Wednesday, August 06, 2014

The Ride Into History for the Salvation Army’s Gateway of Hope


Stop 1 The Dairy
Stop 1 The Dairy
I was absolutely blessed to partake in the Ride into History.

Mother Nature cooperated with me as I rode into Langley and Holeshot Racing where I was to hook up with my host for the next two evenings, Marq Smith. Marq used to own Western Powersports!

I stopped in at Barnes Harley-Davidson and got to see Kevin Chow, who has moved from Kamloops HD over to Barnes, while I waited for Mark to be done work.
I also got to finally install the highway pegs on my bike thanks to Waylon in parts!

Marq and I headed over to Fort Langley when he got off work and what I saw there truly took my breath away – there were amazing antique and vintage cars and bikes on hand, lots of vendors and a fully portable stage where we would be treated to a wide variety of entertainment.

Car and Bike Show
Car and Bike Show
The quality of the vehicles on hand was nothing short of impressive!

The evening was filled with magic as the various presenters and speakers shared their stories. In between the speeches and stories a solo guitarist took the stage as did the headliner, Randy “Elvis” Friske.  I cannot remember the name of the solo entertainer, but he was some talented.

Both entertainers did an amazing job and both had people up and dancing and singing.

Randy "Elvis" Friske
Randy "Elvis" Friske
The kids in particular loved “Elvis” who was utterly incredible. He danced with them, walked into the crowd and made us feel a part of the show. His band was fabulous and man can this dude imitate Elvis!

After the evening festivities we over, Marq took me to his home where I stayed both Friday and Saturday evening. I want to thank him and his family for taking me in!

We were up bright an early on Saturday morning to go on the ride. Mother Nature blessed this ride with ideal riding weather.

We were treated to a pancake breakfast hosted by the Lion’s Club. The ride Captain from the Greater Vancouver Motorcycle Club called us all together for a riders meeting.

The route that had been chosen had historical significance as each stop is planned for it’s historical significance, it’s all part of the Ride into History theme!

We were given a booklet with the route information in case we got separated from thr group, which sadly happened pretty quickly. Thank goodness one of the guys in our group knew the region and we ended up getting to the Birchwood Dairy in Chilliwack before the lead group did!  I didn’t have any ice cream but I was told that every rider in the region comes here on short rides, as the ice cream is phenomenal.

From here on in we had a vested rider with us so we didn’t get lost for the rest of the day!  We next took in the Atchelitz Threshermen’s Association Museum also in Chilliwack.

Stop 3 - Cultus Lake
Stop 3 - Cultus Lake
Our next stop was lunch at Cultus Lake where we were treated to a meal of wraps and veggies for dipping. We also had wonderful fruit kebabs for dessert!  Sadly one jerk in a white Dodge damned near backed into a rider and acted like we riders were being asses when we began to holler at him to stop saying I have a back up camera – and then using some verbal diarrhea on us. We insisted he’d best leave instead of being a rude human being.

We had a leisurely ride back into Langley and the Gateway of Hope.

This amazing facility offers far more than a shelter. It offers all sorts of counseling and job retraining programs. In fact, the resident members of the cooking program at the Salvation Army’s Gateway of Hope made the lunch we had at Cultus Lake!

Gateway of Hope Games
Gateway of Hope Games
We were treated to some rodeo games for about an hour and a half.
We had a blast watching and cheering on the participants.

At about 5pm we were ushered into the centre for our dinner, which was catered by Milestones, a local restaurant that is very popular.

We heard from all kinds of dignitaries and took part in the many gift giveaways that took place.  Dinner was absolutely marvelous, a beautiful roast beef with veggies and potatoes was served and an amazing chocolate pecan cake closed it off!

The Gateway of Hope is so far much more than a shelter and their ride fee was ridiculously low for everything a person got for the $65 ride fee.

Dinner
Dinner
Pancake breakfast, a wonderful lunch, impressive dinner, a tee shirt and a pin!

If you live in the region, this event is a must do. While there were a few challenges with the poker run and not enough outriders in the middle and back of the pack, it was an amazing event.

Thank you to the Salvation Army, the 3 credit unions who joined forces to help this amazing centre (Aldergrove Financial Group, Envision Financial and Prospera Credit Union), the mayor and town of Langley and all of the vendors and volunteers that made this event so memorable!

Watch for coverage on this event on Ride like a Local on YouTube.  The episode should air end on October or early November.

Belt Drive Betty

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