WOW is all I can say after Saturday July 11, 2015 ride! The day started out cloudy, rainy and humid! Well after getting set up and waiting for awhile, the people started rolling into Amigos!! We have many of us that dress for this special day, while wearing my tutu for the 3-4 year, my son grew out his hair to a 7" mohawk dying it pink and purple, and our special friend always dyes his beard pink!
We had all sorts of things happening at Amigo's Saturday morning they served bisque's and gravy! Our helpers were selling shirts and misc items!! Jana with Coolbikerstuff.com had her trailer down from Milford Iowa selling items from it (while giving us a percentage from her sales!) Also Janelle with Gecko leather bracelets was selling her items, while also giving us a percentage of her sales! We have had some really gracious people this year giving us percentages to go towards our fund raiser!! We are truly blessed with these people!!
We had under 500 people sign up for the ride this year!! With the weather and the many things that always go on in the summer I say that we had a good turn out!! We had a delayed start out as the rain and and trying to get people all registered! BUT It was amazing when we pulled outta Amigo's to head to our first stop there were so many bikes still at Amigos, but when we pulled into Antlers in Clare there were bikes every where!! It was so amazing!! The sight of all these bikes makes all the work that we do throughout the year is so well worth our time!! Being a first stop we always know that there will be plenty of people there! There were great at making sure people were waited on!!
As we left Clare we headed to Rolfe, a nice ride over there we had a double stop there! It was also dinner stop(s)!! Wes's Place and The Bud Barn in Rolfe both were set up to serve people on demand! They both had Delicious food!! Each place always has their nitch!! Dan Allen at the Bud Barn has a pink Clydesdale rocking horse! It was painted like the Clydesdale horse, then he painted it pink after his wife was fighting breast cancer. He had it so that people could get on top of it to get their picture taken with it!!
To see the massive size of this horse was so amazing! He also was greeting people on their way in making them feel welcome, while also telling them on their way out to ride safe! Leaving Rolfe we headed north to Algona to Ernie Williams Harley Davidson! That is always a good spot to stop off at! Fun to look at the all the things they have for sale!! Leaving Algona we headed south east to Renwick! Well what can I say about Renwick? Better off what can't I say!! Alli and her staff at One More? bar in Renwick came all out for this ride! They greeted people outside their front door, had BARBIE shots with a portion of the price coming back to the ride, also serving a drink called LaDonna Summer Sunset drink with a $1 per drink coming back to us! To go even further they played a game called PLINKO with the funds coming back to the ride! Everyone that played the game walked away with a prize!! The Brick Gypsy Pizza guy served good foods there too!! After leaving there we headed south to Humboldt to Millers Landing! Being greeted by their staff and Curt as he was on the ride too, we sat to relax awhile and knowing it was time to make our last journey back to Amigo's to finish out the ride for the day!
Upon getting back to Amigo's everyone had a chance to stretch their legs while getting something to eat! The DJ Joel Johnson spun some tunes, while auctioneer Curt Carlson got things lined up for the auction! We had some great helpers, helping out for the auction! The first item up for bid also came with a speech from Mary Jo Hinds, she was the artist of a lion picture that was up for bid. She was also a breast cancer survivor, getting up in front of a group of people is not very easy for people, but I think it also makes people think!! The auction started off after that. There was many fun things to bid on and then came another guest speaker Michelle Enriquez, she had told me in Feb that she wanted to be a speaker as I pulled her up on stage last year!! I got to know Michelle a few years ago, and so glad that she chose to get up in front of these people again!! She reminded people that early detection saves lives!! Not only with breast cancer but all cancers!
People should all have their checkups yearly!
As the auction wound down and people started heading home for the night, a few of us sat around to finish cleaning up and relaxing a bit before heading home. We talked about things that went on during the day and being very thankful for all the helpers we had to help us out during the day! It is a very hard job to put together a ride like this! There are so many people that we couldn't do without! The stops, the people who donate, the ones on the ride, the people that work the day of, and the many days before. Getting donations is not easy for anyone to do but after you sit back and think about it, it helps so many people in the end!! Thank you so very much to all that help out the Angel Ride!!
Take Care & Ride safe~
Angel Ride Girl
