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Melissa ‘Missy’ Roberts is not slowing down. In fact, she’s picking up speed and in style.

She was born and raised in Sneedville and moved to the big city – Morristown – at age 18, after graduation.

She struck a deal with her uncle, the late Deward “DD” Roberts, to work for him while attending the Morristown School of Business.

“It was supposed to be short-term, but I ended up working for him for 15 years,” Missy said.

City life has been good to her, but there is a wistfulness regarding her childhood. She grew up on a 115-acre farm in Hancock County.

“I wish things were back that simple again,” Missy said. “I just loved that it was simple. We had hay, grew tobacco. My dad had rows of tobacco that went back so far you couldn’t see the end of the field. He planted 1,551 plants per row. He made sure to throw that ‘1’ in there, too. We would come to Morristown to eat at restaurants because there just weren’t any in Sneedville.

Missy credits her work ethic farm life and to ‘Granny’ Trent, who took care of her while her mother and father worked.

“She taught me how to milk dairy cows,” Missy said. “We broke beans and made tomato juice. Everything was from the garden, you know.”

As part of her work past, Missy was employed for 15 years at JTEKT, beginning on the line and then, in her words, “climbing her way” to the position of team leader. As part of her duties, she was to inspire those working on the line to do better, if needed.

“I would say, ‘What they need is a dose of farm life.’ Working a factory job, in the air conditioning, was the good life,” Missy said. “I met a lot of good people there, made some lifelong friends there.”

In the past, she has also worked at the Blossom Shop, delivering flowers, and is the responsible party for the arrival of Mike Johnson and Tim Webb at the shop a number of years ago. She recommended them as employees to owners Don and Sue Baldus and their daughter, Susan Holt Baldus – “We’ve been friends ever since,” she said.

Mike and Tim now operate the business after Don, Sue and Susan sold it in late 2022.

“I met Sue and Don when I was 19 years old,” Missy said. “They are wonderful people.”

Currently, Missy works as the bookkeeper at RDJ Express in Talbott, a role that she enjoys and that provides her the flexibility she needs.

“My father was diagnosed with lung cancer, so I take him back and forth for doctor’s appointments. It works out good, I can make my own schedule,” she said.

There’s also a hobby that provides her with recreation opportunities and fulfills a bit of wanderlust.

The trike she rides, a motorcycle with three wheels rather than two, is a custom build that was a gift from longtime boyfriend, Rodney Jones.

The original trike was purchased in September 2022 and the customization was finished in January of this year.

She was hesitant at first, to ‘pilot’ such a large investment, but Rodney insisted, telling her, “You only live once.”

“It’s my Valentine’s Day, birthday and Christmas presents for the next 10 years,” Missy said.

The twist to this story is that Missy wasn’t a licensed motorcyclist at the time of the decision to purchase the trike.

“I had four-wheelers growing up. Mom and Dad bought me a ‘dirt bike’ or moped that I rode around the farm all the time. And my first husband taught me to ride a motorcycle, a GSXR 1100 sport bike. But that was 30 years ago,” she said.

She had taken and passed the written test, but decided she preferred to ride as a passenger.

Over time – and the more over-country trips she took with Rodney – she began to reconsider. The two went to Bike Week in Daytona in 2022: “From then on, we started looking,” Missy said.

The week before the bike was purchased, she took the rider’s safety course, passed and got the license.

So, when the tricked out trike arrived after the work done by Camtech Custom Baggers in Somersville, SC in January, she was ready – in a manner of speaking.

“Her first trip as a solo rider was accompanied by Rodney, traveling from Morristown to Del Rio and back.

“I was a nervous wreck!” Missy said.

She was able to practice during the year prior on a Honda 125 bike, ridden only on backroads, which gave her the experience to maneuver on busier roads.

“I’m not going to say I’m ‘confident’ yet,” Missy said. “I’ve been a passenger for the last 18 years. You think you know, but then you take the class and it’s crazy. The instructors told us: ‘You’re going to learn things that you just thought you knew.’ It’s definitely different being a driver.”

She is already looking forward to the Sturgis Rally held in The Black Hills and Sturgis, SD every year. She and Rodney travel there every two years, so their next trip will be in August of 2024.

“I’ll get to ride there. If you drive straight there, it’s 24 hours,” she said. “It’s 1,500 miles from our driveway out there. Rodney has been five times, I’ve been four times.”

Missy said there is beautiful riding here in the mountains of East Tennessee but the western part of the country provides memorable opportunities including the Montana Badlands and Crazy Horse (South Dakota).

“We try to ride 200-300 miles a day when we’re out there,” she said.