For the first time since 2011, I am home on the first weekend of May. I'm normally at the Romney Camp N Ride having a great time with close friends, many of whom I only see once a year.
Of everyone involved in setting the 2018 date, I was the least enthusiastic about moving from our first weekend in May date.
Confession: I was wrong...way wrong. It is currently 59 degrees, has been raining most of the afternoon out at Romney, and many more hours of rain to go. If we had done it this weekend it would have been our 3rd event in a row with too much rain. Thank you Larry (Romney GM) for not buying off on my idea to keep it this weekend. Great call.
It's been a very cold and unpleasant spring season up until last week. I'm glad we moved the date this year and looking forward to a perfect weather weekend two weeks from now.
With 2 weeks to go our rough headcount is over 90. That's pretty good considering we know there are other events happening that same weekend. I'm really pleased to know so many of you feel this event is worth your time. Thank you for joining us again. For me I'm so grateful to have an opportunity to spend time with the fantastic people I get to see every year, and I'm extremely pleased to know we get to help people that can really use the help.
As ChecksWrecks already mentioned, The Potomac Center is really a special place. They have a mission to provide residential assistance and support to both children and adults with intellectual / developmental disabilities as they learn the skills needed to live successful lives.
Many saw a number of the kids from the Potomac Center that joined us last year in the parking lot. What you didn't see were all the kids who were looking out the window who were not allowed to join us. Not because they had done anything wrong, but because they did not have a Photo Release, and could not risk appearing in our photos which go across the internet. The Potomac Center cares for children who come from some very difficult backgrounds. Some are there for their own protection, and keeping their location confidential is an important part of that effort. The Potomac Center truly has an extraordinary mission.
This is normally the point where I encourage all of you very generous people to consider making a donation when you are at the Camp N Ride. I'm certainly going to do that again this year, but I also want to ask you to consider if there are items you could donate in addition to money. Please refer back to the information ChecksWrecks provided a few posts back on what they can use. The need for even routine items is endless. If you have room to pack an extra duffel bag with anything you would like to donate we will make sure it gets to the right place.
Thank you for proving year after year you are a wonderfully generous, thoughtful, respectful, and respectable group of people. It is always such a honor to be associated with the people who show up at the Romney Cycles Camp N Ride.
More information on The Potomac Center:
http://www.potomaccenter.com/
Once again Kawasaki will be sponsoring the grand prize in the raffle. I'm told this year they will be giving away two jackets. I don't have any more details at the moment. Yamaha will also be providing raffle prizes.
We're almost there. Looking forward to seeing all of you in less than 2 weeks.