Want to meet at The Tail of the Dragon?

[Juju]

Re: Feel like meeting at the Tail of the Dragon?

Have we chosen a "base" motel yet? This sounds like so much fun! I can hardly wait to meet everyone! Praying for good weather!!

My sentiments exactly! Nice to hear that Mattel's wife will also be coming along.

The Biltmore tour and communal breakfast sound great. Is it possible that one of the motels will give us a discount with this big a group?

 

[Mattel]

Tail of the Dragon weekend May 15-17th

OK here is the deal:

Please post your reply as to what you think. It is hard to plan this if I don't know what people think. Nana is helping us plan this, along with Patches and anyone else I would apreciate any help anyone can give to make this successful. The more we plan the better it will be for all of us.

I have been doing some research into the Biltmore house and I am coming up with a cost of $50-55 a person. I am not sure if everyone would want to drop almost $100 a couple for abut an hour or more of a tour.

I think I found something better if everyone is interested:

Asheville has a historic Trolley that travels the entire city in a 90 min. tour. IF we have less than 24 people we would have to go during regular hours for $19 a person, but if we have more than 20 people we can book the trolley for a private tour, and they will pick us up anywhere and at what ever time we want. I am not sure when everyone is planing on getting there but we will have our choice of doing a night ghost tour, or a morning tour. Here is the website link to see more on the trolley tour:

Asheville Historic Trolley

OK I still have some planning to do, but for Saturday, we can eat breakfast on our own and meet downtown for a ride together up to the Grove Park Inn.
The Grove Park Inn Resort & Spa - Welcome

Once we get there, we can park together. I can try to arrange to have a designated space for our bikes to be together. Once there, we can either take the trolley tour or see any one of three great places on the grounds:

The Grovewood gallery
Activity Details | Asheville, NC's Official Tourism Web Site

The Auto Museum
Activity Details | Asheville, NC's Official Tourism Web Site

The Homespun Museum

All three of these are free to get in, and the both museums will only take about 15-30 minutes each, to go through, the gallery and shop will take about 30 minutes.

The Grove park is a beautifully building and offer a stunning view of Asheville. I would like to have lunch here as a group, and the best place to do this is on the balcony or in one of the private rooms. This is an upscale restaurant, but lunch is very reasonable. I can look for another place, there are plenty of restaurants in Asheville, but I figure we can park together, and ride the Trolley from this location. drop by the museums and then depart from this location.

Her is a proposed schedule:

Friday night:
When we get there we can each explore downtown ashville and then
Meet for Dinner at a restaurant in Asheville to be determined
Dinner and Drinks
We can post our arrival time on line or we can have a telephone tree to figure out who is there

Saturday Morning:
Waffles at restaurant to be Determined
Meet at location by downtown at 9:30 am
Ride together through downtown to Grove park Inn
Park together at Grove park inn by 9:45

Walk down to the area by the auto museums and gallery to be picked up by the Trolley that will pick up at 10:00 am. This is also the time that the regular trolley picks up on another area on the property in case we do not have 20 people we can use that as a fall back plan.

We would be back at the Grove Park in by 11:30 am just in time for Lunch together

We can eat lunch at the Grove park from 11:30-1:00.

1:00- 4pm: We can then head up the the Dragon, it is a 90mile drive and to be on the safe side we will say 3 hours

I guess that will be time for a short ride on the dragoon and then we can have dinner together.

The next part to plan will be where to stay, I think Nana is working on Maggy Vally or something.

Can we get a poll sticky-ed to the top of this link with the number of people and bikes that will be attending? I am not that sure how to do that.

 

[Mattel]

Feel like meeting at the Tail of the Dragon May 15-17

Here is the current head count for our Trike Talk Trip to Asheville and the Tail of the Dragon:

We have 18 so far please let us know ASAP if you would like to be added to our trip or you changed your mind.

It would help to have a pretty good idea of # of participants. So far:
Mattel/wife
Nana/Mike (second bike)
Juju/Earl (second bike)
Patches + friend
ThirdWheel
Adventurer
BigDog
TrikerJim/Diane
Bazooka
Bdn56/Bride + 2 friends

Anyone else? Any more spouses or friends along?

Please see my next post for some more planning of Saturday Morning.

 

[Nana]

Re: Feel like meeting at the Tail of the Dragon?

OK guys, We need to do some specific planning for the Dragon trip. Unfortunately our polls don't allow too many questions, so I'm going to list the questions here. I'd appreciate it if everyone planning to join us for all or part of the weekend would please reply with your answers ASAP. Thanks!

1. Names and # of trikes/bikes

2. Will you be joining the group for:
• the entire weekend?
• Friday night and Saturday (Asheville area only)
• Saturday & Saturday night (Asheville and the Dragon or just meet at the Dragon)

3. Do you have a preference on Asheville group activities on Saturday morning? Please read Mattels informative post above for a description of the suggested options. We'll plan on the making arrangements for the most popular option.

4. I would suggest that we spend Saturday night, after riding the Dragon, fairly close to that area so as to avoid riding the mountain road after dark (think meeting wildlife up close and personal!). Sunday morning those who would like to can head on toward home, and those who want to could do some more riding in the beautiful Smokies -- Cherhola Parkway, over to Maggie Valley, or any other of the gorgeous rides around there!

5. I have arranged for a discounted rate for our group participants at the following two motels. NOTE: There is not a group or block of rooms being held for us, however, if you will call ASAP and reserve a room in your name, as part of the TrikeTalk group, you will get the discounted rate. Taxes are not included in the listed rates. The motels' standard cancellation policies apply.

Friday, May 15 -- Asheville
Red Roof Inn-Asheville West --give code # CP526731 per Susan
16 Crowell Road
Asheville, NC 28806
(828) 667-9803‎
(800) 843-9999‎
(828) 667-9810‎*-*Fax

Including a 15% discount, the rates for two people/room are:
One King bed -- includes Wifi and microwave -- $63.75
One King bed -- option to add Wifi -- $55.24
Two Queen beds -- option to add Wifi -- $59.49
Susan says that she will try to block our group in rooms close together, but we should call and reserve ASAP in order to do so.

Saturday, May 16 Robbinsville
Phillips Motel (Phillips Motel, Robbinsville, NC 828-479-3370)
290 Main Street
Robbinsville, NC 28771
Voice: 828-479-3370
Fax: 828-479-8721
Contact: Reba--tell her you are with the TrikeTalk group. If she asks, tell her Lesley and Mike Harrison called to make the arrangements (BTW we have room #102 reserved.)
Rates before a 10% discount are $40.00, $50.00, $55.00, or $60.00 depending on the room and amenities it has. (We reserved a room w/ queen bed for $55.00 less 10%)

 

[bdn56]

Re: Feel like meeting at the Tail of the Dragon?

Who will be leaving from South Alabama? Are we riding as a group? Anyone trailering up? Anybody have a route picked out? We could start out going north and meet up with some more folks.
It will be a 6 to 7 hour ride to Asheville.
We can leave from anyplace at any time? Isn't life great.

 

[Nana]

Re: Feel like meeting at the Tail of the Dragon?

We can leave from anyplace at any time? Isn't life great.

LOL Bryan.... you are just saying that because you have a gorgeous new trike !!!

 

[Juju]

Re: Feel like meeting at the Tail of the Dragon?

Juju and the Chief are in! One bike, one trike. I'm betting that Zook will have my trike finished before May. Love ya, Zook!

Nana, would you rather have the other info posted here, or via PM?

Bryan, we'll be riding up from Pensacola, which is practically southern Alabama. LOL But we may be leaving early to make a stop in Chattanooga overnight before heading up to NC. If we don't decide to do that, maybe we could swing up your way and all ride up together, maybe joining up with others on the way, as you suggested. Wouldn't that be cool--a caravan of trikes!

Pretty busy at work now, but will call for room reservations later this evening.

Woo-hoo, looks like this party is coming together!

 

[Nana]

Re: Feel like meeting at the Tail of the Dragon?

Replies either in a post or PM. I'll get 'em either way .

 

[bdn56]

Re: Feel like meeting at the Tail of the Dragon?

Juju, that would work out great. A couple from Huntsville is trying to work out the ride. We might be able to meet up with them along the way? Are you planning on leaving Thursday? This is starting to get exciting.

Nana, my bride of 26 years as of the 4th of March works for the state. I work for the county. We are able to leave most any time.

 

[Juju]

Re: Feel like meeting at the Tail of the Dragon?

Hey, Bryan, that would be cool. Yes, we would probably leave on Wednesday or Thursday. I'm a teacher and the Chief is retired, so we could pretty much leave any time too. My semester is over the first week in May. It will all depend on whether we decide to overnight in Chattanooga. We can talk more about that as the time gets closer.

For now, here's the rest of our info, Nana:
1. Juju and Earl, one trike, one bike

2. We're in for the whole weekend: Asheville, the Dragon, and whatever comes after.

3. Do you have a preference on Asheville group activities on Saturday morning? The Biltmore tour is a bit steep, in addition to which, I've been there before, so that's not our favorite option. The trolley tour sounds pretty neat, though.

4. We will probably be up for some more riding on Sunday with whoever is sticking around.

5. Thanks for rounding up some hotel discounts!

OK, so now I have TWO things to be excited about: my trike and--what was the other thing?--Oh yeah, our trip to the Dragon!

 

[Mattel]

Re: Feel like meeting at the Tail of the Dragon?

Belinda and I are in. One Trike (our Stallion). We prefer the Trolley because I am not sure If I can walk the Biltmore. I may have foot surgery and hopefully be healed by then.

We have some friends here in Charlotte that have a Gold wing trike with only two wheels. They said to put them down as tentative, as they have some parent care issue to resolve before they can say for sure.

I am not sure how we want to handle the weather. I guess this is depends on what the weather looks like the week before? Belinda and I will not enjoy doing the in the rain (we are not that hard core). Do we want to block out a rain date?

Things are shaping up!

 

[Patches]

Re: Feel like meeting at the Tail of the Dragon?

Wow! Biltmore IS expensive! Didn't realize they charge so much. Whatever everyone else wants to do is fine with me. I'm just happy to be going!! It is beautiful country there and a really good excuse to ride. Will be going thru some states I have not visited before.

 

[Nana]

Re: Feel like meeting at the Tail of the Dragon?

ANNOUNCEMENT​

Just look at the excitement and anticipation building as the plans come together for the weekend centered around rides and activities in Asheville and the Tail of the Dragon!

Last year the first annual TrikeTalk rally was held in Dothan, at Bazooka's place. It was small, but a great success, and the consensus was that it should become an annual event that will continue to grow as the years go by!

With various members of our triker family and friends coming together from several states for this event, and the obviously building excitement about the opportunity to socialize and ride together.... well, it appears to the forum administration team that this weekend is fast becoming the obvious candidate for the official TrikeTalk Rally-2 (TTR2)!

So watch for a new title on the thread today, and spread the word ..... TrikeTalk.com Rally--Tail of the Dragon! or TTR2--Dragon's Tail!

 

[bdn56]

Re: Feel like meeting at the Tail of the Dragon?

The trolley sounds great. I reserved a room at Phillips Motel.
I hope Randy and Marge can make the trip also. Work takes priority over play until you get old.

 

[Mr.Wizard]

Re: Feel like meeting at the Tail of the Dragon?

Still tweaking plans overhere...

I'm not sure how this is going to work out but I'm trying to make plans to be in Robinsville Saturday to meet you guys (if it is possible). I will trailer the trike to the Phillips and may stay there the night and trailer back Sunday. It's only a few hours there.

Question.. this may be tough to be exact at this time but...

When do you guys plan to get into Robinsville Saturday?

 

[Nana]

Another Announcement
​

It looks as though we are going to have our new TrikeTalk t-shirts in hand before the rally at the Dragon. If any of you are interested in purchasing one, please PM me with your size. I will give you the details and will plan to bring them with me to give to you there---that will save you shipping costs.

(For anyone not able to come to the Dragon in May but still wanting to purchase one... you PM me also. I will have to charge you enough extra for shipping, but would be happy to mail one to you also.)​

 

[Gorilla]

Good Morning Nana, Did you post a picture of the T-Shirts and I missed it? I'm interested in purchasing a couple. Please advise.

MJ and I are riding the Blue Ridge Parkway about 10 days before you guys are going to be in that area. We would like to have been able to have pushed ahead to your time slot but was not able to. We have done the Dragon the last 2 years and this will be our 3rd. It will be my first on the trike. Be safe on your trip.

Ted

 

[Nana]

Good Morning Nana, Did you post a picture of the T-Shirts and I missed it? I'm interested in purchasing a couple. Please advise.

MJ and I are riding the Blue Ridge Parkway about 10 days before you guys are going to be in that area. We would like to have been able to have pushed ahead to your time slot but was not able to. We have done the Dragon the last 2 years and this will be our 3rd. It will be my first on the trike. Be safe on your trip.

Ted

Mornin' Ted, No. I don't have the shirts in hand yet, but yesterday the order for them and their printing was initiated. As soon as I get them I will post a picture as well as all the size availability and pricing details.

So sorry you guys can't join us! Will MJ be riding her Stallion on your trip? or will she be behind you? Be sure to let us know how your run goes .
Nana

 

[bdn56]

Nana, I would pay extra for a pocket T-shirt. If you can't, thats fine. So far my Wife Susan and I on the trike are for sure. Our friends from Huntsville are still trying to work it out.

 

[Mr.Wizard]

Ted.. if you see some lonely old guy following a bunch of Harley's on a trike around the Dragon.. wave.