Thursday

After riding in the rain yesterday, we weren’t motivated to get up and out quickly. Despite cloudy skies, we decided to go for a ride for lunch. Others recommended the Davis Country Store & Cafe in Old Fort, NC, so we went there.

The food was excellent. They said they prepare all the meats for their menu items. Everything was very fresh.

We by-passed a backup on I-40 and got back to town without getting rained on.

The big event of Shark Week is the banquet. The first part of the presentation noted that RGNR had donated $18,000 to five charities in the Asheville area for hurricane relief. The funds were given to Samaritan’s Purse, Helicopter Fueling Support, International Fund for Animal Welfare, Churches of Christ Disaster Relief, and BStrong.

Also, eight of our members volunteered in the cleanup shortly after the hurricane. They spent four days helping clean out the home of one of the victims, John Glenn. John was at the dinner and told us his story. He was out of town when the rain hit. It took him a couple of days to get from Hickory to his home. His home was not destroyed, but he lost his wife in the mud slide that followed the rain. He is eternally grateful to the RGNR volunteers who helped him.

Wednesday night’s raffle raised $15,000 – a new record. After all the bills for the event are paid there will be more money to contribute to the Asheville charities.

Five or six lucky (?) members received shark teeth. Their stories of how they dropped their bikes were hilarious. A shark tooth is something you don’t want, but deep down, you really do.

Finally, Shark Week XVII will be in Bend, OR August 2-4, 2027.

Friday

We took our time getting packed up this morning as we had only a couple of hundred miles to ride. The weather was pleasant; the sky was overcast, but the sun peaked through the clouds occasionally. The clouds played peek-a-boo with the mountains.

We took our morning break at a Dunkin’. This was the first opportunity we had this summer to visit a Dunkin’.

The rain started later in the morning. it was light and off-and-on to begin with, but it got much heavier about lunch time. There was no way we were going to find a park and have a picnic. We ducked into a Love’s and had lunch at Subway. We waited out the rain for about 45 minutes. We took advantage of a sunny break to get back on the bikes. The break was short-lived. We rode through light rain the last 40 miles of our route.

Our friend, Cheryl, greeted us as well as the donkeys and the cows.

Beth offered the donkeys a carrot, but they were too interested in the grass.

We’ll hang out tomorrow and then head on to Williamsburg on Sunday.