RonaldEJohnson.com

Ron's Interests:

Motorcycling
Touring
Genealogy
Cooking
Golf
Internet
Computer graphics
Maps
Mowing
Imported beer, Fine wine
Nancy

Brewgrass in Asheville - All day beer and bluegrass.

 

Nancy's Interests:

Exercise
Bicycling
Internet
Touring
Computer
Web creation
Golf
Her dogs
Gardening
Fine healthy dining

Coconut fried shrimp, sauted garlic asparagus,
spring salad with fines herbes vinaigrette,
and sparkling pinot noir wine.

Pan seared chicken breast with mushrooms and
zucinni, corn on the cob, fried okra,
Zinfandel and DaVinci Chianti wines

The Roost

Nancy and I live on twenty acres of beautiful western North Carolina property near Robbinsville. We moved to "The Roost" from south Florida after my retirement from the fire department in 1991.

We originally planned to live off the land and be self sufficient. That didn't last long. We did raise pigs, chickens, geese and had great gardens. Within a year Nancy was back at work as the Town of Santeetlah's town clerk.

We were always into computers. Nancy worked extensively in Minnesota on various computer systems and was hired by the City of West Palm Beach as an intern in 1989. She was assigned to work at the fire department on a new computer aided dispatch system. That is where we met.

At the FD in the 1980s I had drawn by hand a map of the entire city complete with hydrant locations. This map, consisting of some 30 pages, was carried on all fire apparatus to assist in finding streets and hydrants while enroute to an emergency. By the early 90s I was using the computer to creat these maps. Little did I know how that would later be used in my own business.

Nancy spent a few years as town clerk and then went to work for a local attorney doing title work. At home we made one of our first web pages for friends who had just purchased the Snowbird Mountain Lodge. The first few years of this was riddled with crude attemps to create, upload and maintain several web sites. We stumbled through the infancy of the Internet.

After a few years of hectic work conditions a the law office Nancy saw an ad for an IT person at the local school system. She interviewed realizing that she did not have the background in this field other than our work at home with computers. Surprisingly she got the job. The first thing we did was head for a bookstore to by Networking for Dummies.

It wasn't long before Nancy was an expert in the field. She had her own office which was always packed with computers to fix and she led the county schools into the new era of computers, networking and Internet.

We began renting my parents vacation house in the mid-90s. In 2000 we purchased another and built a new rental house in 2005.

In 2000 we made another dramtic move that would have a profound affect on our lives. Being a firefighter and seeing many people killed or maimed on motorcycles, I had never considered riding one. A good friend in Robbinsville began riding by our house on his motorcycle and honking the horn each trip. Then he'd tell us about his adventures when we met. It sounded like fun so I mentioned to Nancy that perhaps we should consider getting a motorcycle. Within minutes she was on the computer telling me to go buy this particular cycle that was for sale.

I called my friend and we took a trailer to Alabama, looked over the bike and brought it home. The 1998 Honda Shadow Spirit 1100 parked in the basement garage became a static reminder of me having to learn to ride. For two weeks I would stand and study this beast wondering why I had put myself in this position.

Finally one day Nancy to the dogs on their daily trail run and I started the motorcycle and tentatively rode it out our quarter mile gravel driveway. Turning onto the pavement I headed up the newly opened Cherohala Skyway knowing I would not encounter any traffic. I had one or two moments, but learned that I could do this. Withing a month I was throwing sparks on a nearby road Nancy and I had always called the Tail of the Dragon.

I had loved this twisting mountain road sinc I first drove it in the family car in 1976 while on vacation at my parents summer home. In later years I returned in my 1978 Corvette. The locals called it simply Deals Gap like it showed on maps or in less affectionate terms "that damn crooked road to Tennessee".

After moving to North Carolina I used my computer skills with Adobe Illustrator to draw the Deals Gap road and name some of the corners. I titled the map Tail of the Dragon because to me the road was like a giant dragon twisting its tail one way and then the other.

So after learning to ride the motorcycle Nancy wanted one of her own. We bought her a Honda 750 cruiser which she rode for a few weeks before demanding a sport bike. She found a Suzuki SV650 and began leaving me in the dust. I rode it and felt the difference in handling from my big, bulky, slow cruiser. I went and bought a FZ 1 1100 which is known as a standard bike because the handle bars are hicher for more comfortable riding. But it handles almost as good as a sportbike.

Nancy riding the Tail of the Dragon

Anyway, Nancy and I were into motorcycles big time. First thing is to get some patches, stickers and T-shirts. We went to the Honda Hoot in Asheville and were surpised at the lack of good T-shirts. We stopped at the Wheels Through Time store at Deals Gap and found the quality and design of the shirts poor. Nancy was particular put-off by one that proclaimed "I'm Dragon Trash".

Back at home she suggested the we make a T-shirt and put my Tail of the Dragon map on the back. I was not particularly inclined to start such an endeavor which sounded like it might involve work, but Nancy just about always gets her way.

Nancy found an artist on the Internet who specialized in drawing dragons. Working with our specs he created the perfect piece of art that were looking for. It was a surprise when we learned he was in Italy. The Internet at work!

We found a sreen printer in Asheville. We presented our designs and idea about promoting the road and they looked at us rather funny but made our shirts.

We created a website and added products. The first few years were slow, but eventually the business began to grow. In 2005 Nancy quit her job at the school system to manage our own business. Her bosses thought she was nuts.

Ron's office .... Nancy has a similar one.

It has been a wild ride and the business is doing just fine. We have a small store on the North Carolina side of the Tail and a couple of employees. We ship our products worldwide from our on-line store. We try to keep it all managable.

We've been through many stages .... we ran track days for a few years where riders can push their riding limits on closed road courses .... we've been through some twenty different motorcycles (now we are down to nine in the garage) .... we've toured most of the south and some of the west .... we've taken up golf .... Nancy is an avid fitness enthusiast with her latest venture into cross fitness .... she has run many marathons, a number of ultras and half a dozen adventure races (crazy if you ask me).

Over the years in North Carolina we've had some 20 dogs; currently 6 in the house. We still have a quarter acre garden each year and have returned to having chickens for our fresh egg supply (nothing like eggs from free range chickens).

Nancy has her own gym in the basement with more equipment than most professional gyms have. She works out everyday and sometimes twice. She rides her road bike in these mountains which is quite a feat in itself.

Nancy is a very healthy eater and has a professional live-in chef .... me. She is always bringing new recipes to my attention. She has a sprout garden in the basement providing us fresh greens in the winter months.

We work hard and play hard !

Ron is a retired firefighter who has a madness for genealogy. He has been tracing his roots for more than 25 years and publishes the Grantham Gazette with articles about Granthams in America. Ron, shown at his first fire, wrote the Centennial History of the West Palm Beach Fire Department which commemorated the FDs 100th aniversary in 1994.
CLICK HERE for the WPB Fire Department History.

We attemped homesteading and raised pigs and chickens in the early years of retirement.
PIGS STORY
CHICKENS STORY

Ron on his first motorcycle, Honda Shadow Spirit 1100.

Our original Tail of the Dragon poster, 2000.

The Roost garden and chicken yard.

Nancy won closest to the pin on this par 3 in Charleston, SC.

We both lost a few balls on this hole in Charleston.

We always have pumkins for the chickens at Thanksgiving.

Cooking class - two others missed class. Two blue healers, one red healer and one "who knows"?