Pigeon Forge, Tennessee (WATE) — The Pigeon Forge Rod Run attracts thousands of visitors to the community over two weekends each year. This weekend, September 16-18, is one of those weekends.
For almost 20 years, James and Carol Sue Surratt have driven up from Georgia to attend the event.
“Oh, they were enormous Rod Run fans,” Brooke Wilson, James Surratt’s daughter, confirmed.
Wilson stated that they would always stay at the Valley Forge Inn, notably Room 101, which is right next to the front office. They would plan at least a year ahead.
“It was always going to happen. Everybody knew where they were going every spring in April and every fall in September,” Wilson added.
Her father adored the vehicles. He also showed off one of his own, a green 1969 Camaro. While he walked about looking at vehicles, Brooke’s stepmother read a book on the veranda of their motel room.
Wilson, however, stated that they enjoyed going for reasons other than the vehicles. They made numerous friends throughout the years.
“They really liked going and seeing their pals that they had made; you know, friendships with folks from all over,” Wilson explained.
This contains the owners and personnel of Valley Forge Inn.
“They all bonded like family. You see, they were more than just buddies. “They were like family,” Wilson explained.
Joe Cole, the owner of Valley Forge Inn, stated that when guests like the Surratts return to the motel twice a year for numerous years, they become like family.
Cole, one of the motel’s original owners’ sons, stated that he has known the Surratts for about the same amount of time they have been staying at the Valley Forge Inn.
“They were both Christian.” They were good people. “Whenever we talked, we would talk about our church,” Cole explained.
Cole has been working at the motel since 1993. He adored it because it provided more than just shelter; it was also a place for fellowship and religion.
He stated that the Surratts book Room 101 each year. For this Rod Run, the room will be empty.
At first, her father instructed her to cancel the reservations. He and his wife were ill in the hospital. He assumed they’d be too unwell to make it to Pigeon Forge.
But God has different intentions, Wilson explained.
“My stepmother, Carol Sue, passed away on August 23. “My father died 48 hours later, on August 25,” Wilson explained.
The Surratts’ family stated that they died of COVID-19.
Wilson had to cancel this weekend’s reservations, as well as two others. She admitted that it was difficult for her, but Cole and the motel staff comforted her.
First, they reimbursed her for everything. But it was not all. She later learned that Cole and the staff had opted to block the room in remembrance of her father and stepmother.
“They could have made a lot of money this weekend with that accommodation. And the fact that they opted to leave that room empty in their memories speaks something about them,” Wilson remarked.
Cole stated that Rod Run weekends are a major money generator for them. However, the money never crossed their mind.
Instead, he remembered other companies saving places at dining tables for the 13 soldiers killed in Afghanistan, and he realized he couldn’t do the same at the motel.
But the least he could do for his buddies was to respect their memories by saving their room.
“We believed that we could at least block these rooms that were always linked with them, and that it would be a nice way for us to remember them,” Cole said.
Cole stated he had also reserved Room 105 for the weekend. He said Paul David and Betty Wilson, who had always reserved that room, died just a few days before the Surratts.
Wilson couldn’t have been more grateful for the friendships her father and stepmother formed in Pigeon Forge. She expressed that the Valley Forge Inn will always hold a particular place in her heart.
“It’s just nice to know that there’s still love in the world, and that goodness exists,” Wilson added.
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