My Jesus My Savior

With Easter only one day away I have spent a lot of my time these last few days with tear filled eyes. To think that before He ever knew me and knew all the sins I would commit He came as a baby lived a sin free life and hung on a cross after be whipped and spit on, mocked and brutalized for me. Given a crown of thorns to wear on is head. I don't deserve it, I can never pay Him back for saving my life. But if I can change one life by showing them the love that Jesus showed me it will make so much of a difference.

Stevie Nicks/ Rod Stewart concert

Recently my daughter turned 21 and was given ticket to a concert with Stevie Nicks and Rod Stewart as the entertainers. How cool is that? Her boyfriend knew she loves Fleetwood Mac and of course Stevie Nicks. She said the only Rod Stewart song she could recall was Maggie May even though we know he has put out some other great tunes beside that one just gets a lot of air play. The show was at the United Center in Chicago so pretty big venue, and they had paid $80. a seat for second floor seats. Wow I remember when $25. was alot of a ticket to a concert. Anyway as they are getting close to the UC she notices that the average person heading toward the show was, well let's be kind older then her. She is not seeing anyone that was her age and was thinking well maybe when we get in we will see some younger people. 
So they find their seats and get ready for the show. The lights get dimmer and she realizes she is seeing Stevie heading for the stage and is on her feet getting excited. She yells out "I love you Stevie" and looks around and realizes she is the only one standing. She said " wow what is up with these people aren't they going to stand up?"  Knowing how her Mom would be at this concert she just couldn't understand this lack of enthusiasm. Stevie opens with "Gold Dust Woman." After the song is over my daughter looks around and realizes no one has joined her and looks at the people behind her and says " I hope you don't mind if I stand." To which the guy behind her say "Well actually I do." Crushed into submission she sits down. While Stevie starts another song the tears start flowing from my daughters eyes. She can't believe she has just come to see one of her all time favorite people at the geriatric ward of the UC.  Someone in front of her turns around and see's her crying and says"OMG are you crying?" She responds, "Yeah buddy I am, I can't believe I am this close to  Stevie Nicks and everyone is sitting like this is a symphony. " 
So not letting these fuddy duds get to her she sees a stairwell she and her boyfriend can stand in and starts dancing her booty off.  Motivating a few enthusiastic women she is then joined in her dancing. She watched the entire Stevie Nicks portion from the stairwell. 

Between artist they decided to go walk around a little and it reiterated to her they were the youngest people there.  They returned to there seats for the start of the Rod Stewart portion of the show to more of the same enthusiasm they had experienced for Stevie. Unfortunately now there was a security person in the stairwell who informed them they could not stand there anymore. Not being as big  a fan of  Rod Stewart as she is of Stevie Nicks she stayed put, until the security girl disappeared.  Returning to the stairwell the dance floor was open again. Rod Stewart starts kicking soccer balls out into the crowd and my daughter says to her boyfriend "I can't believe he is kicking soccer balls out to the old folks." Well just as she says that she sees Rod look straight up at her and kicks a soccer ball right into her hands. What a shot, second balcony, right over the rail and bam right into her hands. She was so excited. She looks at it and it's signed by Rod Stewart. Some women comes up to her and offers her $100. for it to which she replies"Lady I earned this ball I wouldn't sell it for any amount." 


As they were leaving the concert she could hear the people around her comment on the ball and one guy says  "Honey if anyone deserves that soccer ball it's you." They stopped somewhere to get something to eat and she proudly brings the ball in with her and is still hearing comments about the ball. One women walks up to her in the restaurant and my daughter enthusiastically tells the story of how Rod looked straight at her and kicked it to her to which the women smirks and replies yeah right, so my daughter just looks at her and says "Well I'm the one with the soccer ball."

So despite a rocky start to a great concert she had the time of her life. 

Why the donate button

Well you may have noticed I now have a donate button on my blog site. That is because The Hoka Hey Challenge for me is going to be an awareness ride. People were so kind to me last year because of the breast cancer and made it possible for me to do the ride that I want to return some of my gratitude by riding for two very needed groups.One is the Serve Veterans Fund and the other is for the Lakota Souix Indians on the Pine Ridge Reservation in South Dakota.I will be riding this year as a bike a thon. I will be looking for people to donate or help me get donations. Like other bike a thons You can find people for me and earn things like patches dog tags t-shirts and sweatshirts based on the level of donations you are able to collect.Or you can simply donate straight into my pay pal account.And of course it's tax deductable.I can provide you with a sign up sheet if you are interested in helping collect.

Hoka Hey

Thought it would probably be a good idea to start my blog with an explanation of what the Hoka Hey Motorcycle Challenge is. Let's just call it HHMC so I don't have to keep typing that out. Anyway the HHMC is an endurance ride that challenges even the most seasoned rider.We knew we were riding from Key West Florida, to Homer, Alaska but that was it. The riders are given a set of directions not previously viewed from check point to check point. The directions are not "go twelve miles and turn west on to such and such it just tells you turn left, turn right and so on. So you don't know if you are going two miles and making a left or two hundred miles. There is a deadline for the rider to reach the final destination and the icing on the cake is no gps and no indoor accommodations. Yep that's right sleeping outside. On the bike, next to the bike, under a picnic table, on top of a picnic table, tent. Rain or shine. So your saying to yourself now why would anyone want to do such a crazy thing well the ride last year was a winner take all of a half million dollars. The goal was to have a thousand riders who payed a thousand dollars but there were only about 500 who rode last year. And you thought there were a lot more crazy bikers out there then that and there probably are just not as many with the money or time off from work to give it a shot.


For me when I read about the HHMC it was a bucket list thing. I have always wanted to ride to Alaska on my motorcycle. I read about the ride while hooked up to a IV pumping poison into my veins trying to kill off the cancer that showed up in my breast for the second time in my life. You know chemotherapy. 


Being a 49 year old single Mom riding off on Lucie(that's what I named my Heritage softail classic) for a month to do something this epic is really hard to even entertain. But with the support of some awesome friends and people I didn't even know, it started to become a reality. The first was my oncologist. He's gave me a hundred dollars and told me to "Go live your life." So that's where it all started for me.