When it comes to hosting a motorcycling fundraiser, Mother Nature is one of the major contributing factors that dictates how many will attend your event. The next factor of course is that there are only so many weekends in a year making it so that one has to choose which cause means most to them.
With the double whammy of some pretty bizarre weather that skirted around Nisku, and the fact that there were 8 other events, we were pretty happy to have 30 paying riders and another 100 or so people who came, donated to the cause and then went to other events.
With the help of the gals from the Charity "Brunch for Broads", our 50/50, silent auction and swag sales were taken care of.
The Frezenberg unit of 3 CAV provided the manpower for our card stops.
Rob Truscott, my right hand man, made sure that everyone had what they needed as far as the volunteers were concerned. He also set up a scenic poker run meant to take everyone to the Mallard Duck in Andrew, the Big Lapel Pin in Willingdon, The Pysanka (Giant Easter Egg in Vegreville and the Giant Sausage in Mundane.
Joey Carothers made sure the gals from Brunch for Broads had everything they needed.
Clarence and Ken from Blackjacks Road House in Nisku had the parking lot cleaned, barricaded and tents set up for our vendors in no time flat.
Lunch time was a BBQ on main street in Canada's Most Rider Friendly Community of the 2015 riding season, Two Hills Alberta.
I was excited because Harley-Davidson of Edmonton had given me a gorgeous 2016 Ultra to ride as I had made the executive decision to drive to Edmonton with all the materials for the poker run.
With this battle I have with adrenal fatigue, and the fact that I had just gotten off of a gruelling but rewarding time in Fort Mac, the last thing I wanted was to get sick. I know my immune system is run down from all of the smoke, lack of sleep etc.
My Ultra is a 210 American model, and the only thing about it that resembles the the 2016 I rode was the basic shape and stance.
Nothing about this bike is familiar and yet everything is.
If you are looking for a new touring machine, you just might want to take the new Project Rushmore Harley's out for a test ride. I have been told the Ultra Low is awesome for the ladies, and the Road Glide and Street Glide that I tested I loved.
One of these days soon, momma needs a new bike, with so many to choose from, I foresee a lot of test riding in my future.
Anyway, back to the Wheels for Our Wounded event.
People headed off in this self guided poker run in groups of varying sizes, myself I rode with Tammy Tiedemann one of the Fort McMurray evacuees who managed to escape by riding her motorcycle.
Tammy and I enjoyed our saddle time together and pulled in to Two Hills around 1:15PM.
That's when we found out that one of the riders had crashed.
We didn't know who, just that it was a lady rider.
The rider was fortunate in that she had the best possible crew of riders around her.
According to James Shandro, who was riding in a car with our photographer, Attila Csapo, every rider was perfectly spaced and were all able to stop in time and safely. James who has been a trauma nurse took charge of the scene and because of everyone falling into a task like directing/holding traffic, aiding James by getting him the exact coordinates of their location, Fire & EMS were able to arrive in record breaking time. The crash happened just outside of Two Hills.
When Bob Ross from the Run to the Hills Rally arrived with the lady rider's bike, I jumped in the truck with him and he took me to the hospital. Once there, I was able to talk to Juanita's husband Steve. The poor man was a mess emotionally. He had been behind his wife when the crash took place and witnessed it all.
It wasn't long before STARS Air Ambulance was on scene at the hospital, but it took almost two hours to stabilize her enough for air transport.
We knew she had a broken collar bone and clavicle, a punctured lung, broken ribs and other damage along with a head trauma. I have been reluctant to write about our event or her crash until we knew at least somewhat, what Juanita's prognosis might be.
While the road to healing fully looks like it may be a long one, I am happy to report that Juanita did wake from her coma and recognizes family and friends and while her speech is still somewhat impaired, she is speaking. She had surgery to repair her collar bone which went well and so for now, things are looking very hopeful.
The events of the day kind of took some of the wind out of everyone's sails. Carson Cole did his best to lift everyone's spirits with some of his best old songs, we finished off the 50/50 sales, enjoyed an amazing meal and had a few presentations.
Because of the generosity of so many we raised just over $2,900 after expenses.
That brings us to $3,500 towards the wheelchair accessible scooter we want to get built for Eric Magill, a retired Warrant Officer who lives in Trenton.
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| Rob Truscott, Pres CLR Kevin Jones,CLR member Paul Lewis presenting $370 from sales of Wheels for our Wounded merchandise from the CLR fundraisers and a donation of $500 from the CAnadian Legion of Riders of the Battlefords |
Martin Fuchs won the $500 top prize for best hand and donated $250 back and then one the afternoon 50/50 and donated $100 of that back.
Dan Hopkins won the morning 50/50 and ended up dating the $95 back to the cause.
Our farthest rider was Cheri Lewis from Prince Albert SK and she took home the $50 gas card.
Bob Hamel won our prize for worst hand.
I want to thank Clarence, Krista, Ken and all the staff of Blackjacks.
Carson Cole for keeping people entertained, Bruch for Broads - you ladies are incredible, Attila Capo for doing the photos and our vendors and riders - you made it a rewarding day in spite of the circumstances. Thank you from the bottom of my heart. BDB
Here is the photo gallery of our day:
I hope you have a great day and please remember to ride like everyone around you is blind and can not see you.
Belt Drive Betty,
Editor & Rider
