May 2014 - Special Heart's Ride

Our friends Sean and Beth lost their 18 year old son to a heart defect in January 2014.  On Saturday, May 31st, they hosted a ride in honor of him called the Joe Gillis Special Heart's Ride benefiting Camp Odayin, a camp for kids with heart disease. Joe went to the camp each year for many years and was looking forward to becoming a camp counselor in the year he passed but didn't get the chance.

The ride started at Bennett's in St. Paul which included a breakfast buffet.  M was one of the road captains for the day, which Sean graciously does for us each year on the Cherry Ride and we headed south through Hastings, getting a scheduled police escort through the city and reaching our first destination Dan's Bar and Grill in Hampton, where M one of one the raffles. We then rode to Steel Horse Saloon in Ellsworth, WI where I ended up winning the big pot of money in one of the raffles. We finished at Tavern on the Avenue where the fundraising continued with silent auctions, raffles and a band.  

The ride/benefit raised $7,500 for the Joe Gillis Memorial Fund at Camp Odayin and was an incredibly successful inaugural year.  Thank you Sean and Beth for including us for this special event.    

Cherry Ride 2013

The 6th Annual Cherry Ride was held Saturday, July 20th.  We started at Woody's in Bayport, MN.  Each paying rider received a 2013 Cherry Ride pin and a breakfast buffet.  Check-in was supposed to start at 10 am but by 9:40 am, we already had over 50 bikes there.

The weather was perfect, considering we had just finished a hot streak of weather.  Not only we were celebrating Cherrie, we were also celebrating Ray, Cherrie's brother, since it was his birthday.

We had Dee and Holly, both representing the American Liver Foundation with us to talk and support our ride as this is the foundation where the money we raise goes to.

Johnny said The Lord's Prayer and we hopped on our bikes shortly after 11 am.

We had multiple stops in both Wisconsin and Minnesota throughout the day and at the best count, we had 92 bikes, but depending on who you asked, it was anywhere from 92-98 bikes. Wow.  We really broke last year's record of 55 bikes and compared to the first year, we had 17 bikes.  We're really growing!

We raised over $2,200 to go towards liver cancer research and awareness. We didn't have any accidents during the ride despite our biggest group yet and the fact that we were spread out over a mile in length.  

The day was incredibly successful thanks to so many people and this couldn't have been done without all of you.  This was my favorite Cherry Ride yet.  

Here are some photos of the day but please look at the slideshow of all the pictures I took throughout the day as well as the video that our friend Joe made of the ride so you can get the full day experience.  The link to the photo album is also below in case you don't want to view the slideshow further below.

Cherry Ride 2013 Photos

First of the Year Part II

Yesterday I talked about the first day we were able to take out our bicycles for the year.  Today I'm talking about taking out the motorcycle for the first time for the year.  That happened the very next day, Saturday, April 27th.  The weather was perfect!  

First, Fuzzer got to go outside for a little bit on his chain.  He's an indoor cat so when I do let him out for a little bit, he behaves pretty well and is calm, but curious.  He mostly just likes to chew on the grass and hang out. Isn't he pretty?

Fuzzer and his extraordinarily long tail

After Fuzzer had his fun, M cleaned the bike and we hopped on for a ride.  We didn't have anywhere in particular to go but buzzed around enjoying the sunshine.  We ended up stopping at Manitou Station in White Bear Lake for a drink on their patio before cruising around a little more before going home.  

The nice weather was short-lived and we'd have more snow after this date.  This non-Spring has been the weirdest ever. 

Cherry Ride

The weather was hot and sticky on Saturday, July 14th for the 5th annual Cherry Ride.  We started this year at Bennett's Chop and Railhouse in St. Paul.  Before we started on the ride, riders and passengers could come to Bennett's and eat a complimentary breakfast buffet.

To our best count, there were 48-50 bikes that started with us at Bennett's with a handful more to join us at our stops.

Kickstands were up at 11 am but before everyone got on their bikes, Mark did a blessing of the bikes and Michael read the Blessing of the Bikes prayer.

This post is of few words and tons of pictures.

First, this year's pin:

Our first stop was Beach Bar & Grill in Lakeland, MN.  We stopped there for a drink while the manager played us a song on his guitar.  My aunt Terri and uncle Ken joined at this stop.

He looks drunk but he was just blinking 

Terri and Ken

And then we rode.

Our second stop was the Nauti Hawg in Diamond Bluff, Wisconsin, right on the St Croix River.  

We were then headed to Ellsworth, Wisconsin to the Gas-Lite Bar.

Our final destination was the No Name Saloon & Monkey Bar in Prescott, Wisconsin.  Many riders had dropped off at this point as it was beginning to be a long and hot day.  

The ride ended at Cherry Street!

We left the Monkey Bar at 5:30 pm.  One of my favorite parts of the day is counting the money to see how successful and generous the riders were.  This year we definitely broke a record.  We had in surplus of 55 bikes at $20 a bike plus we sold merchandise to arrive at a grand total of $1,800! Considering that we raised a total of $2,000 for the last four years combined, this was a big success! Everything raised will go to the American Liver Foundation.  

Thanks to all those that rode.  Thanks to all of those that came out just to see us off.  Thanks for Beth and Sean for the hookup at Bennett's.  Thanks to Mark for blessing the bikes. Thanks to Jana, Johnny, Ray and Sean for being our road captains and keeping us safe.  Thanks to Dolly, Karen and Kim for helping with the collecting of money and selling merchandise.  Thanks to Michael for creating and organizing this ride.  And special thanks to Cherrie as this ride would not be possible if not for you.  RIP, Cherrie. 

Some of the photos shown at Bennett's were taken by Bennett's. Check out Bennett's Facebook page for more photos from our starting point.  Thanks to Bennett's and all the bars for all their hospitality!