Chasing my Dreams!

Coming from a motor racing background (cars and bikes), I’ve always loved ‘anything with an engine’….and had always been fascinated with any kind of group bike rides, charity rides etc…loved hearing and seeing the awesome beasts riding past – and thinking “Wow that would be so epic to be in amongst that!”. But it was always just a passing thought, as, being on the back of a motorcycle for hours on end on these kinds of rides is for me, something which is medically a bit of a ‘pipedream’ to be able to do. 

But of course…with my “Anything is Possible…in your own Way”, way of life these days, an opportunity came up to take part in a ‘Poker Run’ (group bike ride for charity) – not on the back of a bike – but to take part in my car, in amongst the bikers! 😀  Bill from (the now former) SBH Qld has been going on these Poker Runs for a while now – late 2012 he started talking to me about the rides, and ever so slowly encouraging me more and more in my mind, to want to take part (and so of course, it went on the bucketlist).   I was thinking…”but how?” (gotta love that..throwing something on the bucketlist, knowing that some day, somehow, there WILL be a way of making it happen even if you have no idea at the time of just how!).  The day that Bill told me over the phone, and sent me a flyer of the Fraser Coast Social Riders Poker Run which was  happening in May 2013, and finding out that cars can actually take part – AMAZING day!  From the moment I saw and heard the words ‘bikes and cars are welcome’ – that was it, I was IN! 😀  ANYTHING is Possible….in your own Way! 🙂

Seeing that cars were welcome on the Poker Run…that it really was possible…AMAZING feeling!! 😀

As the months and weeks flew closer, I was getting nervously excited – I LIVE for this feeling!  And then finally, the weekend arrived…the weekend of the Poker Run was here! Here we go…bring it on!…

Friday May 10th – Sunday May 12th (with the Run itself being on the Saturday)

WOW…Wow..what an amazing experience! Just got home not long ago, absolutely exhausted so will put up all the photos in the next few days…but wow…cannot believe how lucky I am to have had the experience Ive just been through,  on the Fraser Coast Social Riders Poker Run – to raise money for (the now former) SBH Qld and ‘Hear 4 Alana’ (Alana is a little girl whose family is aiming to raise money for her to travel to America, to have surgery for her hearing loss) ….and to have a hell of a lot of fun (and driving!  we sure clocked up the kms….lol) along the way!)  What an amazing group of people to share this experience with…and what an experience in itself, with the driving and exploring on the roads for hours on end, and stopping along the way…awesome…just awesome…

Starting at Sexie Coffie Bruce Highway Maryborough (where a little TV interview was thrown in – thanks Bill for dobbing me…errr I mean encouraging me into something yet again lol – keep an eye out on Seven Local News on perhaps Monday or Tuesday), then onto Biggenden, Tirroan, South Kolan finishing in Bundaberg.  The beast Harley and I getting in amongst it with 140+ bikers…Hell YEAH! Haha..(beforehand, being just a shortish run I thought, meh, maybe 20-30 bikers as I had no idea – turned up to Sexie Coffee, the starting point…WOWZERS! lol..)

At the starting point – only a small amount of the bikes taking part..with my ‘Harley’ (my pet name for my car) in the foreground. 140+ participants…Pure awesome! 😀

Taking off from Sexie Coffee (after staying the night before in a beautiful old Qlder house just out of Maryborough), stopping off at little country pubs at the towns along the way, picking out a card from the deck (which, after the Run you had a poker ‘hand’, and they had prizes for the winning hands) mingling a little and stretching the legs before heading off again, getting lost along the way with a smallish group of bikers up a random dirt road we weren’t really meant to go up..oops lol…but that added to the adventure as we didn’t really know where we were headed at one stage up the dirt road lol), before finishing the run after each stop on a gorgeous property just outside of Bundaberg.

Relaxing after the Run that night on the property with a few drinks was so much fun despite being sooo tired, mingling with everyone, raffle prizes (I won a prize…yay lol), cheque presentations made, awesome food put on by the Royal Flying Doctor Service, a live band, a motocross group putting on a bit of a show for us up the back, huge amazing bonfire, with big logs to sit on around it, and camping out that night, waking up the next morning, amazing RFDS breakfast,saying our ‘see ya’s to everyone, not really wanting to leave, and heading back on the road again, back down to home.

The driving itself was a brilliant experience, giving me more confidence (which Ive needed to gain) in driving to places I have never been before, trusting that we weren’t going to get lost (well…except for when we ended up the dirt track haha…but that was actually kind of fun…following a group of bikers up a dirt track to ‘no idea where we were headed’..lol).  That was part of why I did the Run as I wanted to get more longer distance driving in…and I am sure this will not be my first and last time up to Bundy, or perhaps even beyond…

Awesome…pure awesome.  Bit sad to be home, even though Im totally exhausted, I want to do it all over again right NOW! 😀

Thank you SO much to Bill Shead  and Diane Freeman for your amazing support..and Di you were brilliant company in the car with me, thanks again.  You two made it such a brilliant experience for me, with the help at the stops, and out on the road..it is very much appreciated.  And as for Fraser Coast Social Riders Club – wow…just such a warm, welcoming, awesome group of people I had the pleasure of spending the last couple of days with – just brilliant.  And last but not least, thank you to everyone who contributed in the fundraising – the  money that was raised from the group/Poker Run for both (the now former) SBH Qld and Hear 4 Alana…such generosity, which, as a client of one of these charities…is very, very much appreciated.

Loved every second of it.  Can I do it again next weekend??  LOL…

Anything is Possible…when you stretch your ‘boundaries’ to places you’ve never been before!