Thunder Roads Magazine of Oklahoma/Arkansas June 2014 | Page 38

FEATURES beginning. Of course, as any road trip goes, 95 miles into the ride, we had our first maintenance concern. Since we’d pre-warned the Harley-Davidson service departments along the way that we were bringing a group through their town, Alefs was standing ready for us to arrive with this minimal problem which was fixed as we had our lunch. Back on the road into the gusty 40 to 50 mph head wind up I-35, we were all starting to feel comfortable in our riding pattern next to our new riding sisters. As the new riding partner feeling wore off, we roared West onto I70 heading to our first night’s destination, Hays, KS, where we were literally treated to a red carpet welcome! Deanna of Doerfler’s HarleyDavidson and Janet of Hays, KS Convention and Visitors Bureau rolled out the red carpet and treated us to a great dinner before we retired to the hotel and the hot tub to soothe our aches and pains from the windy ride. You should have seen the surprised 38 Thunder Roads Magazine of OK/AR quickly history as we were bombarded with hugs and greetings from the ladies who’d followed our journey on Thunder Roads Magazine OK Facebook. We knew several of them as well since we’d followed their journey postings too. A few had slipped and slid on snowy roads, while others freaked out by the high winds and yet, others, attempted iron butt rides only to be cut short due to weather issues. But yet, over 300 riders made it to the first Summit safely. They were from all over the USA, plus Canada, Europe and Australia. It truly was an amazing and inspirational gathering of women. Some of the who’s who in motorcycling were also present to share their love of the road, motorcycles, building, life skills, personal defense, riding skills, inspirational and motivational talks. Upon our entrance into the However, those men were look on the three young fellas who’d been staying at the hotel all month as they popped in to sit in the hot tub which was filled with eight women! Priceless! We decided on an early start and were on our bikes at 6:30am to ride into Denver. We wanted to get there as early as possible because the schedule showed we could have our bikes washed by hot, shirtless firefighters upon arrival. Oh wait, I mean so we could see all the speakers that afternoon!! But prior to arriving there, we had to have another highway hiccup or two which our chase team took care of without fail. And let me tell you what a great welcome party the shirtless firefighters were, as the twelve of us entered the Summit after a fast 350 miles through towering windmill fields.