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Trivia Questions (answers below)

1. Pleasant Valley Sunday was a Gerry Goffin and Carol King song, most famous for the version recorded by The Monkees. The song topped out at number three on the U.S. Billboard charts in the year 1967.

2. The Great Smokey Mountains occupy real estate in just two states– Tennessee and North Carolina.

3. The amusement park is called Ghost Town in The Sky. For a fascinating history of the park, go to the Ghost Town in the Sky Wikipedia entry

4. Milwaukee, Wisconsin

5. Harley-Davidson was founded by William S. Harley and Arthur and Walter Davidson.

The Fin Man takes a trip to NC for a Knucklehead


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Weil’s-Lombardo Trailers ‘N’ More
Wheels Through Time Museum

Wow, what a weekend! If someone would have told me a month ago that I would be heading east to Maggie Valley, NC with my son Jeff and grandson Pablo to pick up a Harley-Davidson motorcycle, I would have had to ask them what they were smoking?!? But last Friday, the aforementioned trio set out on just such a journey. To say it was a fun-filled weekend, would be a gross understatement.

What an incredible adventure it turned out to be for two men and a boy. (Hey, maybe we should start a moving truck business with that name!). The extended weekend of December fourth through sixth, 2009, is one that will be etched in our minds forever. This would not be a average Kunz family December weekend– watching Law & Order, working on the next Old Car Column, ticking off the list of ‘honey-dos’ and savoring the aromas wafting from momma’s kitchen... her special creation planned for the evening meal.

The Three Musketeers, as Kathy likes to call us, were headed on a mission... a road trip to Maggie Valley, North Carolina, to haul back a Harley-Davidson motorcycle that Jeff won in a raffle. Just having a member of the family win such a sizeable prize was a thrill in itself. I don’t think any of us ever won anything of value, even though my father, in his later years, invested thousands of dollars in the Illinois State Lottery.
 
It all started just a few weeks earlier when Jeff called to inform me that he had won the grand prize in a raffle which he had entered back in early October. He and his girlfriend Julie had gone on vacation to visit my daughter Kim and grandsons Kyle and Kaden in Atlanta, GA.

Jeff, who has owned a handful of two wheeled ‘rice burners’ in his time, and at one point was a salesman for Dave Mungenast Honda Motorcycles, wanted to rent a Harley-Davidson and cruise some of the scenic roads of the Great Smokey Mountains. As he rolled into Maggie Valley, North Carolina, Jeff came across Gryphon Bikes, a small dealer where he rented a Harley-Davidson V-Rod for the day, fulfilling his weekend wish. Shop owner Ken Brown suggested that Jeff and Julie visit the Wheels Through Time Museum, located just a few blocks down the road from the bike shop. While touring the museum, Jeff spotted a fully restored, 1947 Harley ‘knucklehead’, the grand prize in the museum’s seventh annual charity raffle. In one of those ‘what the heck’ moments, Jeff decided to go for the fifty dollar package which included seven entry tickets plus a museum T-shirt and DVD. The raffle is an annual event, headed up by Dale Walksler, the museum’s curator and founder.
 
I sat down with Dale on Saturday, the day we picked up Jeff’s bike, to talk about his spectacular museum, a tribute to transportation and motorcycles, in particular Harleys. If Dale’s name rings a bell, it’s because Walksler owned and operated Dale’s Harley-Davidson in Mount Vernon, Illinois for nearly three decades. As one of the nation’s largest Harley dealerships, Dale accumulated a huge collection of vintage bikes, plus a handful of antique cars and truckloads of related memorobilia over the years. His idea for a museum dedicated to historic two-wheeled transportation began to evolve and grow to massive proportions. A relocated dealership on the outskirts of Mount Vernon, was quickly bulging at the seams with Dale’s ever growing collection of vintage transportation, and it soon became apparent that Dale would have to look elsewhere for property that could accommodate his massive accumulation of motorcycles and related ‘stuff’.
 
Following months of unsuccessful proposals and legal wrangling with city officials and neighboring business officials, Dale decided to pack up his treasures and move on down the road. Maggie Valley, North Carolina was the destination and it took nearly a year and ninety-one, forty-foot tractor-trailer loads to get Dale’s rare, museum collectibles to their new home. That was nearly eight years ago and the museum is still a work in progress.
Our adventure started Friday morning as we headed out. Jeff and I have suburban roots and as he drives a Mercedes sedan and I a Mustang convertible, we didn’t exactly have a vehicle suitable for towing a bike and trailer all the way to North Carolina and back. Our good friends and neighbors, John and Carol Relleke graciously offered us their bright red, 2003 Dodge Ram 2500 Hemi quad cab for the trip.
 
Okay, now we’ve got to find a trailer. I called up an old friend and fellow ex-CMC Stereo fellow employee Chuck Krause. He and wife Michelle each have their very own Harley-Davidson motorcycles. I figured if anyone could hook us up with a trailer, it would be Chuck. He didn’t have one of his own, but suggested I call Jim Lombardo of Weil’s-Lombardo Trailers ‘N’ More in Belleville. Jim belongs to the same Harley club that Chuck and Michelle belong to, and is a long time acquaintance and former customer of Dale Walksler, having purchased about a half dozen or so bikes from him over the years. When I explained our situation to Jim, he jumped at the chance to get his name on the road by lending us his personal, enclosed trailer complete with all the cushions and straps at no charge.
 
Once we were hitched up, we headed south east via I-64, I-57 and I-40. The drive was spectacular and the Dodge Ram proved to be an incredibly capable and comfortable ride. Although it had nearly 120,000 miles on the clock, the truck rolled along quietly and steadily, mile after mile without a hitch, and not a rattle could be heard. When my son climbed behind the wheel, he was duly impressed with the Dodge pickup. It cruised along confidently and we nearly forgot there was a trailer behind us. The Wells Cargo trailer Jim had supplied, was equipped with automobile size wheels and tires and it followed obediently even at speeds of up to... well, let’s just say it rolled along quiet nicely.
 
Linda had reserved a cabin in the woods (pictures on my web site at www.thefinman.com) and the accomodations were excellent for the eight family members who had traveled to Maggie Valley to be a part of the presentation of Jeff’s prize the next day. We arrived late on Friday night and woke up Saturday morning to find that a light snowfall dusted the tall trees with a coat of white.
We went to the museum at noon and spent nearly three hours hanging around, looking at all of the fantastic memorobilia that Dale had carefully and skillfully placed in various settings around the large steel building which housed the museum. If you ever get to Maggie Valley, this museum is a definite must see! You won’t be disappointed.
 
Later that day, Linda and Larry split for a nearby casino and Kim headed back to Atlanta to attend not one, not two but THREE parties that night. (Oh to be young again.) But the night would prove to be a test on my stamina that I had not foreseen. Jeff and the ‘young uns’ (as they say in Maggie Valley) hung out at the cabin while Pablo and I set out for a ‘couple hours’ of sightseeing and a quick shopping trip to pick up a souvenir for his girlfriend Alexis. Little did we know what lay in store for the evening.
 
We headed up the mountain to take in some of the majestic scenery and snap a few photos with my Nikon digital SLR. It soon became apparent that the sun was setting faster than we expected and there would not be enough light to continue our sightseeing portion of the outing. I told Pablo that we would be leaving the next morning and would have plenty of opportunity to pull off the road and see the views during the early morning light. I did NOT want to get involved in souvenir shopping, however, as I knew that would eat up a lot of time. "How about doing our shopping tonight?", I asked Pablo. He was good with that and we headed up and over the mountains on windy, two lane route 441. I had figured about an hour for the 35 mile drive as it was dark and the weather had made the roads somewhat marginal in drive ability. As we climbed up to the top of the mountain, the roads became a bit more ‘dicey’. Descending into Gatlinburg, we watched as the digital thermometer on the Ram’s overhead console, ticked up the temperature one degree at a time, eventually crossing over the freezing mark, but not by a lot. Upon arrival in Gatlinburg, we were once again greeted by bumper-to-bumper traffic, just as we were the night before on our way to Maggie Valley.
 
We finally found a parking lot a block off the main drag, that had a $10.00 spot with our name on it, and I quickly learned that parking the sizeable Dodge Ram was a challenge compared to my little Mustang. (As the evening wore on, our challenges would become greater and greater.) The town was abuzz with rumours that route 441 might be closing due to the impending weather later that night. It was already nearly nine o’clock and we had not yet browsed a single store. I picked up a souvenier from our first stop and asked the shopkeeper if there was a good place to eat nearby... perhaps something Italian? The clerk recommended the Best Italian restaurant a few blocks up the street. We wasted no time in heading to the eatery, not only because we had to get back as quickly as possible, but also because Pablo and I were starving. The twenty minute wait for a table didn’t help much and I was getting regular calls from Jeff, wanting to know when we’d be back. When we finally finished our dinner, we hit a couple of tourist trap shops where Pablo picked up a hoody for Alexis and I bought a T-shirt for Pablo. We hit the road, but not for long. About a half mile out of town, we came across a large, digital sign which informed us the road back across the mountains, had indeed been closed! Drat! That may not sound like much of a problem, but you see, the only other reasonable detour, route 40, had been closed due to a rock slide! The only alternative route back to Maggie Valley was a big loop northward, then east and back down south through Asheville, NC... a roughly 150 mile detour!
 
We were considering grabbing a Hotel room in Gatlinburg, but the one we checked out was full. Seems all the traffic we had been experiencing was some sort of parade and gathering of cheer leaders from all around the country! No Pablo... down boy, down! I think he was ready to sleep in the lobby if necessary (just kidding Alexis), but after some careful consideration, we decided that the 150 mile detour route was our only option in order to be ready for the trip home early Sunday morning.
 
As we headed north to pick up highway 40 east, we drove through Pigeon Forge and Seiverville, TN. We stopped at a convenience store to fill up with gas, soda and chips. The gas held out– but the chips and sodas had to be replaced a couple of times though the wee hours of our journey. Soon we were merging onto the interstate and felt like we were finally making some time.
About twenty minutes later, as we were cruising along the straight, dry interstate with barely a car in either direction, I remarked to Pablo what a great highway we were driving... straight, clean, dry and hardly any traffic at all. Feeling really good about the trip ahead, I got a phone call from Jeff. "Where the h-e-double hockey sticks are you guys?" he said. "Well", I said, "we’re on Highway 40 somewhere... hold on let me give you a mile marker". Jeff was remotely navigating for us on his I-Phone’s map app. "No wonder there aren’t any other cars around you guys", Jeff said. "You’re headed toward the rock slide!" Double drat!! We had to pull a fast U-turn and back track about ten miles in order to get back on the right track.
What a night. We arrived back at the cabin around two in the AM (and were asleep within minutes thereafter) with a hoody, a folding knife and a ‘Mustang Parking Only’ sign for my garage!!
 
We could have stopped at a Wal-Mart on the way back and picked up the same merchandise, but we wouldn’t have had near as much fun... and we wouldn’t have the memories which will last us a lifetime, right Pablo?