First true End to Ender

Several friends and I rode the Parkway from end to end in July 1987, but the section around Grandfather Mountain was unfinished and we had to use the 221 detour. The section was to open after the Dedication  ceremonies on Sept.11, 1987. I rode my Triumph Bonneville to work at Steelcase the day before the opening, and after work I rode to Grandfather Mtn. It began to rain when I got there and began to get dark. I was afraid my Triumph wouldn't start in the morning if it got rained on all night, so I found a gravel road behind the overlook at Grandfather Mountain overlook, and spread my tarp, rolled my bike onto one edge and wrapped the tarp over it, and crawled in under the tarp beside my bike. I spent the night in the most terrible thunderstorm I have ever camped in. It was pretty the next morning when I awoke, so I hurried to the overlook to become the first one in line to cross the Linville Viaduct when the final section of the Blue Ridge Parkway was opened to the public. I was interviewed by three TV news crews and became #1 at Grandfather Mountain then was escorted across the new section with Rangers and their blue lights flashing. I became the first true EndtoEnder to have ridden the completed Blue Ridge Parkway. I have a letter from the Department of the Interior, signed by Gary Everhardt verifying that I was the first to cross the last section of the Parkway when opened to the public. I rode hard to get home in time to see myself on the 6 o'clock news on three channels. I was laying hard left in a sharp curve when a large rattlesnake coiled up on the yellow line struck at my leg, but I saw him in time to stick my leg up beside the handlebar so he missed. I didn't stop because I was barely going to get to Hendersonville in time to watch the news. I was famous at Steelcase because they saw me on the news and called me #1 in the next company newsletter.

- Raymond from Hendersonville, NC