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16 May Pete West send off for the "Ride for the Cure" Pete West had visited a chapter gathering a few months ago to talk his personal challenge to tour the four corners of the United States in the spring of 2009 on his 2007 Honda Goldwing GL1800 to raise money and awareness to benefit The Leukemia and Lymphoma Society. The day finally dawned for his departure, and since we weren’t able to go to Amarillo due to recent surgery and recuperation, we were in town to see Pete off. The send-off was not far us down on Isom Road in a light industrial park, and it was easy to spot the fully-loaded Gold Wing and trailer parked in the center of the lot!
Couple views of Pet's bike and trailer We were happy to see Archie Haley already there, and soon Chapter H arrived with 6 bikes and 7 people and eventually Rod Cotter and Dave Weaver showed up with their Gold Wings as well. A Lady Rider was there, Pete’s family, friends and well-wishers, and a representative of The Leukemia and Lymphoma Society as well. They had set up a table with drinks and chocolate chip cookies which were warm from the pleasantly warm mid-80 degree day, and we munched and caught up with our fellow Gold Wingers as well as met Pete’s family and the other guests. There was a nice send-off ceremony where Pete shared his decision to raise awareness and funds for this cause and there were some blood cancer survivors in the audience who shared some of their story and gratitude that Pete would take this on. Now most of us are aware of walkers, runners and cyclists who raise money for great causes but I wasn’t aware there was a “Cruisin’ for the Cure” out there and I could identify with Pete when he thought he would prefer to motorcycle to raise funds than walk, run or bicycle for the Cure!
Pete with his bike and his kids! Chapter U was proud to be the escort for Pete on his trip out of town. We lined up with Pete in the lead, followed by a Harley with a couple from M.D. Anderson in Houston who were affiliated with the “Cruisin’ for the Cure” program. Then we had the Chapter U Wings of Rod, Dave, Archie, Brad with Black Pearl and I bringing up the rear with one other motorcycle behind. I was sure proud of Chapter U as we wound our way to 281, down 281, across onto 10 West with a side track onto the access road to a road closure, and then heading west towards Houston. I think it was the first time Pete had ever been Lead on a ride, and I hope he knew how honored we were to escort him on the start of his journey which will cover about 11,000 miles and take him about a month. He will be traveling through 32 states, stopping at cancer clinics and The Leukemia and Lymphoma chapter offices along the way. Pete hopes to inspire cancer patients to continue their fight against cancer, and he has set up a blog if you want to check up on his journey. His blog is http://cruisinforacure.blogspot.com. If you would like to donate to The Leukemia and Lymphoma Society, you can do so on-line at www.active.com/donate/crusinforacure.
Archie Haley cut off and then Brad and I turned west on 1604. Dave and Rod planned to continue on for quite a while. As it turned out, the front came in early and Brad and I rode into a temperature drop, 40-50 mph hour gusts and driving rain. After last summer, as soon as the temperature dropped, we started looking for someplace to pull off under cover, and we ended up spending “quality couple time” parked under a 1604 overpass. I’ll not quite look at the overpass the same way againJ! Brad and I finally found a lessening in the rain to make the 6 miles home. Dave and Rod headed back a bit early after detecting the ever darkening skies, and found cover in an IHOP to wait out the storm. Pete and his escort made their way safely to M.D. Anderson but had to resort to rain wear. I think we all felt privileged to have been part of this ride on Chapter U’s ride schedule. Thanks, Pete, for including us in your vision, and allowing us to be such a small part of making our world a better place!
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