Salute to our Hometown Heroes

Ok, so I have not written to the BLOG in a while. Writing apparently takes inspiration which I have been too busy for lately.

Yesterday, Saturday, November 20th, we held a 'Salute to our Hometown Heroes' at our store. This was NOT a marketing event, it was an opportunity for us and you to thank our soldiers for the sacrifices they are making or have made for us, whether recently or 40 years ago. I asked that veterans who shop with us to show up and let us show you our gratitude for your service as well as I asked other customer's to show up and show support for our veterans. I announced many times in many different venues about this event and I also announced about the LARGE box we have that is just waiting for items to send overseas to our soldiers currently deployed.

The main part of the event was to be at noon yesterday. I have to say I was shocked at the lack of showing by everyone. There were a few who came and showed their support and I do appreciate that, but where were you? I put on a lot of events throughout the year, some are blockbusters, others are bombs, but this event wasn't about us. It was about our soldiers.

I am usually an optimistic person, but by the end of the day yesterday, I just wanted to sit down and cry. Not for me, but for you. I mean, really, was your day so jam packed that you could not take 5 minutes to thank a veteran. We had a very large full sheet cake and only 1/3 of it was gone. That says alot. This is November, the month set aside to show our respect for these brave men and women. Where were you?

Our box for Operation Gratitude, which I have been asking for donations since the 1st of the month, is only 1/2 full and it must be mailed no later than Wednesday, 11/24/10, to reach it's destination in time. Thank you to those who have so kindly donated. But to those of you who have not, consider how it would feel to you to be overseas, away from your family, and no one notices because they are too wrapped up in their own little world. I will spend tomorrow making sure that box gets full before I ship it.

So now I am not sad, I am angry and I still don't feel better having vented!

Fall Riding Has Arrived

September seems to have just zoomed by. We were busy with Victory Demo Days the 2nd weekend of September and we rode down to Danna's BBQ in Kirbyville, one of our favorite spots to eat.

This past weekend we rode to Bennett Springs State Park with a stop at Mr. Ed's in Urbana along the way for a great Hamburger and Ice Crem Cone. If you went with us, you know what a beautiful day for riding it was! If you didn't make it, try to join us next month.

Don't forget our Fall Open House on Saturday the 30th!

It's August So It Must Be Hot!!!

Thanks to everyone who joined us on our monthly Sunday ride last Sunday. It was hot but pleasant when moving down the highway. We headed to Bennett Springs State Park and eventually made it there with a few u-turns due to road repairs that looked like they would not be good for a car, much less a motorcycle and a few short cuts that ended up being long ones instead. If you have not joined us on one of these rides, they are always fun and great fellowship with other riders. Join us next month if you can.

Wow Am I Behind!

I had no idea that I was so far behind in my blog posts. It must mean that this summer has been busy! Let me see if I can get everyone caught up.

We did our annual Ferry Boat Ride on Sunday May 30th. This is one of our favorite rides and it seems that it is always a very hot day. We started out the ride with 18 bikes and, if I remember correctly, we had 30 people. We rode down to Danna's BBQ in Kirbyville and had a wonderful lunch and we sang Happy Birthday to Thea, our friend from South Dakota that was visiting for the weekend. We continued on from there into Arkansas and rode the Ferry acoss Bull Shoals lake. It was a beautiful day, but the rain just couldn't leave us alone and we all got wet on the way home. Thank goodness for rain gear.

The weekend of June 11-13th, we had the Victory semi on the lot for the Victory Fuel It Demo Tour. This is always a fun weekend for us and if you missed it, the truck will be back the weekend of September 10-12th. We did over 100 test rides that weekend and I don't think I heard anyone complain about the fact that they had to ride motorcycles all day for 3 days!

On Sunday June 27th we rode to Mr. Ed's in Urbana for our June ride of the month. We did not have a large group, but it was a beautiful ride with very little traffic. We rode north out of Springfield and around Pomme de Terre lake over to Mr. Ed's. If you have not eaten at Mr. Ed's they are known for their 99 cent hamburgers and some of the best ice cream around.

We also celebrated Sharon's brithday in July. It's always a fun time at the store when we celebrate birthday's. Thanks to Wes' mom, Brenda Rose for making the beautiful cake.

Check back next week as Tim and I head to Orlando to see what's new for 2011 for Victory Motorcycles. I will try to do some updates with photos while I am there.

Father's Day

I thought in honor of Father's Day this Sunday, June 20th, I might share a little history. This is a picture of me with my dad many years ago, obviously.

Father's Day is a celebration inaugurated in the early twentieth century to complement Mother's Day in celebrating fatherhood and male parenting. It is also celebrated to honor and commemorate our forefathers. The first observance of Father's Day is believed to have been held on June 19, 1910 through the efforts of Sonora Smart Dodd of Spokane, Washington. After listening to a church sermon at Spokane's Central Methodist Episcopal Church in 1909 about the newly recognized Mother's Day, Dodd felt strongly that fatherhood needed recognition, as well. She wanted a celebration that honored fathers like her own father, William Smart, a Civil War veteran. Sonora suggested her father’s birthday, June 5th, be established as the day to honor all Father’s. However, the pastors wanted more time to prepare, so on June 19, 1910, young members of the YMCA went to church wearing roses: a red rose to honor a living father, and a white rose to honor a deceased one.

The idea of Father's Day became popular and embraced across the nation. It took many years to make the holiday official. A bill to accord national recognition of the holiday was introduced in Congress in 1913. In 1916, President Woodrow Wilson came to Spokane and spoke at Father's Day services. In 1966, President Lyndon Johnson signed a presidential proclamation declaring the third Sunday of June as Father's Day. In 1972, President Nixon established a permanent national observance of Father's Day to be held on the 3rd Sunday of June each year.

Take time this Sunday to honor the father's in your life.

Saying Goodbye is Never Easy

This week we said goodbye as good friends, Tom and Carol, moved to Albuquerque, New Mexico. Tom and Carol ride a Bergman scooter and never hesitate to join us on rides, even in the coldest weather. It was Carol's idea for me to start this blog due to the crazy times we have all had on our rides. We will miss having them ride with us and we wish them the best in New Mexico. Tom said he would send pictures this coming winter of him riding while we are waiting for the rain and or snow to go away!

Good luck Tom and Carol!

Happy Mother's Day

With this Sunday being Mother's Day, I thought a little history on the subject might be appropriate. This is a picture of my mom holding me (I don't look very happy) and my two older brothers.





Anna Jarvis, daughter of Anna Reeves Jarvis, was the power behind the official establishment of Mother's Day. She promised at her mother's gravesite in 1905 to dedicate her life to her mother's project, and establish a Mother's Day to honor mothers, living and dead.

In 1907 she passed out 500 white carnations at her mother's church, St. Andrew's Methodist Episcopal Church in Grafton, West Virginia, one for each mother in the congregation. On May 10, 1908, St. Andrew's was the first church to respond to her request for a Sunday service honoring mothers.

In 1908 the first bill was presented in the U.S. Senate proposing establishment of Mother's Day, by Nebraska Senator Elmer Burkett, at the request of the Young Men's Christian Association. The proposal was killed by sending it back to committee, 33-14. That sounds familiar.

In 1909 Mother's Day services were held in 46 states plus Canada and Mexico

Anna gave up her job to work full-time writing letters to politicians, clergy members, business leaders, women's clubs and anyone else she thought might have some influence. Anna was able to enlist the World's Sunday School Association in the lobbying campaign, a key success factor in convincing legislators in states and in the U.S. Congress to support the holiday.

In 1912 West Virginia became the first state to adopt an official Mother's Day.

In 1914 the U.S. Congress passed a Joint Resolution, and President Woodrow Wilson signed it, establishing Mother's Day, emphasizing women's role in the family (not as activists in the public arena, as Howe's Mother's Day had been, see the last paragraph).

Anna Jarvis became increasingly concerned over the commercialization of Mother's Day: "I wanted it to be a day of sentiment, not profit." She opposed the selling of flowers and also the use of greeting cards: "a poor excuse for the letter you are too lazy to write." I guess she would not be very happy with the commercialization that occurs today.

Anna Jarvis never had children of her own. She died in 1948, blind and penniless, and was buried next to her mother in a cemetery in the Philadelphia area.



The "Mother's Day Proclamation" by Julia Ward Howe was one of the early calls to celebrate Mother's Day in the United States. Written in 1870, Howe's Mother's Day Proclamation was a pacifist reaction to the carnage of the American Civil War and the Franco-Prussian War. The Proclamation was tied to Howe's feminist belief that women had a responsibility to shape their societies at the political level. If you have never read this, it is interesting, to say the least.


Happy Mother's Day!