New updates coming soon!
Hi everyone - sorry about the lack of updates, but they'll be coming soon I promise. Our last meeting and the last ride should be posted today...
06/27/2009
Hi everyone - sorry about the lack of updates, but they'll be coming soon I promise. Our last meeting and the last ride should be posted today...
06/13/2009
Ride to Anywhere, 6/13/2009
Looks like we lucked out and got the better of the 2 weekend days for our "Ride to Anywhere" on Saturday. Many of us gathered at RedStreak around 10 AM where employees were setting up for a sidewalk sale. Rosie(1) would stay behind and lend her assistance for the day. The rest of us headed out to do a pre-ride of our BVQ Ride route so that members could become familiar with it. Ray led the way. At the halfway point, we made one stop in Acton at a DD for a coffee break, then continued the rest of the pre-ride. But instead of taking it all the way to what will be our destination, the VFW in Marlboro, we veered off and rode over to Sterling Airport where we watched the sailplanes. Hey, where'd Bill go? Did he leave without anyone noticing? Hmmmm.
After watching some of the flight activities, Bob B also had to leave us
as he had a family commitment in the afternoon. Everyone really enjoyed
watching the gliders taking off and landing. Look, here comes Bill.........in
his airplane!! Seems he dropped out of the ride line earlier when we were
on Rte 62, headed over to his airport in Stow and switched toys. Very cool!
After a nice time spent at the airport, Ray led those of us who
were still on motorcycles out to Leicester for lunch at Hot Dog Annie's
on Rte 56. Dogs and burgers all around and yummy cream soda. After lunch
we headed back towards Sterling once again. In the center of town, Fran
& Ray broke off and the other group riders continued on their way towards
home. It was a terrific day, plenty of sunshine to go around and not one
heckawee turn to speak of!
05/31/2009
Ride To Anywhere... and Everywhere
First, let me thank everyone for the chance to "excel"
as your reluctant Road Captain for Sunday's Ride to Anywhere. After our
breakfast at the Marlboro VFW, there was a lot of discussion on how to
get to our destination, The Bridge of Flowers. I spoke up and suggested
a route we have used before on our way to Curtis' in Putney, VT. Bill was
right, don't say anything or volunteer, because the next thing I knew I
was appointed ride captain.
The ride to the Bridge of Flowers was really nice and the sun was out all the way. We only had one slight "Where The Heck Are We" moments but quickly found our way to our destination. After walking the bridge, which had a lot of interesting plants and bushes growing all over it, we stopped and had lunch.
As we were eating lunch the rain started to fall but let up as we finished our lunch. We all headed over to our rides to wipe them down, all except for me. It seems that I parked my ride under a small tree which sheltered it form the rain. As everyone else was wiping down their rides, I gave mine a courtesy wipe down as an act of solidarity.
There was a lot of discussion on who was going to be road captain on the way home and what route we would take. Finally Munds stepped up and started out as road captain but after about a mile I took back over. We started our own " Where The Heck Are We" tribe on the way home and I was appointed "Chief". We finally made it home safe and sound after several wrong turns and rain showers. Oh did I forget to mention that we hit rain on the way back home. We would ride for a few miles in the sunshine and then a lot more miles in the rain. Those of use with fairing on our rides, Munds and I, stayed pretty dry and the others, well you know. Bill, JD, get a bike with a fairing.
I took one road just so that we could all see the rainbow, right Doreen?
All and all it was a great day of riding with an even better group of friends. We had a lot of laughs and traveled some roads that we probably could never find again. We also had a new member to our website and a potential new member, John Burns, ride with us for the first time. I hope that the rain and our antics did not frighten him away.
Ray, you have my vote to remain Ride Captain.
05/26/2009
Memorial Day Escort
Riders met at the Dunkin' Donuts in Framingham
around 7:30 AM. It was a very nice turnout for this year's Memorial Day
Escort. After spending some time admiring each others' flag mounts [nice
mounts, Fran!], we unfurled our flags, mounted up and headed over to the
staging area at the rear of Memorial Hall where we met up with the veterans.
We lead the escort to several area cemeteries where wreaths were placed,
we heard words of praise & thanks and a eulogy was delivered. At each
location, shooters performed their duty to honor those veterans that have
passed. The sound of Taps filled the air followed by our national anthem.
Our route ended at the Framingham Memorial Building where a crowd had gathered.
Cub Scouts lead us in the Pledge of Allegiance and several state representatives
& councilmen spoke to all who were there. Those who participated in
the parade, as well as the many people who helped organize the events of
the day, were recognized and thanked. As always, it was a humbling experience.
Being a part of this yearly event is our small way of expressing great
appreciation to those who have made the ultimate sacrifice. I am sure I
can speak for every one of us who attended when I say how very proud we
all are to have been a part of this important day.
05/24/2009
Flags at IC Cemetery
I would just like to take a minute to thank everyone
who turned out to help our post place flags on the graves of Marlboro's
veteran's buried in the IC Cemetery. Your help was invaluable and very
much appreciated by me and everyone at the post. I would especially like
to thank Fred who took the time to come and help as well. It was really
nice to have the opportunity to talk with Fred and to ride with him again.Again, thank you Rosie, JD, Munds, Doreen, Rosie(2), Peter, Tori, Bill, Jerry, Bob B. and Fred for all your help. I think I got everyone but if I did miss someone I am sorry.
Wayne Stanley, MSgt, USAF (Ret)
Commander
VFW Post 638
Marlboro, MA
05/21/2009
May Meeting
Tonight was our monthly meeting at Red
Streak. If you're a member of the chapter you can find the minutes
in the usual place on our Yahoo Group. Pretty much the same as usual
but this time Red Streak ordered us some pizza. A bunch of discussion
about our BVQ ride which is coming up fast! No riding tonight.
05/02/2009
Presidents Ride
A great ride today, our first planned group ride of the season,
the President's Ride. The day started out with early morning rain for some,
and mist & clouds for others at their respective homes. But as the
sun slowly peaked out from behind the clouds, roads began to dry up which
helped many of us make the decision to head out and give it a shot. We
met at RedStreak
at the scheduled time of 10AM. There were 12 bikes in all and 15 riders.
Unfortunately, Doug was unable to join us as his bike became disabled at
a local gas station and even with the help of several chapter members,
no luck getting it started. We hope Doug's bike will be back in action
for the next group ride. Although the original plan was to head up north
to Curtis'
BBQ, the still iffy weather dictated and Rosie reverted
to her Plan B. She lead us on a terrific route to Lester's
Roadside BBQ in Billerica for some yummy ribs, chicken
and much more, followed by a stop at Kimball
Farm in Carlisle for ice cream. And there was plenty
of ice cream. Most of us ordered a small which turned out to be a portion
size that would choke a horse! We saddled up and headed out for the final
leg. Riders pealed off as they approached their homebound routes. The weather,
although gray and a bit chilly to start, turned bright and sunny. A beautiful
day, a great ride, delicious food and all with a super group of people.
We couldn't have asked for a better outcome.
04/20/2009
Nick Butler Ride
I wanted to say a
special thanks to all how participated and assisted in yesterday's Nick's
Run. It was a wonderful day, a bit chilly to start but the day warmed
up great. There were a lot of bikes for one of the season's first
open rides. There was only two (that I know of) issues with bikes;
one lost their shifter and one lost all transmission fluids. Both
had to be toted to safety by the Big Red Rescue Rig. But all in all,
we had a great day. We started the day out by having breakfast at
the VFW hall just down the road from the ride staging area and ended the
day with sunny warm skies and a great ride through some awesome back roads.
We road by Nick's memorial on the corner of Horse Pond Rd. and Rte. 20
in Sudbury. Most of us reved our bikes or beeped our horns as we
rounded the corner past the memorial where Nick's family was standing and
waving.
04/16/2009
April Meeting
This was our first meeting of the year
at Red Streak, absent our president. Wayne(3) did a fine job of running
a short meeting. Jack did a great job designing a logo for the t-shirts
we're going to print up. We discussed a few more details about the
BVQ ride and that was about it. A few brave souls rode over but unfortunately
it was just too cold and raw to ride for most of us. Hopefully next
month!
04/05/2009
First Ride of the Season
What a great day for
a ride! It was a maiden voyage for the season for some of us.
We had a blast! Wayne, please tell your friend Doug again how much
we all appreciated him taking the lead down some roads that rivals Magellan's
sense for direction and navigation. There were roads I've NEVER been
on and beautiful to boot! Mark Weinburg road with us as a guest today
and I believe he's home safe and sound and also had just as much fun as
the rest of us.
- Rosie
It was a a great day of riding and it was good to get out and ride again. I think meeting and having breakfast at the VFW worked out well. The food was good and you can not beat the price for the breakfast. I hope Mark enjoyed himself and will want to ride with us again I also hope he will be interested in joining our band of merry people (PC you know. Can not just say men any more).
- Wayne
03/21/2009
March Meeting
Saturday was our March meeting, this time
the pot luck was at Bob and Sue's place. What can I say? Good
food (more than usual?), good friends, good times. Heck, the business
part of the meeting wasn't even very long, and Cida and I won a pin, a
keychain, and $22 in the 50/50 raffle. Sorry about the bad picture
- all we had with a working battery was my cell phone.
We're done with the pot luck meetings for the season - good news and bad news. I'll miss the food. But I'm really looking forward to riding at next month's meeting. Bring on the warm weather!
02/21/2009
February Meeting
February's pot luck dinner/meeting was at Fran and Ray's home. After ogling Ray's amazing train setup in the basement we did the typical overeating the usual great food and settled down for business, which really didn't take too long (thanks, Rosie!) We started voting on our ride calendar for this year and spent a little time planning for our BVQ ride (mark your calendars - it's July 18, depending on who you ask.) I think we're all looking forward to the snow melting and finally getting our bikes back on the road - it's been too long.
01/18/2009
January Meeting
The January pot luck dinner was at Bill
and Cida's house. Rosie and JD couldn't make it but we covered business
anyway under Wayne(3)'s able leadership. Here we are hard at work
signing the charter (no, Ray wasn't sleeping.)
01/17/2009
Fred and his unit
This picture was passed around at our chapter meeting in January, sent in by Fred Pankey from Iraq.
10/31/2008
Bob and his new girlfriend, Chuckina, at the MDA ride
09/24/2008
BVQ Art Project
Our successful results of the 2nd Annual Veteran's Ride, 2008 produced over $2000 in funds raised, which were slated from the very begining to go directly to the needs of the residents of the Bedford Veteran's Quarters. As with the previous year, and it's celebrated opening of the facility, the funds raised were to be put towards the residential needs of the facility and it's residents. After a whirlwind shopping spree to replenish much needed kitchen items, countertop ice makers and personal sized fans, there was a reserve of about $1500.
The Art Connection, located at 539 Tremont St., Boston, MA,...."generously donated 20 pieces of art to grace the walls of the Bedford Veteran's Quarters (BVQ)." These pieces of art required framing, a project that was the responsibility of both Caritas Communties and the BVQ. With funding being limited and sometimes scarce, Chapter 239 was approached in such a way to request that the remaining funds of $1500 be used to supliment the overall cost to frame the artwork.
Our chapter unanimously agreed to release the remaining funds in order to complete the transition and installation in time for the BVQ to host an art installation presentation and open house. Along with the artists and administrative members of Caritas Communties, BVQ opened it's home and hearts to thank the Art Connection for their generous donations of the art work and also to thank the STAR Chapter 239 for their dedication and support.
08/17/2008
Ride For Kids
The "Ride for Kids" went off without a hitch today. And no rain this year! It was perfect, perfect weather for a change on this ride. We have certainly had some soggy ones over the years.
Ray & I got to the Shell Station in Auburn around the same time that Bill and Jared arrived after they first stopped at RedStreak. Bob B. pulled in shortly thereafter. We all headed over to the staging area at the N. Oxford Walmart for registration, coffee and donuts and then the ride briefing. There was a turnout of 144 bikes. The route was terrific. A long ride through some very nice areas on roads that were all in very good condition. Whoever came up with the route did a great job. And the police escort was fabulous. We looped back to the starting point for lunch and the "Celebration of Life" ceremony. Top fundraisers were recognized and the total raised for the Pediatric Brain Tumor Foundation in this year's effort was $69,505..............WOW!!
Another successful year.
08/03/2008
Joeys Diner
Rain suits on, rain suits off, rain suits on........................oh,
let's just keep them on! Good thing we did. And on our way home through
Lancaster and Clinton we went through some pretty weird sections of rain,
then no rain, then rain. We saw it rain across the street but not on us.
Then down the road it rained on us, then the sun came out full force. But
the roads were bone dry when we got close to home. However, the skies are
getting dark here now. Looks like there is going to be a downpour pretty
soon. But this time I won't have to put on my rain suit. I'll just stay
inside.
We also had a great time today. The weird weather made for an interesting
day. As long as there was no lightning........or hail, we really can't
complain.
Another good ride to add to the list of good rides.
07/27/2008
Curtis Bar-B-Q
It has been said that, 'all men have fears, but the brave
put down their fears and press on. Sometimes to death, but always to victory.'
Today four brave souls put down their fear of inclement weather and pressed
on to Curtis' BBQ. Led on the first half of the trip by Wayne, who took
us through some beatiful back roads through Princeton, Barre and several
other towns no one has ever heard of. We followed the trail of smoke and
the smell of BBQ and had a wonderful lunch of chicken & Ribs. Got to
meet Curtis and his pet pot belly pig.
Ray and Fran led the return trip. Leaving at 1:30 we all took a quick shower
to rinse off any remaining BBQ sauce and then air dried. Ray led us down
route 9 through Keene and Winchendon.
I want to say thank you to Wayne, Ray and Fran for a great day of riding
and food. And thanks for making me feel at home on my 2nd ride with Chapter
239. Look forward to riding with you again soon.
07/19/2008
The 2nd Annual Ride for BVQ
To say that today's Ride for the Bedford Veterans Quarters went off without a hitch is an understatement. This was truly a tremendously successful day and one that we, as a chapter, can be very proud of.
The weather, always a concern for weeks ahead, was perfect! The turnout was spectacular!! 50+ bikes, WOW. The police & sheriffs did an outstanding job and we could not have done this without their help.
And the warm welcome we received from the veterans made the day complete. They actually applauded us as we approached the picnic area. That was heartwarming. During the BBQ, Tom Fiander came around thanking us individually. He expressed his gratitude as well as the gratitude of the veterans and how much it means to all of them that we took it upon ourselves to give something back.
All the effort that everyone put in made this all work.
As for all the chapter "chefs", you guys did a bang up job with those burgers and dogs. As if the afternoon wasn't hot enough, you all hung out for most of it over a hot grill. A big Thanks for doing that.
This day has come and gone, but it will be one we will all not soon forget. And we seem to have given the resident veterans of the BVQ a Saturday that they will remember for a long time as well.
We did good, you guys.
Some other links:
Departure video
Bedford Minuteman story
07/13/2008
Newport, RI
We couldn't have asked for a more perfect day to ride to Newport, RI. What a beautiful day it was! Jack Mooney (and Jeanne!) took the lead and brought us down some awesome back roads all the way to Newport. We drovethrough Colt State Park, a place I've never been to. BEAUTIFUL ocean views and there was sufficient wind to bring out all the sail boats of every kind onto the water. What a sight! Then we drove down through "our neighborhood" where we all had a chance to point out to each other our "summer cottages". For those not in the "know"...that would be Belleview Ave! What a treat! I am still blown away just by the thought of how much money it took (in the day) to create such unbelievable mansions! And theycall them Summer Cottages! We finished the tour of the summer shacks onOcean Drive and ended up at Brenton Park where all the people fly kites! No, not ordinary, everyday, run of the mill stick and newspaper kites....KITES like you've never seen before.... HUNDREDS of them! (by the way, the pictures are posted on our yahoo site).
After we all expressed our NEED FOR FOOD we headed to the Topside Restaruant where we all enjoyed a seaside lunch in the open air.
I hope everyone got home safe and sound....I know you are all just as tired and road worn as me and JD. I have aches in places I didnt' know I had!...but it was a BLAST and I wouldn't have missed it for anything! Thank you Jack for doing such a great job of leading us. We had plenty of places to stop, stretch our legs and get the feeling back into the lower parts of our bodies, and answer the "call to nature". JD and I didnt' gethome until close to 8:00 pm but we had a blast. My first order of business when I arrived home was to HIT THE SHOWERS! and boy did that feel good!
- Rosie
It was a fabulous ride yesterday, and although a very loooooonnng day, we had a great time! And what a good turnout we had. There were a few weird moments here and there, some confusion along the way.....pull over? keep going? start? stop? turn where? Oh, there! Don't go yet! Okay, now! Hey, wait for me!!!
.... but
all in all, a great ride. Thanks, Mooney for taking us on a wonderful route.
A little hairy at times with some funky turns but we made it there and
we made it back and I know that we all had a super time in between. Despite
sleeping butts, sore wrists and aching lower backs, we couldn't have asked
for a better day. Ray & I left our house at 8AM and returned home at 8PM. Good that we hopped on 495 for the trek back as that really cut down on the travel time. We are not big fans of highway riding but this was actaully not bad at all. No traffic and good road conditions certainly helped to make it an almost pleasant leg all the way to the Rte 62 exit in Berlin. Got home safe and sound......and exhausted. We were still tired when we got up this morning! Just doing some odds and ends around the house today, including Ray creating another one of the Williams' famous flag pole holders, patent pending TBA!
- Fran
07/05/2008
There is a new sheriff in town
Congratulations to Jack Forman who passed his sheriff's test today! Nice goin', Jack.
07/04/2008
4th of July Parade
Bob B made it. So did Ray, Fran, Stan and Electroman! We were among a few of the other die hards who turned out for the July 4th parade in Natick today. Shortly after we got to the staging area, Don MacNeill and company arrived. We had a few other riders along as well, which made for a nice little group to lead the parade.
We honked & beeped and waved to the crowd and they waved back. The streets were lined with people. They all came out for the festivities, despite the wet weather, with there lawn chairs and umbrellas. Pretty impressive.
After we finished our leg of the ride, we parked the bikes and joined the crowd to watch the parade pass on by. There were fire trucks with sirens blaring, classic cars, unicycles, marching bands, as well as a small group to represent our nations finest military men & women. Applause, applause, and more applause!!
We all took off at different times to head for home or to wherever. The weather stayed wet and dreary............until right about now, as I am seeing the sun starting to peek through. There are even some patches of blue sky up there. Hopefully the rain will stay away for those who are planning on attending fireworks displays tonight.
Enjoy the rest of the holiday weekend.
Happy Birthday America!
06/29/2008
Molly Bish Ride
Well, we couldn't have been luckier than we were today at the Molly Bish ride. We kept on top of the radar loop all morning and saw that the rain looked to be well north of us and decided that we would take a chance that the forecast was correct. And if not, we would just be mentally prepared for the fact that we would get a little wet at some point during the day.
Ray donned his rain pants and we rode to the Shell Station where Munds awaited. He was enjoying a morning snack when we drove up. He, too, had on rain pants. Back-ups pants are always welcome. Bob B showed up shortly after. During the 20 minutes we were at Shell, the sky cleared right before our eyes without a cloud to be seen. We all peeled of a couple of layers as it was getting pretty warm. Ray even put away his rain pants, but Munds kept his on for a while just in case. We hopped on the bikes at 10:30, made a quick stop at MSI but nobody was there, so we went directly to the staging area in Sturbridge.
The weather was perfect all day and there must have been 500 bikes in this ride today. BTW, there was no issue with speed at all. It was a very nice, long ride through some new areas and some familiar ones from years past. As always, the crowds were out in force cheering and waving, some with signs in hand - Thank You Riders For Molly and Thank you Bikers. We returned to the staging area after the 1+ hour ride, and the 4 of us decided that we would head out to Hot Dog Annies in Leicester for, well, hot dogs! After a relaxing lunch (yummy cream soda) and some conversation, we all went our separate ways.
We hope you guys got home safe and dry. Ray & I did. We pulled into our garage probably around 4PM and about 20 minutes later the sky opened up dropping rain AND HAIL. (I'd hate to be caught riding in hail! That can't be fun.)
Talk about perfect timing. Maybe it was Molly's way of saying "Thank You".
06/18/2008
IRAQ Update from Fred Pankey
Hello all,
I just want to send you an update on the deployment of the 126th BSB FLE.
After 2 long and hot months training at Ft Bragg, NC we finally completed that mission and flew out at 0330 am Tuesday morning.
We have now arrived finally in the country of Kuwait after a 24 hour flight/time change, etc,.....
We will be here for a while before moving into IRAQ.
Thank you as always for your support and I will send a forwarding address as soon as we get to our finally destination.
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