Thursday
Mar012012
Poker Run Flyer
Thursday, March 1, 2012 at 07:30PM CLICK HERE TO REGISTER!
CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD A RELEASE FORM!
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<---- Where are we going? Click on the image to the left to see the Poker Run Route!;)
Thursday, March 1, 2012 at 07:30PM Thursday
Mar012012
Register Today!
Thursday, March 1, 2012 at 06:47PM CLICK HERE to register for the 2012 Celebration of Freedom Poker Run!
Tuesday
Aug232011
Details for the 2012 FREEDOM RIDE & POKER RUN COMING SOON...
Tuesday, August 23, 2011 at 05:48PM Be sure to join our email newsletter to be one of the first to get details on the upcoming 2012 Freedom Ride and Poker Run. You can sign up using the form in the right hand column.
Tuesday
Aug232011
A Soldier Named Joe
Tuesday, August 23, 2011 at 05:13PM Memorial Day memories, and a reminder about this year’s Retail Patriot Awards.
BY PAUL CHAPA
Somehow, we were all 100% sure that one of us would win the annual New Harley raffle, so we figured on hauling a trailer to bring our bounty home. But that Friday morning, we decided to just sell the Harley and split the loot amongst us. Our journey was fraught with lightning storms, 40 mph winds and torrential rains. Note to self: buy rain gear for next long trip.
When we finally arrived late Friday night, my cousin, Joe Medrano, called. Joe is a master sergeant and Special Forces recruiter, and would be taking a team from the new graduating class of Special Forces to Afghanistan shortly. But he had some R&R coming, so he came home to spend time with his outlaws/in-laws.
For years, Joe and I had talked about riding together, so I begged him to find a bike so he could join us for the General Franks Poker Run. The next morning he arrived at my parents’ house with his father-in-law’s old Harley Deluxe. I tossed Joe the key fob to my CVO Street Glide and off we went to pick up the rest of the crew. When we stopped to get gas, he tossed the key fob back, saying the new bike was making him miss his Harley, which he had sold in November to pay medical bills for his son.
Along the way, a police officer pulled a few of us over for making an illegal turn. When the officer approached and saw Joe’s Special Forces shirt, he told him “It’s your lucky day” and “Thank you for your service” and just told us to be more careful. Once at the Harley store, we got Joe registered for the ride, which included a raffle ticket for a new 2011 Fat Boy. Then we caught the wind with over 400 other bikes.
AND THE WINNER IS… I think Gen. Franks yelled louder than anyone else in the crowd. Joe doesn’t need to worry about missing his Harley now, and I know it could not have happened to a nicer, more deserving guy — an active duty soldier defending our country. This will be a Memorial Day that I will never forget. And neither will the 600 people who surrounded Joe to congratulate him on winning the bike and thanking him for his service.
Have you thanked your “Joe” today? It’s easy to forget that there are so many people who have served and made sacrifices for all of us. Please join Frozen & Dairy Buyer and Ruiz Foods at this year’s NFRA convention, as we recognize the 2011 Retail Patriot winners who have never forgotten people like Joe.
Like many others, I trekked back to my hometown over Memorial Day weekend. “Home” for me is Hobart, Okla., which also happens to be home for the annual Gen. Tommy Franks Celebration of Freedom Event. Many of you will recall that Gen. Franks congratulated, via videotape, the winners of the Retail Patriot Awards at last year’s convention of the National Frozen & Refrigerated Foods Association. (We’re hoping he’ll come in person to this year’s event, which honors retailers for going “beyond the call of duty” in helping our men and women in uniform.) Our motley gang of 20 had been planning this Memorial Day ride for months. Twelve of us rode our Harleys while Staff Sgt. Dan Gilyeat, 2007 Extreme Makeover Home Edition recipient and Iraq vet, his wife Ana and a few more friends and family drove. Dan was to be one of the speakers at the Memorial Day event.
We later had some private time with Gen. Franks, and Joe was so inspired he would have re-enlisted on the spot. Fifteen minutes later, while standing beside Gen. Franks at the raffle, Joe heard his number called as the winner of the 2011 Fat Boy!