Dear Brothers and Sisters,

 

Wow, what a year this has been!   I sat down to write this and didn't know where to start because there has been so much happen in the last 12 months.  I am going to try to just hit the highlights of the year, so this does not cover everything by any means. 

 

In January I assumed the role of the club president and thought to myself at the time, "This isn't going to be so bad".  Then things got rolling, and only with the help of your elected officers, have I been able to continue to lead this great group of brothers and sisters.  Without everyone's support, I would have thrown in the towel a long time ago!

 

Below is a brief summary of 2009.  This is not all encompassing by any means, but just a quick look at some of the highlights.  I know this is a little long, but please take the time to read through it.

 

We got the year off to a start with a good turnout/participation for the ECCAC Chili Cook-off in February.  Bob Adams entered the chili cook off (his first time ever) and managed to win his class! We also did a Valentines day "Sweetheart" ride to Granbury that ended up being much colder than we anticipated, but had a great time anyway.

 

In March we participated in the annual Rendezvous Ride down in Roundtop, Texas.  This is where the club began a run of very bad luck, because returning from that event, Ken Reeves had his motorcycle crash and ended up in intensive care at Parkland Hospital in Dallas.  Ken had very serious injuries including a severe head injury, and nobody knew how well he would recover.  Ken has worked very hard since that time to recover from the trauma he incurred, and even rode his new trike in the Ellis County Toy Run in December.  He still has a lot of challenges in the days and months that lay ahead, so continue to keep him and Sandy in your thoughts and prayers.

 

While Ken was still in critical care, our brother and director on our board, Arthur Guy, passed away, and transferred to Heaven One.  This came as a complete and total surprise to everyone.  Texas 21 participated in the funeral service and provided an honor guard (Dwight Price) during the services.  These two events had a huge impact on our club that could have been disastrous, so I just want to thank everyone for stepping up and keeping the club very much alive.

 

May was once again a very busy month for the club with attending the Police Memorial Day in Austin and participating in the Ellis County Honor Flight Escort the following two days.  Then we had a group go down to Hico for the steak cook-off and the following week we were off to Tyler for the annual RGC where we won not only the club with the largest attendance for the second year in a row, but we also won the bid for hosting the RGC in 2011!  You will be hearing much, much more from me and others in the coming days and months about this.

 

In June we had our annual Bonnie Reeves Memorial Iron Butt Ride, this time to West Texas and back.  And as the year had already gone, it was not without incident.  We had several problems, one of which was that our Road Captain, Captain Hook, (Dwight Price) ended up with a blown tire in the middle of nowhere, in the middle of the night, and it took him 3 days to get back home!  However, we still managed to raise $3,500 for The Gingerbread House.

 

We also held our 4th Motorcycle Rider Safety Course in June, and had a great turnout.  The club has definitely gotten behind this program and the success of the training is in our statistics.  We have not had any kind of serious motorcycle accident, riding as a group, since we began the safety training.  Thanks again to everyone for supporting and participating in this training.

 

Throughout the rest of the year, minor accidents, injuries, illnesses, etc. continued to plague our chapter.  However, we still grew through the adversities.  This really showed me that Texas 21 has a great membership that all are involved in.

 

August brought the "6th Annual Ruckus On The River", and once again, we had a huge turnout.  It just goes to show, you don't have to have water in the river (which there wasn't) to draw a crowd and have a great time! 

 

In October we participated for the second time this year, along with the Patriot Guard, in the Ellis County Honor Flight Escort.  This one went to DFW instead of Love Field and when we had almost arrived at DFW, it started raining, and continued to do so for everyone's trip home that day.  The joy that it brings to the WWII veterans is worth every mile of the cold and rain to do it!

 

In September, Captain Hook got a new job with the state (this was a good thing) and has not been able to participate in any rides/events since then.  Expect him to return however on January 1st with our annual New Years Day Ride.  Welcome back Dwight!

 

As I mentioned earlier, for the first time in a couple of years, we participated in the Ellis County Toy Run.  We had a great turnout of 23 bikes, and we met at our own starting location to attempt to avoid the 3,000 - 4,000 bikes gathered in downtown Midlothian.  This worked out perfectly because we arrived at our destination only minutes before the main "parade" arrived.  That allowed us to get premium parking, and get inside without standing in long lines.

 

We ended our year with our annual December Christmas Party Meeting.  This year we had a new location and a new caterer.  Well, in keeping with the misfortune that Texas 21 had experienced all year long, 58 out of 60 members/spouses that attended, ended up with a severe stomach virus (some say food poisoning) that lasted about 48 hours.  I have been threatened with bodily harm if we use the same caterer next year!  Still, prior to getting sick, everyone had a great time.

 

It has been a year filled with many trials and tribulations and yet we have come through it with shining colors.  With everything that happened, we managed to ride, as a club, 6,500 miles this year and have had some of the largest turnouts at rides and events that I can remember!  We posted 1,700 pictures from our events, and added 15 new members to the club.  We also helped start up 3 new chapters that started up with members from our club!

 

I can't say enough thanks to all the elected club officers, the appointed officers, and the members, for making this club the success it has been this year.

 

I am really looking forward to the coming year, because after all the challenges that we faced and overcame this past year, the coming year can't be worse, it can only get better!

 

Please remember that I am always open to comments, suggestions, complaints, or whatever.  Feel free to contact me by email, phone, text, in person or by carrier pigeon! 

 

Everyone remember to stay safe and .........