A new blog to follow

Please check out this new blog. I haven't been blogging much but our rider Biird, had a story to tell.
hopefully we will have a new Conga Rider join us this year.
Here is the link
I seriously will try to get caught up on my blog soon. I sure enjoyed listening to someone elses story!

Recieved a letter this morning

I put no names  but I recieved this , this morning, and they are all great questions that I have been asked before. I will now answer for the whole word to see what drives me.

 September 13 at 10:51pm

hi flo!

how goes life in whatever part of the country you're in now? doin' okay here in the great white north (western massachusetts). been riding, but not as much as i'd like because health has gotten in the way recently, but i haven't stopped yet, and don't intend to, either.

Live is going pretty good in this part of town. I live on Vancouver Island at the moment which is as far west as you can go in Canada or I'd be going for a swim ;) We are looking to move off the Island as there are so many more roads to ride and easier to access as it appears I may have found my calling. They are calling me off the Island LOL I am so sorry to hear that you are having health issues, but happy to hear you are still riding, I have found that the best medicine for any health issues and of course we know it is the best therapy.

have a question or three, if you don't mind. i mentioned you and congas to my sweetheart last week, and he asked me to explain what the hell i was talking about, so i did, as best i could. the three questions i couldn't answer were these: 1. how do you decide where to conga?; 2. how long do you conga?; and 3. where do you live when you're not conga-ing?

How we decide in where to Conga has been fairly easy these last 3 years. The first two years was from Florida to Home on Vancouver Island as I purchased a RLAP bike from Donna and Jerry Palladino . This year, it was in Cheyenne Wyoming because that is where Donnas son is stationed and she would be going to see him. We are best of friends and founders of the Congas so very important to see her. We called it the meet in the middle and a little easier for others coming in different directions to get there. To this point it has mostly been the southerners involved. Alot of help from  those involved on FB as to what friends they can encourage to ride and how far away they live, time off work etc. I conga from the time I leave for the trip till I get home. Some people only can do it for a mile or two, I like to if I  can find someone to go with go for a month. I include my vacation with the fund raiser, and I save all year. I have to say, I best get a job soon or it is going to be difficult unless I can find some good sponsors.

i've been looking through your pics, and i have to say that it's a darned good thing that you look good in pink (a lot of people don't, myself included); Lord knows you wear enough of it!

well, thanks on the pink thing.. I came home and went right back to black and it just didnt feel right. I have come to  love pink. You think I would be sick of it, but it is a bright cheery color. A happy color.

are you a breast cancer survivor, or is it that you have friends and/or family that are, and you've felt that you're called to do something about it? which ever it is, you certainly feel strongly about it. i don't think i've ever come across anyone, including the women that i know that are survivors, that works as hard as you do to raise money for the battle.

I am not a breast cancer survivor. The reason it was chosen at the time was....I wanted to do a pay it forward after the girls whom I had only known on line(other than a couple) helped me ride across the USA. They took me into their homes, fed me, rode with me, took care of me in their country and passed me along to the next gal in the next state. It truly was amazing and it drew alot of attention. So much attention that people began to dislike me in my home town. I hated that part.. so I figured with paying it forward and turning it into a fundraiser it would not only do good, but they would stop with the nonsense. There were many gals that I met on the internet Women Who Ride  Forum run by Donna Palladino that wanted to ride, but were not well enough. I met a few of those beautiful ladies on this years Conga. The lady who you see in all the pics with me right to the end, is a survivor so yes it means alot to me.

But.....in my heart my dear, I am riding for my sister Janet. She too had colon cancer and we lost her 14 years ago last month. So the pink eveyone knows for BC I kind of joke once in awhile and say I look better with pink on me and my bike rather than colons. We are riding for anyone that has been affected by cancer. yourself included . It is gut wrenching but with BC now that we have raised almost 50,0000.00 to date

I am hoping we are making a difference. If we can kick one to the curb there will be more for the next.
i think i've mentioned to you in the past that i am a cancer survivor, but not breast cancer. i know that breast cancer seems to get the most attention, even more than lung cancer, but i sometimes wonder if people realize that there are other types out there. when i mention that i am a survivor, the first thing i get asked is, "was it breast cancer?" people look almost stunned when i tell them, "no, it's not breast cancer." it's almost as though if one is a woman adn has cancer, it has to be breast cancer. i then try to explain what a neuroendocrine carcinoid is. some days i simply tell them colon cancer, as it's easier. i tell them that because that's where one of the tumors was found. it's amazing how little knowledge people have of their own bodies.

ahh, i didn't mean to get off on that subject, flo; please forgive me. i hope that wherever you are the weather is fine for riding, and that you're having a blast doing whatever you're doing. until the next time, take care, ride safe and God 

bless.

A pleasure talking with you. I hope to meet you some day, I have not been quite that fare east yet. I am happy to say that part of the conga next year will be in Canada as more people catch on. It will be in Shell Wyoming this year a very small town... Why, because they treated us so dang good and helped us raise 4,000 in one nigh, and they want us to come back.

Conga Line...a group of mostly women riders, dancing across the country on motorcycles riding for a great cause.

You take care my friend.. stay positve, and ride as much as you can...

xoxo
smiles-

Day 4 Leaving Superior heading to Helena

As we were leaving Superior, someone asked us if we were going to a wedding. I guess it appeared that way with all the frills and pink and sparkles even though we had pink ribbons all over the place. Pretty unreal, how sad the bikes and our new leather were starting to look already. The bikes already needed cleaning desperately. Alot of stuff had blown off now. Biird told me I was going to get busted for littering. We had pulled over for a photo op and some fun. She gets off her bike and say omg Flo, littering and those magnets dont stay on. We were laughing so hard and told her it was a temperature thing, it wasn't warm enough and they hadn't molded to her fender yet. I had two of them flying at me, trying to decapitate me. I had to take off the beads from my windshield as they were seriously pinging me in my face.

Onward we went until we came to this little place as we were looking for gas.. Testicle Festival??? yur kidding me? Nope we all bought a set of testicals to hang off our bike, even Biird, even Wilbur, but Miss Fancypants refused to hang testicles on her Princess bike...tee hee

This is Robins trike, I will never forget the site, as we were coming down the mountain, she was waiting on the side with Lonnie taking pics. Her bike had pink boa's and she had a long pink wig on, feathers and hair blowin in the wind. Nice curvy roads, a sister from out of the blue arrives proudly to take us through her home town, open up her store and take us to her home and cooks us a barbeque. Tears were rolling down my face, I was choking up feeling silly and proud at the same time. Later to find out I was not the only one who's face was leaking. Of course it would be the first time of many that there were tears of joy along our journey.

We always take time to do the Conga pose and have our picture with the banner when people come and go. I am hoping to get it together and make a Calender one of these days. I guess I best on that, the new year is not that far away and we are already planning the Conga IV.

Lonnie, Fancypants, Flo, Vgirl, Robin, Biird, Wilbur

Here we are saying good bye getting ready to Conga on!! It was a short very sweet day!

What a great time we had in the Leather Store. I believe we were in there for 4 hours. Of course everyone spent money and our little Biird was continuously reminding me that we still had a long way to go to our next destination which would be Yellowstone. Wilbur was looking forward to meeting Yogi Bear, lol. We would also be picking up a new sista Shiela.

Of course there was always a little time for the Biird to get down, and take some pics. She is quite the photographer always trying a new angle of some sort. Road leader, photographer, and can't forget to mention always making sure we had topped off the gas tank. As time went by  and the Biird flew away,  we would always say... Now what would Biirdie say.. Fill it up, let's go, you know we need to get moving. Great having someone be the boss (funnin ya Biird) It just warms my heart when I think of so many moments and how far she had come, from our first conversation only a year previous, to her taking charge.  I rode behind her most of the time, and when we pulled up beside each other, she would wink, or blow me a kiss, or just say... I love you Flo, and I would do the same.

Here we are down to the five of us again, heading to Helena in Montana to meet our new sister Robin from The Leather Store and More she had been one of our biggest supporters of the Conga from the beginning. She was so hoping we were going to cross paths and that she could join for a bit. It didn't seem to be in the cards until the last minute. She was so damn excited, how could we not go. Robin donated some awesome leathers that her husband Lonnie made. Beautiful leather fringes and leather leg chaps that we auctioned off. We were pretty excited as she told us she would open her store for us on the sunday. And so they did!

Here we are in our favorite pose. Wilbur needs some training lol. 4 Canadians and an American Biird. Golly we had fun at every darn stop. I particularly love the sword fight (deer paw) that Biird and Wilbur were having. Laugh so damn hard Fancy was wishing for some depends. 

Day 3 Leaving Wenatchee

Lordy Lordy I been back from the Conga just over a month now. I have been procrastinating about going back to blogging.  Something keeps holding me back, but with each person I talk to about it, many have said that things just weren't right with out the blog as we  had our Spirit Riders and the only way they could follow was on Facebook through pics and the odd comment. So anyway here I am again, trying to continue.. I have to go back and look at pics to remind me of what went on. some things come so naturally and the stories can just pour out.

In this pic we are missing Biird, Peppercat- Click here for more pics.

Now as I read my last posting I recall why I stopped blogging in the first place. It was day 3 that left a bad taste in my mouth :( It is funny also I could not find my day 3 pictures anywhere up until yesterday. It was like they were lost for a reason. We were all meeting and greeting the night before most for the first time. It had been along day and I was pooped and excited at the same time. Forgot to mention HOT and about ready to have a melt down if I didn't get to the room and run my head under the water. Every one was excited.
 Tim and Erin (now Bubbles and Braman) meeting us for the first time were an instant absolute hoot. You can see their get up in the pictures.  They live in Spokane Washington and were hooking up with us for a  only that night and the Cruisers Bar trip. Now this was one enthusiastic couple. Tim is a big boy bigger than my brother Wilbur even. He is deaf, but doesn't miss a thing some how. Funny and compassionate as hell. Later in the day I would find that out. Actually I would have to say that about the whole crew we were traveling with when the fubar took place.
Peppercat whom I had met only once on the Island at one of our fundraisers showed up. Apparently she had some pretty rough weather to travel through to get there, but she made it. I didn't recognize her at first as she had her hair down, no sun glasses or pink. Good we were all there safe and sound and Biird would arrive in the morning to lead us to our next destination. We were to all meet at 9:am except for Pepper. We were to call her when we were ready to leave the dealership as she can't get up early do to her health. I said I would call. This was where I made my first error looking back. I know now, that I will not be responsible for anyone. Here is the time we leave please be there. It was stressful keeping track of everyone. Like I had to do a head count. Heck I have hard enough time being on time myself lol.
We all gathered up in our room to get to know each other a little better. I tried to blog even though I didn't want to. We knew our first stop was at the Harley Dealership in Wenatchee. I forget the name of it but we were there at the last Conga. They treated us so well. This was a new location but the same lovely gal. Chrissy, probably spelling it wrong. She had some stories to tell that were very gut wrenching herself. I will get to that later.
Tanyas mother and sister came to see us as did Biirds mother. We had a great visit took lots of pics.
The reason we were had to be there, other than the fact we wanted to go check it out was that Willi, was having issues with her bike. It kept dying on her. Like the battery would not stay charged and Wilbur was always push starting it. It was very frustrating for Willi. We all figured it was pretty minor and things would work out once it was checked over. I can't remember the times now but we were running late for sure and Biird was getting antsy to get us on the road. She had the whole trip and mileage thing figured out so as we didn't have to travel at night or that we could get to our next destination on time. She kept saying... We got to go Flo. I'm like... poor Willi we can't leave her behind. We can't leave anyone behind. Of course I would feel responsible. 
I talked to Willi and she told me, she had to sit and wait for a part that it would be a day at least. I felt sick to my stomach that we would have to leave her.  She told me she was a big girl, and would meet up with us. Not to worry she said, that Pepper had already booked an extra night at the hotel just in case that this would happen. that way the two of them could travel together and catch up. Wow! What a relief that was to hear. I still didn't like leaving anyone behind, but was convinced by everyone, including Willi, it was the thing we had to do. I assumed (never assume anything) that Willi would go back in a few minutes and explain everything to Pepper and all would be good....Wrong!!!
Anyway, away we went heading to Cruiser Bar in Post Falls. There were some gals that were coming out to meet us. Jody, Dianna, and Joan, I believe. Away we went, Biird and her crew. So many thoughts going through my head, worried about Willi, and Pepper meeting up with us. So proud of Biird for being road leader, when I met her last year she didn't even ride. Here she was the mother hen taking care of all of us. Seeing Braman and Bubbles in all their pinkness riding with us strangers, like we had know each other for years.. Riding with my brother in all his pinkness and going the whole trip. Fancy my friend, and survivor, going the whole trip. and Tanya, who had come to rescue me the year before. Here we were on a mission, the pink warriors. 
We had already made our goal of $14,000.00 before leaving Vancouver Island and now we were hitting the USA making our way towards Cheyenne Wyoming our destination of our little convention of Women Who Ride from Facebook. Internet friends, two countries working together for the same cause. Life was good. I felt good. I could not get the smile off my face as we road down the  highway, with pink feathers flying, bling pinging me from my windshield, breast cancer magnets flying in the air. We were a sight to behold. The two Cabana boys Wilbur and Braman pinker than the rest of us. The honks we would get, the thumbs up, yells from passer byers. It was a great feeling we were drawing the attention and awareness and having fun doing it.

We stopped along the way for photo ops and each time we stopped people would want to have their picture taken with us. This is how we collected money. We would say sure, for a small donation for Breast Cancer. If they gave us $10 we would have a token gift of a magnet, or scarf, key chain whatever, we had alot of little things. Most were very generous. Also we passed out business cards so they could see it was for real and follow us along the way. I still feel so bad for not blogging and next years it will be the most important thing.

Great photo op for more pics click here.

We continues on our journey towards Cruisers Bar to meet our new sisters and to do a little fundraising. We also had been there last year and Sheri, the owner and BC surviver was going to be there and told us we could do what ever it took to raise some money while we were there. Braman cup would runnith over.

Biird our road leader pulled off to the side of the road and pulled out her map. Did this mean she was lost?? Nope, just wanted to be sure she knew where she was taking us. It was time for a break anyway. The funniest thing happened at that moment.. We heard someone say... omg, that is the Conga!! Hey Eric, hey Flo fancy meeting you here. It was a lady friend of Erics who had supported us a lot at our car washes at home with our fundraising. She was renting a cabin right there. Small world for sure. She invited us up for water or if we needed anything to come on up. Can you believe it?  This type of thing would happen numerous times over the journey. we would hear people yelling CONGA!!! as they wizzed by in their vehicles giving us the thumbs up.

Okay that moment didn't last long as I answered my phone as it was beeping :(

Good Lord, I can not repeat the conversation but all of a sudden my knees started to tremble, I felt like I was going to throw up.. or pass out. It was the unthinkable... we left someone behind. We did not ditch anyone, we assumed it was all okay. It wasn't! No one knew what was going on at that minute, as I could not speak, only cry.. Why, why, was I such an idiot I kept thinking to myself, how could I do that?? I thought I had things in control and again, I say, never assume anything.  I let the others hear what I had heard and told them I was going no where until this was settled. We tried calling  her cell, the hotel, HD,nothing was working other than yes she had called these places looking for us and was very distraught. This was the first time in  ever in my mind, that I would lead myself back to Wenatchee and grab our rider and make things better. I couldn't believe this was happening. We ended up being on the side of the road for a couple hours trying to figure out what to do. Braman was even going to go back, I also said I would sit at the side of the road till she got here. Long story short, I was convinced that we had to move on, and things would work themselves out. It was a sad day for all. I know I would NEVER intentionally ever leave anyone behind. It got worse before it got better, and I don't want to go into it anymore.

We reached Cruisers bar where the gals were there to greet us. It was hard to put on a happy face, but with the help of others and one look at everyone in there pinkness and smiles it soon passed enough for me to enjoy what was going on. Feeling horrible for the two riders who were left behind. That was until Sherri the bar owner said she had had a call from the deserted rider saying that she even offered to go get her with a truck and trailer. Told me not to worry and get on with the fundraising in her bar, that it was an accident , not a planned thang. This too shall pass.

Braman went around with his wife Bubbles collecting money in his bra for the cause. The gals were buying stuff off us and Im sure we raised a couple hundred dollars at cruisers. Braman and Bubbles were going to be leaving us not to soon after we left Cruisers so he wanted to pass his bra on to Wilbur. I can't say that Wilbur was to happy about that, but was relieved when it was too small. He did wear it for while but ended up giving it back. 

It was just amazing how this couple were such a close part of the Conga III in such a very short time with us. It felt like we had known each other for a very long time. I am very proud to get to know them. Here is hoping they will be at the next and the next and the next.

We had to get to Superior for the night.  We were now down to one American Biird and 4 Canadians. The newbie rider on her big Street Glide getting us to where we were going for the night. Superior. The motel was okay, friendly but not one I would probably stay at again. People thought we were

These are the bracelets I have made every year for the Conga. I get them made in Mexico, we sell them for 5 bucks, and ask people to wear them until we get home safely. Most tie them to their handlebars when the ride is over. These bracelets raised $1500 this year. This shot has always been one of my favorite, along with the Conga poses.