Officer Down Ride

April 16th 2011

Wilmington, NC

 

http://officerdownride.org/

Debbie and I rode in this in 2009 and had an absolute blast. Like last time, we plan to make a long weekend of it and hang out in Wrightsville Beach.  We plan to leave New Bern around 10:30 or so on the 15th (Friday) and grab lunch in Jacksonville, then head on to Wrightsville Beach.  Just let us know if anyone wants to ride down together. thesoutherlands@embarqmail.com

Here’s the link to our entry in 2009: http://ralphps.blogspot.com/2009/04/officer-down-ride-wilmington-nc.html

This years route map. http://rideplanner.harley-davidson.com/rideplanner/road.jsp?roadId=370392&locale=en_US

2011 Ride The 6th Annual Officer Down Ride is a dice ride to benefit the Officer Down Fund. It will take place on Saturday, April 16, 2011. Registration begins at 9 am and small groups will be leaving every 15 minutes. This year’s ride will begin at Carolina Coast Harley-Davidson®/Buell®, 6620 Market Street in Wilmington, and end at Beach House Harley-Davidson®, 4919 Ocean Highway in Shallotte. The route is posted on the Harley-Davidson® Ride Planner. Festivities for participants will include: Dice ride BBQ lunch by Musser’s Music Special guest speaker Trot Nixon Trivia game 50/50 “No Class” Bike Show: a viewer’s choice winner-take-all bike show. There are no classes and no judges; we’ll place a bucket in front of each bike, and the bike that raises the most cash wins. (So tell all your friends!) All proceeds go to the Officer Down Fund. Custom event hat Patches and past years’ merchandise available for purchase There is a $30 donation per bike. This will include the ride and dice game, lunch, entry to the trivia game and “No Class” Bike Show, and a custom event hat. Passengers may donate $10 to ride along and eat lunch only, or $30 to eat, participate in games, and receive their hat.   Links Carolina Coast Harley-Davidson®/Buell® Beach House Harley-Davidson® North Carolina Community Foundation Coastal Beverage We hope to see you there!!

Motorcycle Mentor

We have a rider email list now of around 30 and those 30 regularly communicate with a bunch of other riders. Now there’s a lot of experience, advice and opinions in that group.  With all those years of 2-wheel experience why not help out some of the new riders and older riders with new questions?

Head on over to: http://motorcyclementor.com/ David has a new site based on a great idea. Your experience may very well help someone in need of advice.

18th Annual Toy Run to Kennedy Children’s Home

We finally had the opportunity to participate in this event and we are so glad that we did. A donation of $10.00 cash, gift card or a toy was the registration.

Santa Clause himself was in attendance  to make certain everyone was acting nice.

There were over 575 bikes on hand to make the trek to Kinston.  It was a bit cool, around 52 for a high, but it appeared that most everyone dressed for the weather.

We saw Rudolph’s bike but I guess Santa was giving him a break since Santa was in the lead.

This bike was built by the elves in a very special workshop.

..and we’re off! The first bikes left promptly at 12:00 and just 4 or 5 minutes later we pull out with about 75 bikes trailing us.

Just as we clear the Pembroke exit in New Bern the group starts to come together.

All the riders fell naturally in the staggered formation.

Local law enforcement made sure that we had a clear path to Kinston.

At each overpass on Highway 70 we we’re greeted with waves and shouts.

It’s hard to do justice to the line with a photo but there is at least a mile of bikes in front of us.

The long line starts to bunch up just prior to arrival.

Here we do the slow crawl as everyone finds a parking spot.

The grounds are quite large and there was no issue with parking.  The fall leaves made an attractive backdrop as we parked and began to warm up from the slight chill.

And yes, Santa greeted and thanked each and everyone in line for lunch.  I have always known he was real!

Santa delivered the toys while we rode to the destination. The toys were a small part of what was collected overall.

The local HOG chapter raised $5000.00 for the home.

The 50-50 drawing was over $800.00 to the lucky ticket holder.  Sadly this was not the winning ticket. There were over 80 prizes donated by area businesses.

It was a 100 mile trip for us in wonderful weather and one of the top causes we have ridden for to date.  The Kennedy Home is in need of donations mainly due to funding cuts from state and federal sources.  You don’t have to ride to donate but it makes it more fun! http://www.bchfamily.org/helping/service/107/120/122

 

Parting Shots

Coastal Women's Shelter Ride

Coastal Women's Shelter's mission is to provide support, education and alternatives to individuals and their families whose lives have been disrupted by the devastating effects of domestic violence.   http://www.coastalwomensshelter.org/

Registration started at 9:00.

Kick stands up was promptly at 10:00.

All makes of bikes turned out for the ride.

Departure from the CWS office was aided by the New Bern Police Department.

The first leg of our journey ran down 55 East then left on Olympia Road

On down Aurora Road to 306…

..first stop at Bojangles in Grantsboro.

The entrance to the Minnesott Beach, Cherry Branch Ferry. http://www.ncdot.org/ferry/

With twenty five bikes in attendance, we line up to board the ferry.

The NC Ferry Division always makes it easy for a group of bikes.

Once again we had a police escort, this time through Havelock.

The meal at the end of the ride was catered by Smithfield’s Chicken and Bar-B-Q http://scnbnc.com/

The facilities at New Bern’s Creekside Park are quite nice. http://www.cravencounty.com/parks/creekside.cfm

Many thanks from our group of riders to the Blue Knights members who planned the route and assisted at all the intersections to aid in our safe passage. http://www.blueknights.org/

81 miles through some some rural North Carolina back roads.

 

Parting Shots