 minutes. Even when its real hot in Gray TN, it’s almost always very pleasant up on the Parkway. I’ve got lots of great pictures of my time on the Parkway and I plan on getting many more. Thanks.

We completed “enders” in ‘05 and ‘06.!

Pamela Bowden's first Parkway adventure was at the age of 8; now since her two children are grown, she travels the Parkway via motorcycle with her husband, Danny. (1984)

Pamela: My parents made the trip almost every year camping along the way. I loved it so much once I was married, Danny and I made the same trip camping with our children. Our youngest child was in diapers when he made the first trip. Once our children left home, we have made the trip every year on a motorcycle. The first five or six years we carried a tent and sleeping bags to camp. Now we stay in the wonderful lodges along the way. To us, traveling the length of the Parkway is a legacy.

Authors Darrell (kneeling by the stop sign) and Gina King (standing by the stop sign).

Our most recent trip was just a week ago with some PA friends — priceless!

(l to r) Harvey Server, Web, Ed Taylor, Melvin Hogge

Cleanest best manicured stretch of blacktop I’ve ever been on, and although a little foggy, a beautiful ride! The inns I stayed in were awesome! Rode with 72 year old brother-in-law on a Road King, me on my BMW R1200C, Web on his C/C, C-liner on his 12C and a few others from the “Chromeheads” forum. Great Ride! Total of 3200 + miles on this trip for me.

Tom and Joanne on the Skyline Drive. How do we know this is the Skyline Drive and not the Blue Ridge Parkway? There are no lines on the side of the road on the Blue Ridge Parkway.

We were traveling on our 1984 Honda Goldwing along with another couple. This was our first time on the Blue Ridge. On a bike, the tight curves were very enjoyable. The smells of the flowers, the forest when it rained, the pine trees and the site of the deer were incredible experiences. The overlooks all have big areas in which to pull over and park. The tunnels also were fun. Our first experience leaves us with lasting memories and we will return someday for another adventure.

To be at a high overlook after a night rain and the day dawns crisp and clear, you gaze over the mountains high, you realize that you’re about as close to God as you can ever be!

The Wades at Mabry Mill

We rode our motorcycle the entire length with the exception of where the Parkway was closed near Boone, NC and also near Mt. Mitchell. We enjoyed the higher mountains in North Carolina. Our overnight stays were in Mt. Airy and Asheville. We visited Mabry Mill, Grandfather Mountain and the Music Center. A very pleasant and relaxing trip!

Under the banner of Cruis’in the Blues, Richard McDevitt of Charlotte and Ray Mayeu of Asheville have provided the leadership for a very small scale event when they ride from one end of the Parkway to the other — sometimes, north; sometimes, south but always staying in the best that the Parkway has to offer — Peaks of Otter Lodge, Doughton Park, and the Pisgah Inn. I have accused them of riding, eating, and sleeping; riding,eating, and sleeping; riding, eating, sleeping. They do not deny the accusation and I witnessed the same when after what I consider a very full meal at Tuggles Gap Restaurant, deserts were ordered almost all the way around.

Their perennial grins are what bring me back every year to offer my encouragement; to congratulate them on their accomplishment and endearing enthusiasm for the Blue Ridge Parkway.

The check that they present to us every year for the “money raised” pales to their sincere patronage that is genuinely portrayed in the expressions on their faces.

We thank them for sharing in the journey of the Blue Ridge Parkway which connects, as they have discovered, a lifetime of enriching memories.

Jim Davidson returns each year from Australia to ride the Blue Ridge Parkway.

The most magnificent road that I have ever been on. As far as I am concerned, that is God’s own country. I have been back every year since my first visit in 2004 and have driven various parts each time to get to know it properly. Will be back again in October, 2008. You can quote me on anything you like and I have thousands of photos if you wish to see any. God bless America!

(L-R) John Sprouse, Travis Sprouse, David Terry, Larry Bethea, Larry O'Byrne, Carlton Ballowe

On June 19th, 2008 six motorcycle riders started at Milepost 0. It was 5:45 am and we traveled end-to-end in one day. We arrived at Milepost 469 at 8:39 pm.

With the early start, we woke up the forrest and chased deer, turkey, and song birds off the beautiful Blue Ridge Parkway. Every rider thought the last 100 miles were the toughest, with a setting sun in our faces along with curved tunnels and energy stores near zero, when we arrived in Cherokee, the motel beds never felt so good.

Enjoy the View but Watch the Road

We recently collected an end-to-ender story where a group of friends who are all motorcycle buddies did the whole Parkway in a day!

Whew!

We do not recommend this, simply from the safety issue and the overwhelming physical exertion. I know! There is something called the iron butt club but this not the way TO SEE the Parkway.

For anyone that is seriously considering this, I will buy you dinner to try and talk you out of it.

“Enjoy the View but Watch the Road”. You can’t do both when you are tired.

Gary Conlan, Jim Conlan, Bill Bushong, John Harkness

My three friends and I have ridden the Blue Ridge Parkway from end to end the last three years on our motorcycles. We will be doing a fourth year this coming June when we will also include the Skyline Drive. Our names are Gary Conlan; my son, Jim Conlan, Bill Bushong, and John Harkness.

We absolutely love riding the Parkway on motorcycles and begin planning the following year’s ride immediately after the current ride.

General Riding the Blue Ridge Parkway

In 2005, I purchased a very small dog (a Papillion) with the intentions that he would ride the motorcycle with me. I named him “General” and he was born 1-8-2005 (Elvis’s 70th birthday). In 2006, we started at Rockfish Gap and rode the entire length of the Parkway. The Blue Ridge Parkway is my “Heaven on Earth”.

I know of no other place that is so beautiful with no stop signs, no stoplights, no commercial signage, no commercial vehicles for 469 miles (Nirvana!). It is my intention to ride the full length with “General” along every even year until I am physically unable to. I have a Parkway map laminated and hanging in my cubicle here at work. I will get a calendar each year to keep me company for the in between years. I tell every motorcycle rider that I meet that they have to ride the Parkway at least once before leaving this world.

This year (2008) “General” and I will be a part of the RFTW (Run for the Wall) in May to Washington, D.C,. on May 25th. We will leave Washington, D.C. from Front Royal and then onto the Parkway for my 3rd, “General’s” second full length trip. We will end up in Gatlinburg and ride some roads in that area.

I wish that I could personally thank President Roosevelt and all the many workers for creating such a beautiful, peaceful, and heavenly experience. The people of the area all along the Parkway experience are magnificent and wonderfully friendly true Americans.

This year’s trip I will explore Little Switzerland, Linville Falls, and make a stop in Mt. Airy to visit my favorite TV show’s home town. “General” and I will be traveling on our new motorcycle this time (2007 Harley Davidson Ultra Classic).

To the Parkway Foundation keep up the good work and thank you for creating the End to Ender program. I will proudly display my certificates at work and always tell all that I meet about the Blue Ridge Parkway.

“The Blue Ridge Parkway is as good as it gets in America.”

— Michael E. Jones

The North Carolina Department of Motor Vehicles has favored the three number position with the suffix BR. Tags would be numbered like 123BR.

Four positions allows more options for vanity combinations. A copy of the letter will be posted as soon as it is available. We will meet with DMV soon to get their commitment to the design.

This decision will be important to the success of the program.

More later … we are appreciative of your patience.

Carolina BMW of Greensboro has promoted the tag from the very beginning, and if you happen to be in the area this Saturday, March 8 — stop in because they are having one of their famous open-houses which features great BBQ and rides of their new machines.

Ride safe!

One of the more common questions we get, is “How can I help?”. Right now, there are 3 main ways you can help:

1.) If you’re a North Carolina resident, and you own a motorcycle, THEN BUY THE TAG! You can get an application on the Blue Ridge Parkway Foundation’s web site. Simply download the application now and send it in.

2.) Spread the Word! The main way we will get enough tag registrants to get this specialty tag approved is to let others know about it. We put our heads together and then asked our friends at Virtual Blue Ridge if they could help us develop something for getting the word out on the Internet. They came back with some good ideas. One of those is a “thermometer” that you can place on your web site or blog. You can see it to your right in this blog post. It’s just a few lines of code you can easily add to your site, and it links right to this page. To install the “thermometer” on your site, simply copy the code below and put it in the HTML source of your web site or blog:

<a href=”http://www.blueridgeparkwayblog.com/15-how-can-i-help/“><img src=”http://www.blueridgeparkwayblog.com/scripts/thermometer-new.php” alt=”Blue Ridge Parkway Specialty Motorcycle License Plate” width=”120″ height=”301″ border=”0″></a>

3.) Give us more ideas. So far, we have received some great ideas and we’re continuing to get more. Don’t be afraid to post your comments on this blog. We’re checking them daily and your thoughts can help inspire someone else to even greater thoughts. Comments on the blog are the easiest way to share your ideas with us!

We all look forward to see this great license plate on North Carolina motorcycles next year and your help is what will allow us to do that.

For more information on the specialty tag program, view the press release on the Foundation’s web site.

Our moto friends protesting encroaching development in the Roanoke Valley.

• Senator Joe Sam Queen who introduced this legislation will be having conversations with NCDMV soon about finalizing the design to include 4 number / letter options. This will allow us to produce a promotional counter card similar to the one for the automobile.
• Grandfather Mountain will put this in the hands of every motorcycle that comes through its gates (warmer weather coming!)
• GWRRA – this opportunity is being worked on a number of levels with straegically placed notices from the NC district representative.
• Concourse Owners Group (COG) – we have looked at their website and will look for a point of entry and opportunity.
• Motor Maids – same as COG
• Honda Sport Touring Association (HSTA) – same as COG
• Road Runner Magazine – eventhough this is published in our community, it is a national magazine. Jim Parks, their director of public relations has offered to place their eNEWS. Most all of these groups have discussion forums which have varying degrees of particpation. It will take a little time to figure all of that out.
• Rider Magazine – again, a national publication but we will look for an “in”
• Wing World – the monthly magazine of GWRRA, we just found out about that one to day.
• Roy’s Folks – travel show of WGHP in High Point, one of the editors is a rider and has done stories for us before.
• Raleigh News and Observer – we learned today that one of their editors is a rider and would be in a position to do a story
• Ralph Knox, director of photography, for Main Street teleproductions has offered to produce a 30 second PSA for us that can be used in numerous application.

Thank you! We will be giving updating comments on our pursuits. If any of you have already existing relationships with these opportunities, please let us know. We could use some help without having to start cold.

Houck

Houck and K.B. Medford are motorefs with the United States Cycling Federation

Legislation was passed last summer authorizing this license tag, but the program could not be rolled out until the fall. Cold weather came, and you know what happens to our bikes and our minds when cold weather sets in. They get parked and we go numb!

We (the Foundation and National Park Service) issued independent press releases to all our media outlets, ran three ads and supporting articles in Full Throttle Magazine, sent press releases and applications to all their advertisers which included biker bars, tattoo parlors, and dealerships and have published the story in all Foundation related materials.

As of today (February 4), we have 121 of the 300 applications that we need to put this tag in production. When we introduced the automobile tag program in 2001, we had 400 applications in 4 months.

We know that this program will fly and with warm weather and new options for promotion, we know we will get there and we are anxious to see these on the road.

Please send us your ideas! We will pursue each one with earnest.

Ride safe!

Houck Medford
Executive Director