The Cherry Ride

It's hard to believe it's been a year since M's sister, Cherrie passed away from liver cancer. Thursday, August 6th was the exact date. That's the same day we all gathered after work at the cemetery to pay tribute to their wife, mom, daughter, sister, sister in law, cousin and friend, Cherrie. While at the cemetery, M passed out a laminated memoriam for Cherrie that he placed in the paper that day.

On Saturday, the 2nd annual Cherry Ride took place. We haven't had the greatest of weather this whole summer so it was no surprise to see that it was raining on Saturday morning. The Cherry Ride is a motorcycle ride that Michael started in honor of Cherrie with proceeds from the ride going to a cancer foundation that you can specifically put funds towards the cancer of your choice. The funds collected will be going towards liver cancer research and awareness. We received multiple calls on Saturday morning asking if the ride was still on. Rain or Shine! We had cancellations due to weather, to a funeral and health issues. Our meeting place was Champps in Maplewood. I drove the car to Champps since I had would be collecting the funds and handing out prizes and such. When I arrived there are four bikers there. Due to rain, we ended up being delayed a little while but when the sun was shining and it was getting hot and humid, there were 16 motorcycles ready to hit the road but before we did, Greg, Cherrie's husband had a great speech for all of us thanking us for what we are doing for Cherrie. It was very touching and brought a tear to my eye.

It can be dangerous and hard to keep that many bikes together so M's cousin Johnny and his friend Sean directed the traffic for us. They wore fluorescent vests and had their hazards on the whole time and acted just like a cop on a motorcycle for a funeral procession. One would stop the traffic so all of us could go through and one would lead us through and the one in back would zip up to the front until the next traffic situation arose. They were so instrumental in our ride and it wouldn't have been a big of a success without them.

Our first stop was in Hastings, MN. We stopped at a bar called Dugarels to eat lunch. We met up with one motorcycle there who was a friend of someone on the ride. We ate and were on our way to the next stop, Lake City, MN at bar called the Old Bank. On the way there, we met up with another motorcycle and we now had our final gang of 18 motorcycles. Our next stop was in Wabasha, MN where we took the bridge over to Nelson, WI. We headed south about 10 miles to Alma WI, which was our destination. Buena Vista Park. That is the park where M had planned the ride around. It was beautiful there. A bluff that overlooks the Mississippi River and into Minnesota.

After leaving the park, we skipped our scheduled stop in Pepin and went to Maiden Rock to a bar that I cannot remember the name of. In between these stops, we were rained on for about 3 miles. That was the only rain we got on the whole ride, otherwise it was hot and sunny. We were almost dry by this stop. We talked to a few of the locals about what we were doing, especially this old couple. They were so cute and so appreciative of what we were doing for Cherrie that I gave them a pin. They loved it! When we left, they left their dinner and came out to the street see us off and waved to us just like we were in a parade. They were so adorable. Our last stop was in Diamond Bluff, WI at a bar called the Nauti Hogg. We all gathered on the patio right on the river for our final stop. From that point, we all went to at least Prescott, WI but that is where we waved goodbye to each other as we were all starting to go our own way back through Minnesota and to wherever we lived. Some might be wondering if we drink at the bars while on motorcycles. Yes and no. Most of the riders stayed sober or have a beer or two spaced out between stops. The stops are more for resting than drinking. Lots of water and pop.

The ride was a complete success. We were able to sell pins and get donations from people at the bars. Overall, we raised $540 with more donations from family and friends that are still on their way. If you would like to donate to the foundation, please contact me and I will get you a pin. Thank you, thank you again to the 25 people who came along on this ride and was a part of this very special day. Thank you again to Johnny and Sean for directing traffic. Thank you to Ray who was our weather man and watched the radar on the internet on his phone. And thank you to Michael, the brains behind this whole ride. You make everyone including Cherrie proud.

As always, click on any of the pictures to make them bigger.

Here is the pin that everyone on the ride received. You can have it to if you would like to donate.

Here's some of the cherry gear that we were giving out to people.

The whole gimmick of this ride is cherries. Wear anything having to do with cherries!

Don't you be judging my shirt!

Most of us wore temporary cherry tattoos

Cherrie's husband, Greg and their two boys, Chad and Bryan

The group that started out at Champps

Arriving at our destination, Alma, WI

At Buena Vista Park

Our traffic man, M's cousin Johnny

Couldn't help to think about Cherrie with views like this

They let us write on the wall at the bar in Maiden Rock

A cherry slot machine. How perfect.