The FJR Community Gives Back

[MCRIDER007]

Keep me in the loop folks. Have a great ride!

I just got home after a 12 hour day (2 four hour rides). The wetside crowd got pretty wet enroute but made it on time although we had to move the event indoors due to all the rain. I met a lot of great people in Colville and they were certainly excited about the opportunity to meet Dave and Colleen under better circumstances...and it was hard to believe that they were so "normal" after what happened just a year ago.

Fun day, I am glad I made the trip.

 

[juniorfjr]

Made it home around 9:30 last nite. What a great ride, got soaked going over 20, but we all made it safe. Panman sets a great pace and route. The response at the Aid station was great. Talking with one of the EMT's when we first arrived, he was telling me that he helped lift dave off of the boat. Said it gave him goosebumps just thinking about it.

Coming west over SR2 through the weatfields as the sun set over the cascade mountains was kinda like the ultimate zen moment. An easy reminder why I love riding this bike. Kinda, you know, perfect end to a great trip.

 

[Hudson]

I made it out riding with Panman and Escape Artist and Rich and James. Wished I could have gone longer, but only had a few hours. I rode my pal's Motoguzzi CR1200 as he needed some miles put on and he couldn't ride it, so everyone was happy. Barry and I played around in the canyons for a while before heading back. Nice day, no rain, and great to see everyone.

 

[Auburn]

This weekend's ride was to bring closure to a very big event that happened 1 year ago. As BeamerReamer alluded to with the start of this thread, last year on June 12th our lives were changed forever. We were thrown in to a situation that we all hope never happens. We were placed in a situation of dealing with an emergency that we also hoped never would happen. You can go back to post #1 of this thread for the links to the deer strike they had and the journey to recovery.

This weekend was about giving back to a community that gave so much to us. The community is a network of volunteer EMT's and first responders. Resources included 2 ambulances, high angle rescue vehicle, rancher on his 4 wheeler, tribal police officer, county sheriffs, 2 boats, and medivac helicopter.

This weekend had two purposes, one to meet the first responders and give them the money raised on their behalf by this forum and by other friends of the BeamerReamers. Second and most importantly this ride was to complete the ride started a year ago but never finished.

We met up with BeamerReamer & Mrs. and Barabus in Snoqualmie at 7 AM Saturday. A sencond group was coming from the North and would meet us over near Wenatchee at 9 AM.

 

 

We all met up at Casmiere at 9 and by 9:30 we were fueled and ready to head North. 9 in total were able to make the whole trip over to Colville with McRider007 meeting us there.

 

 

We got there about 3PM after going through some pretty good rain squalls, lightening and hail. But we made it safely and on time. McRider007 flagged us down as we came into town as the location of the event had been moved due to the weather and thunder showers in the area.

 

The new location was the headquarters for the EMT crews.

 

Shortly after arriving and meeting everyone, they served up hamburgers and hotdogs for evryone to eat and enjoy. As were just about finished eating they announced that they had a medivac helicopter landing in hte parking lot.

 

 

The pilot that actually flew BR out last year landed the chopper and was then giving them the tour of the chopper

No space is wasted inside this chopper. Very amazing the capabilities of it.

The lady on the left was the EMT that drove Mrs. BR from Colville to Spokane for trauma care at Midnight last year. That is Mrs. Auburn on the right. The EMT did not hear the outcome of everything or what had happened. All they knew last year was a call came in with a motorcyclist had hit a deer and landed in the water. They had now idea how they got to the water. So I explained to them how it happened and what we did until they got on scene.

This is the lady that makes it all happen for the center (on the left). She is an amazing lady.

The crew that was ableto make it to Colville.

It was very good to make this trip. Sorry Niehart couldn't make he was the only one on the original ride last year that could not.

A big thank you to all you gave to the fund last year. :clapping:

The EMT's are volunteers and the money will help them continue to help provide their top notch service. They responded to 1700 emergency calls last year and the service area is huge. The EMT's said this trip was as much thearpy for them as is was for us. They don't hear the outcome very often or how it happened.

It was a very good trip with some very good friends :clapping:

 

[Niehart]

You guys, just so awesome. Thanks for the update! :yahoo:

 

[escapefjrtist]

Great trip over and back...other than the hail and thunderstorms west of Republic!

Auburn has done a good job of summarizing the day. Can't add much other than it was humbling to meet the folks that aided the BReamers in their time of need. The service area that this group of volunteers covers is simply amazing. More photos in the next day or so, once I can pull them off the card.

It was a very good trip with some very good friends :clapping:

Well said Auburn!

--G

 

[Tom Edison]

A very nice ending to a tragic event. EMT's put it all out there for everyone.

They deserve the respect and gratitude you have given them.You have shown the way

it should be done.

 

[JamesW]

After bunking in at Kettle falls for the nite I left early Am for home. I took the Panman route towards Coulee dam, checked out the Inchelium ferry for future reference and then cut across to SR 21. Nasty little pass section encountered, PR3s work no better on the sandy patches then anything else, saw 4 forest rats along the way, herded one down the road for a block before she made up her mind. Speaking of which the PR3s stayed well planted during the "wet" portion of the trip. Cut over from 21 to Nespelem and caught 155 to Omak. Beautiful ride very isolated feeling and no traffic. Made it through Twisp and Winthrop before churches got out but luck ran out from Winthrop home, sunny Sunday and all the folks and toys were out, cruisers, sport cars, trailer towers. Smokey pulled my rabbit over between Darrington and Arlington, had given him a two block-quarter mile lead after he blew by me, I really like fast cars, and when the escort started its song I backed off, Chev was running 70-75and he did not, smokey came around a slight corner, whipped a u-turn with lights on and happy hunting. Very nice ride, enjoyed the company and the ride very much. Hope everyone else had a good time and a safe ride home and wonder if Panman made it home by noon, I know he and George were shoving out at 0600, allegedly.

 

[ahchiu]

Bryan,

Thanks for the great ride report :clapping:

 

[Panman]

I'll just add a cfew shots here.

The crew meeting up in Cashmere.

One for the Pieman.

Dave and Colleen getting interviewed.

Husband and wive teams, Julie and I think his name was Bill they were both on site at the acident with Julie holding the check that contained the funds that were donated.

A couple of things that struck a cord with me, these folks are normal folks that do this for what might as well be nothing as they are volunteer's. Saturday this really struck me when I realized that these folks don't do this for a living. Julie was the EMT that went down the Hill for David, I had went back up the hill to direct a little traffic and when I showed her where she had to go her eyes got really big. This was something she had never done and when I talked to Bill he told me she was scared of the water and she was in the boat that ran out of gas going down the lake to meet the chopper!

The other thing if there was a silver lining to all this, was that three of them got training for this type of extraction something they hadn't had before! And have used it three times since.

Didn't sleep well that night so I got up and climbed a hill and said my thanks to see another sun rise.

Bryan is right, nice to see this one go full circle.

 

[LowAndSilent]

Great photos and reports. Thanks for the update on everything.

 

[Checkswrecks]

Very cool to simply let the EMTs and others know how things came out. They regularly need this kind of feedback for their own sanity. And then to throw them a small party on top is fantastic!

Nicely done!

:yahoo:

 

[escapefjrtist]

A few more photos to document this excellent trip. Didn't take a lot of photos this trip...it was raining too hard after the lunch stop to get the camera out and with a late afternoon two hour run to get to the hotel, didn't have enough hands / eyes to watch for forest rats and keep the speed up. :blink:

With thunderstorms in the area, the Colville EMT's moved the event inside their facility.

Folks visiting with the BReamer's while the food was being prepared.

BReamer with the food line in the background!

Bringing in the bird! As choppers go this one was very quiet, one impressive piece of equipment.

Once we left Colville, the crew split up with five of us over-nighting in Grand Coulee.

Flying in formation.

Had the camera handy when my '06 turned 50K on this trip.

Thanks to all for making this a special weekend.

--G

 

[Tyler]

Special weekend, special trip, special friends... wonderful to be able to give back to those folks who gave so much to you without expecting anything in return. I know for a fact that just seeing you two in person, standing, talking, laughing, hugging, means more than words can express. Y'all are a great bunch! B)

 

[rogdeb]

Good read Made me feel good to know that there are a lot of fantastic peeps out there (EMT's and friends) and we're all better to know this. Hope I could rise to the occasion in similar circumstances.

 

[wheatonFJR]

Thanks for the report with pictures...(now I remember them from Nakusp ) Panman.

Glad you two had such great help in the time of your need...and that you are healing up. I echo Tyler's comments...I bet the responder's LOVED seeing someone in your now GOOD condition, after they saw you two in such bad shape. I bet it does wonders for their psyche...

Thanks for sharing...this is a feel good moment. :clapping:

 

[Beamer Reamer]

Hello all,

Mission accomplished. It was a great weekend of riding, hanging with friends, and more importantly – paying a visit to the EMT and first responder team in Colville. We were greeted with a nice barbeque, a potluck, and a pretty decent contingent of rescue workers and their family. We got to meet several of the people that were on scene the day of the accident and it was very fulfilling to say thank you in person. I think 11 bikes made it to the shindig – the support was awesome.

What was really surprising was how glad and grateful they were that we all decided to come by at all. Something like 98% of the time they never hear back from those they help – good or bad. It is a tough job made harder for the lack of any closure at all. They were just tickled we were there and thinking of them.

They had a MedStar helicopter fly in and land across the street and that was a crowd pleaser all the way around. The families of the rescue teams got to check it out, and more importantly, so did we. It is a sweet piece of equipment and it was fun to get the tour and talk to the crew. They have 86 on staff for their 4 helicopters and 2 planes that serve a 4 state area. One of the crew turned out to be one of the crew that took me for a spin. Right on.

One reporter was on hand from the local small town rag, not sure how that will come out but we gave it our best. She interviewed several of us, participated in the tour of the headquarters building as well as the helicopter. She got to see both the professionalism and the needs first hand, hope she does the story justice. She also documented the gift of $1600 provided by the FJR community and a few others. Nice work guys.

Cool folks over there, I like them. Cool roads both ways, I like them too.

David

 

[blufjr]

I am so glad to know you guys, all of you are traffic and awesome people. Loved the story, and so happy it turned out well for all. Thanks for sharing this story from the start to the finish. And what a special finish it was.