Story By: Minna Case

In June 2016 I found myself in the northeastern corner of West Virgnia in a town named Triadelphia. The reason for my visit was Hoagy's Heroes Insane Ride Week where I was participating in two rides. I had signed up for the BBG (Bun Burner Gold) South and for the HillBilly 1,000. As faith had a different plan for me I didn't get to do the BBG due to a blown rear tire (thankfully no injuries and a huge shout out to Greg Blewett in Kentucky who came to my rescue) and instead I managed to salvage my ride by doing a "special SaddleSore 1,000" which Mike Kneebone approved even though it wasn't an official ride for the Insane Ride Week.

So next on the agenda was the HillBilly 1,000 which I rode with my good friend Marco Anglesio. This was a fun ride. The theme of the ride was to visit some different locations with a HillBilly name - HillBilly Hot Dogs in Lesage, WV, HillBilly Golf in Gatlinburg, TN, HillBilly Cycle Sales in Princeton, WV, as well as Waffle House in KY. You had to sit down and eat at the Waffle House and have a photo of you, your flag and the interior of the restaurant. I think Marco and I may have been the only ones in this rally that had a salad at the Waffle House!

We left the hotel in Triadelphi in the wee hours of the morning on June 10 and headed west to our first stop at HillBilly Hot Dogs. I lost track of how many times we crossed the Ohio River but it was a few times. Since we arrived early in the day there were no hot dogs to be had yet but it sure is a cool place to visit and we got our mandatory photo and few others too.

Our next destination was the Waffle House where we had a quick but nice lunch (hah, never thought I would write the word nice and Waffle House in the same sentence, after all it is a Waffle House). Mandatory photo was taken by our waitress.

Onward to fight traffic in Pigeon Forge. This was the only place on our entire ride where we sat in traffic. I'm pretty sure there was a Mustang convention in town as we saw tons of them and of course it was Friday afternoon in the hometown of DollyWood! We finally made it to Gatlinburg and HillBilly Golf and got our photo. We ran in to one of the other rally riders at this location. I think he was going the opposite direction of the ride.

We had a lovely ride to next mandatory stop which was to get a gas station receipt in Newport, TN. It was hot and humid and we found ourselves drinking iced coffee and taking a break in the shade at a gas station. We got recharged and motored on towards HillBilly Cycle Sales which was our last required stop. I think it was sometime after 10 pm when we found it and got the mandatory photo. My phone was not cooperating to get a good legible photo but luckily Marco's phone did a fine job.

Now we just had to point our bikes north and head back to Triadelphia. Somewhere along the way we stopped at a rest area and took a 10 minute break. I think it was the first time that the night janitor had seen two people lay on the sidewalk in full riding gear. He actually came and checked on us.

Back on the bikes for the last stretch. We saw a few Bambi's along the road sides and a 18 wheeler that was bent in half. I have no idea how that happened but it didn't seem to be an accident as the truck was just left there. Oh well. I think we got back to the hotel sometime around 2 am and the best part is we didn't have any incidents along the way, we had a fun time, a great ride and we supported all the good that Hoagy's Heroes do!

Minna Case
IBA #57766
Dover, Vermont