CharityPatch.com Needs To Identify Ten to Twelve Worthy Charities

It's a little early (because the patch is not designed yet) but there is a need to identify ten to twelve worthy charities which CharityPatch.com will support in 2011 when the patch is designed, made, in hand and available for sale for charitable causes and delivery to purchasers.

Within the next few days I intend to start to highlight several candidates CharityPatch.com may support in 2011.

If you are familiar with the specific charities, I ask that you leave an objective comment and weigh in with your opinion.

The goal is to identify some top tier organizations which are participants in missionfish.org so that donations may be collected and routed from PayPal payments.

At this point, this appears to be the most efficient way to support multiple charities. A bit of research needs to be done on MissionFish.org fee structure so things are structured so as little of the proceeds is taken in fees as possible.

So if you have familiarity on that topic, I invite your remarks as well in a further post which will solicit comments regarding MissionFish.org fees, etc.

CharityPatch is also banging a few ideas around regarding promotion and some interim products and ideas to raise some money for charitable causes.

Stay tuned for future details.

Times Are Tough - Another Harley Davidson Dealership Closes

A Vallejo, CA Harley Davidson Dealership that had been in business 20 years is throwing in the towel due to the recession.

I think Vallejo has had a Harley Davidson dealer for 100 years.

My closest dealership in Stone Mountain, GA - actually closer to Snellville, GA consolidated into one dealership which is located in Conyers, GA a while back.

The metropolitan Atlanta area still has seven Harley Davidson dealerships.

That's a lot of dealerships for one area.

Hope all of them stay open.

Speaking of Patriot Guard Riders . . .

The Patriot Guard Riders have a challenge coin that they hand out to injured soldiers at Walter Reed Hospital.

I'd like to encourage you to visit their link and read about what they are doing. I think that is a good idea, and I'd like to help out with it.

I'd like to encourage you to either visit their store and order some of those yourself for our wounded military, or visit CharityPatch.com and consider making a gift and earmarking it toward Patriot Guard Rider Challenge Coins.

I'd really like to help put some of those in the hands of wounded soldiers.

Another Example of a Charity Patch

The Patriot Guard Riders have a new patch they are using to raise money for their charitable causes.

Their patch is $10 and goes toward their trademark defense fund.

Apparently they have a dispute with an individual over trademark.

I don't know the details of their trademark dispute, and frankly don't care to know the details of their trademark dispute, but I do know that the Patriot Guard Riders paying respect to our fallen military and shielding military families from inappropriate protests at military funerals is a just cause.

Maybe you would like to consider visiting their website and buying a patch, maybe not.

It's another example of a charity patch.

Some time to think . . .

I spent over four hours in my car today traveling about 30 miles in metropolitan Atlanta.

Four days after getting about six inches of sleet, snow and freezing rain and our roads were still a mess.

Spending four hours in car going no where gives you some time to think.

I thought about the weather and how cold it was (below freezing) and it reminded me of a time when I had visited the Tomb of the Unknown soldier in Arlington National Cemetery one winter when it was spitting snow.

I watched the change of the guards in the cold and the snow. It's a very impressive thing to see at any time, I've been there more than once, but it's particularly impressive if you are there sometime when the weather isn't exactly perfect.

I'd really encourage you to visit there if your travels ever take you to the capital city of Washington, DC.

I can't convey the caliber of people we have in this country. If you ever visit there and see the changing of the guard, you'll know what I mean.

Do that some time before you die.

Put it on your "things to do before I die" list if you haven't been there and personally witnessed the changing of the guard.

Very impressive.

One Small Gesture - Winter Solitude

Today I read a few people posting about taking their own personal rides locally in different parts of the country (thank you Texas), and more indicating they would have ridden had the weather conditions been better (thank you southerners).

I understand that the middle of the winter and the middle of a winter snow storm with temperatures below freezing isn't exactly the best time to roll out an idea for riding a motorcycle.

The cause, despite the weather, is a warm one. I know for me, it is both the right thing to do, and the right time to be doing it.

Maybe doing a just a small thing to show respect to others is the right thing for someone somewhere else to be doing, also.

The King James Version of the Bible, Luke Chapter 16, Verse 10 reads:

He that is faithful in that which is least, is faithful also in much; and he that is unjust in the least, is unjust also in much.

Personal honesty, personal integrity.

They both matter.

Here's a photograph I took of my Christmas present against a snowy background yesterday. My neighbor is a veteran and he has his flying also.

They look good against a snowy background. (You can click the image and view a larger one.)

Tuesday, January 11th, 2011 - The date of the first rides

Well folks, it was freezing over most of the south today; and I mean freezing in the sense of ice freezing, as in frozen ice all over the place.

I didn't see any cars, and I didn't see any -other- motorcycles.

I actually don't know of anyone else locally that took a ride in Honor of Those Who Serve, but I did.

It was 29 degrees in Atlanta when I rode. I had to work on the 11th, so I didn't ride until after dark. The streets were empty and it was like riding on solid ice, mainly because at times - I was actually riding on solid ice. I wouldn't recommend that to most people. It's a great way to royally mess up a nice motorcycle in just a couple of seconds. (Hey ya'll - watch this.)

So needless to say, my ride was abbreviated and I was lucky because the road gremlins were apparently too frozen to bother me. So, I managed a little out and back ride without crashing.

Fishtailing on ice on a heavy Harley bagger is an "interesting" feeling, avoiding frozen ruts in the ice and trying to judge your speed when stopping so you don't shoot the bike out from underneath you on the ice is something you pretty much get right or not. Instant feedback. Pass or fail. Win or lose. That's what life is like sometimes. No ambiguity.

When I pulled back into my driveway, there was about a 14' x 10' stretch of solid ice that you could ice skate on.

I took a motorcycle ride on snow and solid ice in 29 degree weather because it is such an insignificant thing to do, compared to what our first responders do; that I just did not see anyway that I could not have done it.

Doing something like that if nothing else gives you something to focus your mind on and it gives you perspective.

Perspective that wind is cold, ice is hard and slick, and some people are just better than most of us.

I'm just a normal sort of person, but our military, our veterans, our first responders - those people whether they would acknowledge it or not - they are heroes and they deserve our respect.

PS. Yes - an American flag was on my motorcycle. Put one on yours and join me in February wherever you are located.