A Virginia bicycle club is giving back for the years of motherly hospitality that June “Cookie Lady” Curry has offered to bicyclists on the TransAmerica Trail.
The Richmond Area Bicycle Association collected donations from across the US and is presenting the proceeds to the Cookie Lady at her home in Afton, Virginia, on Nov. 16. A bike ride on the Blue Ridge Parkway will follow.
Says RABA member Champe Burnley:
“We're very excited about the event. June has certainly done a lot for cyclists over the years and we're glad to give a little something back.”
Cookie Lady
June began offering cookies, water and lemonade, and a place to spend the night as the first bicyclists on the old Bikecentennial Trail started passing through the town on the east slope of the Blue Ridge Mountains in 1976.
When she came by a house from a departed relative, she opened it as the Bike House (that's a picture of her outside the Bike House in 1984). Today its walls are papered with thousands of postcards and newspaper clippings from more than 11,000 bicyclists who have stopped in over the years.
The Adventure Cycling Association has saluted her by naming their Trail Angel Award in her honor.
A stroke, broken wrist and other medical problems have slowed her down in recent years, but she always seems to be there for passing cyclists. Reading Michael Ranvestel's journal at Crazy Guy on a Bike, I see that she gave him the key to the Bike House in July so he could spend the night.
Giving back
Bicyclists have returned her favors, leaving money in a donation jar at the Bike House. Members of the Milepost Zero Bicycle Club in nearby Waynesboro raise funds for the Bike House and regularly visit to help clean it up. Neil Gunton at Crazy Guy launched a fund-raising campaign last year.
Now RABA cyclists are pitching in with the fund-raising that collected donations from 15 states.
Here's what's happening on Nov. 16:
Presentation and ride
(Anyone who plans on attending is asked to leave an RSVP at Eventbrite so they know how many people to expect.)
An 11 a.m. meet up at June's house at 3252 Afton Road to present the check (carpools and caravans are meeting at the Parham Road commuter lot in Richmond at 9:30).
Everyone will proceed to the Rockfish Visitor's Center for a joint ride on the Blue Ridge Parkway with the Milepost Zero Bicycle Club. The ride will head south toward the Humpback Rocks Visitor's Center. It's a 3-hour ride, so everyone goes at their own pace and just turns around after 90 minutes.
Return to the Rockfish Gap parking lot for pizza with Milepost Zero.
This sounds like a worthwhile and fun event. I wish I could be there to see June and her reaction to the presentation.
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