Stories that want you keep you motivated!

You know when someone tells me a story of how Breast Cancer has touched their lives, it brings tears to my eyes! It is amazing how not even knowing some of these people that are going through the treatments, that you can almost feel their stories deep inside you!
Yesterday when a gal came to my house to pickup a shirt for someone she knew. She told me that the Angel Ride was a really good ride to be on! And shortly afterwards her best friend found out that she had breast cancer...
As I listened to her talk about her friend, with her hair falling out, her friend wanted her to shave her head, easier than watching it fall out piece by piece... Now this is something that you hear about, but I know I haven't really put much thought into hair loss, I know that our funds we have made helps to buy wigs! But... to ask your friend to shave your head! But that is what friends are for to be there through it all, I know my best friends would love to shave my head! :) She said that it was hard at 1st, but then they played around and had some fun with it, mo-hawked it, and had some laughs while cutting it. Tears also! She was going to have pink added to her hair to show support for her friend! I told her of the pink feathers, and pink clip ins that she could use to add to her hair!
Look into the mirror and think of your self with your hair all fixed up nicely & then think about it again, all gone, bald as the day you were born! These people that go through cancer (any kind of cancer)loose their hair because of treatments... I think myself I would shave it off too, as it would be so depressing to watch it fall to the ground. There is so many things that one can do, wigs, scarves, tattoos, each person does what ever is best for themselves!
This gal also told me that her friend is benefiting from the funds we raise, they got her a wig, and the support group is amazing, along with the gift bags that they are given when going through treatment! She said she never thought much about why she went on these rides, but she now knows 1st hand now!
I was really truly amazed as this gal told me of the meals she was cooking for her friend to make sure she was eating, as she is sick while doing her treatment. She said it is nothing to make an extra potato, or a little extra of what ever she was making for her family. Doing something so small can mean allot to someone in need!
When you are on your bike (or in your car) think about these benefit rides that they are doing for people, all the good that it is helping others! These golf outings, walks, whatever is going on in your community, think of who it is helping, as you never know someday it may come back around to help you!
~~ Angel Ride Girl ~~

Time out to Help Others!

When Luann asked me if we could help out with the Susan G Komen golf outing, there was only one answer we could give her. Yes! As Luann and some of her gals helped us at our Angel Ride event! Our Angel committee donated a couple baskets! I etched on some beer glasses, a tray plus a few goodies to make a simple basket up!
August 20, 2011 was the Rally for a Cure golf outing at Willow Ridge golf coarse in Ft Dodge! I am not a golfer, but like to be outside and helping others! It was an awesome day to be out too, not too hot, and a cool breeze! Just a nice way to spend a Saturday afternoon!
My husband Rob & I worked hole 5 selling 50/50 tickets & chances for a case of wine! Kinda missed the morning round as they were sell Mimosa to the golfers! The golfers are always so nice at these benefit golfing! Plus we get to see many of our friends there too!
They had a silent auction with many awesome things to look at! As I went around looking at the things on the table there is always ones that you bump into that are wanting the same thing as you want... I did get a couple nice things... and as I was waiting for the girls to pull together the paperwork from the silent auction so we could pay and go home to spend the rest of the evening with our sons. They drew for the 50/50 tickets! And as I stood there, my name was called! I had to stand there a moment as I wasn't sure if that was the name I heard or not. Rob was the one that said we needed to buy some 50/50 tickets, and it was my name that was called! We got a 6 pack cooler with it too! So I went up to get the cooler & money, Glenda said the money was in top of the cooler, I unzipped it and let her take the money out of it for the cause! It is all about the cause! And my husbands words rang in my head, you won't miss it if you never had it! It was the right thing to do to hand the money back over to the cause!
For a closing thought... when you think that you are too busy to help others, just remember if you were ever down on your luck wouldn't you want others to be there for you? With handing over the 50/50 money, sure I could of bought somethings for my family or me, but in the long run, I am hoping that the money will help find a cure for the breast cancer!
Take Care- Ride Safe
~~~ Angel Ride Girl~~~

Angel Ride to Save the Ta Tas in fifth year - MessengerNews.net | News, Sports, Jobs, Community Info. - The Messenger

Angel Ride to Save the Ta Tas in fifth year - MessengerNews.net | News, Sports, Jobs, Community Info. - The Messenger

Family, Friends, and the people you meet along the way!

Last night my friend Laura came out to take pictures of my family on our bikes as my oldest son will be soon going back to college in VT... Having 3 older sons that are bigger than me, plus a husband that hates to have his picture taken, along with 4 bikes, Laura had her hands full needless to say! Trying to whip those guys into shape to behave to take pictures is a tough job! A job only a mother wants done! haha But I am so thankful for Laura to have come out to do it for us, taking time outta her busy life to do this for us! I told someone tonight, I wanted to get the pictures taken as you never know what tomorrow will bring! Hard to think about some days, but something that we do need to think about!



Each day I am asked by a family member, a neighbor, friends or someone on facebook that I haven't met yet, "How did the ride go? How many riders were there?? How much did you raise???" or "WE HAD SO MUCH FUN, Can't wait until nest year!!" It is so amazing how many people that knows about the Angel Ride, not only our families that have put up with things not getting done around the house, or laundry backed up. Or forgetting about an appointment, hanging out with a friend... many things!
The people that we are just meeting! Ones that have gone thru Breast Cancer, that have come up to us and said, "With the money you have raised, you helped me with..." You just want to hug each and everyone of them! I have told some people, when they talk about HERO'S, these people that are fighting each day because of their Breast Cancer, or any other cancer, they are the real heros because they fight a long and hard battle, that I know I would have troubles fighting. You think a bad day at work is one thing, hurting each day would be worse. I, myself have bad days, and wonder to myself wow can it be worse? Then you think of others, ones that we are trying to help to make a small part of their life go better! If everyone tried to make some ones day a little better, they would feel so much better, and I do think that the word would & could be a better place, if only... we tried!




I do got to say tho, the people from the bars that we had stops in to the ones we have met on rides (and from other benefit rides too)you make wonderful friends along the way! Even thru facebook, I have met some amazing people that follow us on there about the Angel Ride, to ones that are following us because of Breast Cancer! I had one gal that lives in Nevada, IA that I haven't meet as of yet, but have emailed, talked on the phone, and are friends on facebook, she has gone thru breast cancer and had hit many bumps in the road of life, but I enjoy seeing what she posts on facebook! Also a gal in Iowa City area, that her group got together and bought allot of shirts from us, the Chrome Divas, in hopes to meeting up with them someday too!

These people that we meet where ever we go in life, they have put a print (like a finger print on glass) in our lives, in our hearts and in our memories! We might forget their names (or can't place a name to their face!)but they are there with us daily! I know I have met so many people this year, and plan on meeting many more in years to come!
I want to thank all those people that have come into my life for one reason or another, you have touched my life in ways that are hard to express! Family members, friends, old school mates, daycare families, to new people along the way! You all have touched my life in one way or another! If ever person in the world would reach out to meet one new person a day, to be kind to a person, to just say HI to someone you pass on the street, just think of all the smiles there could be!



Just remember, life is what you make of it, there are going to be days that you are so excited about and want that day to never end, to those days that you wonder, why am I still even here, no one cares if I am here or not... Each day you need to get up, put your boots on one foot at a time, and go out into the world and show that life does matter, as there are so many people out there fighting cancer that pray for another day...

~~ For now Take Care ~~
~~~Ride Safe~~~
<3 Angel Ride Girl <3

Take 5 To Stay Alive!

Wow it is almost 2 weeks past the ride... and we are still in amazement of the awesome turn out! 570+ people signed up for the ride, oh and not to mention the others that just came out to have fun before & afterwards! WOW
July 29th was a busy night at Amigos party to the music of Hell or High Water! 120+ signed up at our pre-registration! Many shirts & Angel Ride items were sold that night, the 50/50 ticket money pay out was $300+! Had great weather, good people... what else can anyone ask for! Good friends to help out when I was going crazy! Yup that was a big plus! Didn't know this was going to be as crazy as it was!
July 30 started at Amigos with an awesome omelet breakfast! More & more people that came to sign up! I glanced at the sign up sheets, and there was some from TX there, and a couple from FL that this is their 2nd time on the ride! Said they will be back next year!! Yippie! We had 400 sign up papers, and well had to go get more... we didn't know what to expect as there were other events going on around the area... Just never know! :) The weather was a bit warm, but awesome to ride! We even had my sister in law & brother in law there to ride, plus a couple of our friends, all of them rode from 2 hours away rode with us, then rode home that night! That is so cool that they rode all that way to do the ride for just the day!
The businesses, Marv's Grill & Bar in Gowrie were all ready for all these riders to come thru there! Smiles on their faces proved all was going well! Boxholm was a smaller bar,but Kris' Korner, was an awesome stop to make... when planning these rides, I want to get some of these places that no one would of ever thought about stopping at,in hopes that they will tell their friends, "This is a place you gotta check out..." Then down to Toby K's in Boone, they were serving up BBQ pork sandwiches, and also burgers! Could smell the grill as we were pulling up there! Then we started to head north to Rungo's in Stratford! What a friendly place to stop! Dan the owner is a super nice guy! And his staff Brenda & Josh are so much fun! I would highly recommend this place as a stop any time! There was also another ride that was going to a few of the same stops as we did... "BIKERS FOR BOOBS" they had some nice people on their run too! Bought a shirt from them when we stopped at Riverside Tap in Lehigh! Kelly was having loads of fun wearing her bra that she bought from our Bras for the Cause bras! "Naughty & Nice" Having 2 rides come thru there was keeping Kelly & her staff hopping!
We all rolled back into Ft Dodge, last stop was Community Tap! Everything was setup and ready to sell! We had silent & live auction items! Thanks to Keith for helping us out! Music being played by Rusty! Let the fun begin! There was so much going on that the whole night was a blur! Can't believe that the whole day went so well... So many shirts, bandannas, koozies, bracelets & rings sold! We had approx 20 shirts left over! Everything went so well!
IF you are waiting for a total of money that was made... lets just say... we will let everyone know in Oct when we turn over the money on Breast Cancer awareness month to Rae Anne at the oncology dept at TRMC here in Ft Dodge! But I will give you a slight hint... we beat last years total! I will also say that there is more shirt orders being placed, and more donations coming in, so the counting is far from being over! Woot Woot!!
I want to thank the Angel Ride staff, they came in and helped out when we needed them the most! Also thanks to all the extra helpers that came in to help either in the morning or afternoon or all day! We couldn't of done this without every ones help! A HUGE thank you to 3 Eagles Communications They promoted us all along! Then on Mon after the ride, Mike D sent me a note if I could be in there at 7:30am on Tues to chat on the radio, I sent him a note and said nope, I could do 6am! Well there I was at the radio station at 6am in the morning... I think my mommy was the only one that was awake to listen to me talk with Mike! lol! Loved making new friends there! They were so awesome to us!
I will leave you with this for thought, our theme this year was "Take 5 To Stay Alive" as it was our 5th year! And we want to remind everyone that it takes 5 mins to do a self exam, 5 mins to do a mammogram, and 5 mins to make a call to schedule any appointments to get a checkup! Take 5 (mins) to Stay Alive, EARLY DETECTION SAVES LIVES!

~~Live life to the fullest, as you never know what tomorrow will bring us~~
~LIVE~LOVE~LAUGH~
~~Ride Safe~ Angel Ride Girl~~

ps: the jar full of pennies (picture at the top) was donated to the cause by our friends Tim & Julie, with the challenge that people needed to guess the amount of pennies in the jar! Well we had some great guessers, and some that didn't know... there was over $300.00 in there! Thanks Tim & Julie for the donation!