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| 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.
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| 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.
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| 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.
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| 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!
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| 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.
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| 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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