My best join up spot is the Bojangles on HWY 220 (alias Franklin Street) which will be a couple of blocks north (3,000 feet) of the Roanoke Blue Ridge Parkway exits (ya got two of them exits in Roanoke both on HWY 220 alias Franklin street, so you can actually miss the first one and it does not matter at all whatsoever as the second one works just as well).

The Bojangles is located at 4440 Franklin Rd, Roanoke, VA 24014
(540) 206-2711
I will give you the number for the cell I will be carrying at trip time, since that number shifts around depending on the phone I choose to carry due to best reception.   Might even be my wife's phone, she has unlimited data reception off of either T-Moble or Sprint towers.

Google Fi, gotta love them.   Makes the handle bar Google map thing very easy to do.

Now all you need to do is get up a meet up time that seems reasonable to you and text it in to my cell phone that night when you stop for the first time.   Or call me.  Dave will be with you by then and his phone works really well with my phone.

How is that for flexible?     As long as you can tell me the approximate Roanoke meet up time up at least four-five hours in advance I can roll to hit it pretty much on the dot.    And I will be sipping tea, reading a paperback and enjoying AC comfort during my wait time.

It's not a starting point, just a pick up point.   Where you and MM meet up at is the starting point.

Once you settle in for the night give me a call or a text and allow for me to take 4-5 hours to get to the pick up spot in Roanoke.   I can ride before dawn if needed, so just see where you guys light that first night and call/text me from there.   You can plan out your travel time to Roanoke more accurately once you are at your sleep over spot.

This is everybody all riding bikes, and does not require a return to pick up cars/trailers so it works better for a roving trip.   Everybody can take their best path home when it is all over.

It also allows some other people to see how they can "slide into the ride" since that Parkway covers several states and lots and lots of list members live within reach of the Blue Ridge Parkway/Shenandoah Parkway.

I think we are proto-typing something that might work out well when used on cross country trips as well.   We just need to do it once and see how well it really works.

MM and I have done roving trips before with up to 4 people joining up, so we know about how well it does back in the age of "just paper maps".   Not all that well, I am afraid.

Paper map differences suck, BTW, unless everybody is using the exact same paper map.   Them tourist attraction type maps are plumb DEADLY as they are oversimplified and just plain wrong most times.

Which is why I actually give out the right paper map to folks like Art who are likely to get separated -- it is a kindness to give them the right KNOWN GOOD map that is well known to work well.

Key thing is having a known spot to meet and the slide in guy is there waiting patiently, ready to roll when the group shows up.

Oldfeller--FSO wrote on 03/14/16 at 06:48:29:

Having that proper map in my jacket pocket was very reasuring as I watched the taillight of the slowest rider (aside from me) pull away through the corners  

The tentative date is July 22nd to July 30th........

I just looked at the map....and just before Roanoke we pass through a "hot spot" for Old Time String Band music.....Galax has a great music festival, and Roundpeak has a style of clawhammer banjo playing named for the area.  And Mount Airy..........more commonly known as "Mayberry"!

We will be 2 weeks to early for the Galax Music Festival.
http://www.oldfiddlersconvention.com/

Camping fee is $80 per space per day.   Can we stay somewhere nearby that is a lot cheaper?   That price is way on up there in the hotel room $$$$.

Quick Google search shows up over 20 campgrounds in the general area of Galax Va.

Art,

In my unregenerate days I used to pull off in little hidey holes and let the group go on by and then I'd blast back up through them again and again and again.   (they was going sooooo slow)

One time I snuck up behind Serenity into his blind spot and pulled off into a gas stop literally a foot off his bumper.   He took his helmet off and proceeded to ask if anybody knew where I had gotten off to -- and everybody started grinning at him and laughing.   He was puzzled until I answered his question.

Unregenerate, that's what I was -- MM used to pray for me sometimes out loud.

Quick Google search shows up over 20 campgrounds in the general area of Galax Va.

Dave , if you went east from you house --- how far is the Parkway ?   If me and OldFeller was headed North on the Parkway for one day from Ashville area then would we be about your latitude ?