News
December 7, 2011
Dear Son Chasers and Guests:
October
25, 2011
Dear Son Chasers;
Well the 2011 Blue Ridge Ride certainly did
not disappoint those that were able to go. We
had no rain and great color plus some
unexpected handiwork from God to make the
cooler temperatures ( I saw 30 degrees at one
point) worth enduring. The extra treat was
snow and ice in the higher passes along the
Cherohala Scenic Skyway and the Blue Ridge
Parkway. Check out the
slideshow in the
Photo Gallery.
This year was the first year that Sam and
Rhoda Greene joined us as Rhoda was
breaking in her new Honda Shadow. They
both showed great stamina and toughness as
they endured the colder temperatures
without the benefit of the larger windscreens
and fairings of the Goldwings as well as the
heated grips, seats and jacket liners that some
of us older, pampered riders had. I even
heard Rhoda say that the scenery made the
cold worthwhile. The devotional and prayer
time seemed more intimate and personal this
year as we were able to have a little more time
for this than on previous trips. I would go on
about the food but no need; all I have to say is
that the extended weekend produced three
more pounds on my bathroom scales Monday
evening when I returned. Since this was our
last ride for the 2011 season, I used it as a
jumpstart on my winter caloric buildup.
I will put out an update next week on Nancy
Gilvin's prognosis. Also, be sure to see the
update onPaul Silfee (Article to the right).
Until next ride, remember to follow the Son.
Alan
September 17, 2011
Dear All:
Today’s ride seemed to be really special: the
first Saturday with the crispness of fall in the
air; the food seemed to be even better than
usual; Sabrina Frazier’s first ride and her
special relationship with Robin; seeing
Jeanine Hanners for the first time since
David’s passing in May; the relaxing time
waiting for our food to settle (I think this was
our first forced rest stop). It was a
memorable ride for sure.
I want to try something different for this
report. Rather than just hearing about the
ride from my perspective, why not from all
the participants?
Here is a sampling of
highlights from the participants.
indeed and you have covered it
well. However.
the best part of the day was when
I got home
and heard that our son who was
deployed on
9-11 has e-mailed us and was doing
well.
I hope your granddaughter (Alan &
Janet) is
doing better today.
memorable time of our ride for me
is the
fellowship we share in CHRIST.
The route was great, the food was the
best
ever, but just sharing our time together
has to
be my favorite part of the trip.
Over the past two years I have met
other
Christians who will remain in my
thoughts
to my last day.
Rich Wassom wrote:
Getting to spend
several hours with my wife and
watching Dan
savor every bite of barbeque that
he put in
his mouth as well as watching the
banana
pudding go down. Thoroughly
enjoyed the
time with the entire group.
you that he enjoys the fellowship
and fun
times. He esp. thought of 2 funny
comments.
One was when you sat down with a
heaping
of banana pudding and Dave K.
looked at you
and said, "I was about your size
when I first
started eating that stuff". The
second was
when some of our group went to the
Lewis
house for a brief tour and Ronna
came back
to report to the others that there
was a large
turkey hanging over Robin and
Reed's bed.
Most of the ladies agreed that it
proved how
much Robin loved her husband to
allow him
to put that bird in the room and
that we
might not be so keen on it if it
were in
our bedroom. Alan then said
to Ronna,
" Yea, you already have one turkey
that you
sleep with!"
As for myself,
It was touching to see
Mr Alton and the love and care
that he gets
at the Lewis home. Robin also
played the
piano for Sabrina and you know
just how
beautifully she plays. She played
"Amazing
Grace" and everyone there came
over to the
piano to listen. It was very
moving. Reed
then said that he felt empowered
to say that
a friend has been diagnosed with
heart failure
and only has a short time to live.
They had
invited him for dinner last night
( they had a
fish fry) and spoke to him about
his salvation
and the friend had asked Jesus
into his heart.
You could really tell that Reed
was
touched by the event. It doesn't
get much
better than that! That's what it's
all about!
Dan Weisheit wrote:
Wow…. Had a great
time today. The ride and weather was so
close to perfect along with the company!
Between you and me, I think you know my
most memorable time. I couldn’t wait to get
home and tell Debbie that I just experienced
the best barbeque and banana pudding in the
state of Georgia! I hope I didn’t embarrass
myself. When can we go back!!!??? What a
way to spend a Saturday. Don’t forget to
hose off your tire.!!
Alan Frazier
wrote:
I am sending this late
as usual. We enjoyed the ride Saturday also.
It was mine and Sabrina's first time at the Lewis
farm. As Alan mentioned, Sabrina and Robin
have a very special relationship through
christian music. Sabrina even went to Westley
Woods yesterday to hear Robin play again.
The best part (besides Sabrina coming alone)
was sharing a little quite time with Reed and his
bird dogs while the girls were touring the house.
Reed came to our house to visit 17 or 18 years
ago on behalf of First Baptist and he was the
most genuine and real person we had ever met.
That visit was the reason we joined First Baptist
the next Sunday and have been there ever
since. Today, he is still the same warm,
genuine person in Christ.
Until the next time, stay safe!
Dave
Kyle
ride means to you. You either get it,or, you
don't!
some wonderful times of riding together. To
be able to share the experiences and fellowship
in this way with fellow Christians is just icing on
the cake.
perfect, everyone rode safely, and we shared
some wonderful food. You haven't had BBQ
until you've had Reed's BBQ!
"little piece of heaven" with us.
events pretty well. BTW – Our
granddaughter, Addison, is home from the
hospital today (Sunday) and doing much
better. Praise the Lord! I’ll be sending out
the details about the Blue Ridge Ride in the
next day or two. In the meantime
Ride Safely and Follow the Son. Alan
June
11, 2011
Dear Son Chasers:
You know that it is a steamy hot day when you
get caught in a couple of rain showers and no
one asked to stop to put on rain gear. I actually
called Rick Wassom and Dave Kyle on the CB
radio and asked if they thought anyone would
want to stop. There was an immediate
response to keep moving because the rain was
such a relief from the heat. The ambient
temperature sensor on my bike showed a drop
of 25 degrees at one point (97 to 72). Then
about the time we were dry we caught another
shower. So the heat was not a problem on the
return trip.
Overall I think everyone had a good time. I
heard a lot of kudos given for the route;
thanks Dave Rossiter for the suggestion. I
believe the food was a hit. I sat near Daniel
Weisheit and Don Dohallow and I interpret
their actions to be an endorsement for the
food. I think someone accused Dan of not
being able to put another ounce of food on his
plate but he proved them wrong on the second
plate. I accidentally picked up Don’s roll by
mistake and I think his reflex reaction surprised
us both. No lasting harm done. The Doc says
I’ll have the cast off my hand by the next ride
on September 17. There’s nothing like good
Christian fellowship and food.
(Don’t think badly about Don, I actually made
all of that up. Forgive me Don.)
We had a return of some riders that we had not
seen in a while. It was great to welcome back
Rick and Jackie Wassom and also Alan Frazier.
Alan rode with some of us before we officially
formed the Son Chasers but then sold his bike.
He now has a beautiful new bike so we look
forward to seeing him more often. All in all,
another safe, fun ride and fellowship. I’ll be
sending out more on the Lewis Farm ride in
September and the Blue Ridge Parkway ride in
October. In the meantime, ride safely and
Follow the Son. Alan
June
11, 2011
Dear Son Chasers:
We had another good ride today, returning with
everyone that started out.
That's what makes a good ride!
at Whistle Stop Cafe at 11:30am. We were told
at the cafe that there was an hour wait. But the
time passed quickly, as a celebration was going
on to celebrate the 20th anniversary of the movie
"Fried Green Tomatoes" which was filmed here,
and there were tents set up selling various crafts
and novelty items which helped pass the time.
We were seated for lunch after only about 45
minutes.
After we fellowshipped (that means we ate -
including Peach Cobbler for some), we started
our trek back to Peachtree City and took an
alternate route through Jackson and Griffin.
About five mile east of Brooks we passed an
area devastated by a tornado back in April. As
we passed this area, it began to rain. We kept
riding into Brooks. We stopped and decided to
keep on going as we were already wet. Riding
in the rain was a new experience for Sara S.
Hope this doesn't "dampen" her desire to ride
(pun intended).
The website has been updated with the pictures
from the ride. Thanks to Roger & Sara and
Ronna for the great snapshots. You can click
the link below to see the pics
Whistle Stop Cafe Ride - Pictures
Hope to see you all at next month's ride. This is
a new ride this year to Smokey Road and then
on to Hogansville for Bar-B-Que. Mark your
calendars now for July 9.
Ride safely and Follow the Son.
JUNE 6, 2011
Dear Son Chasers:
Hello again Son Chasers!! While the Dave and
Ronna Kyle and Janet and I had a wonderful
motorcycle tour of the western states, it is great
to be home and get back to “normal”. Thank you
for your prayers for safe travel. Since I have not
emailed you in over a month there is a lot to
cover. I’ll try to be brief but there are three topics
covered in this email so please read through
everything to be up to date.
-
First of all Paul Silfee is now off of the
ventilator and trach and in rehab and still making progress
although it has been slow. Remember this all began in early
April. Please continue to pray for Paul and Cheryl.
-
I received a text message from Reed Lewis
yesterday right after church telling me that David Hanners
passed away last Friday. Please be in prayer for Jeannine and
the Hanners family as they celebrate David’s home-going but also
morn his temporary separation.
- Our next scheduled ride is this Saturday, June 11, to the Whistle Stop Café in Juliette, Ga. I will be in Montana working on a Pastor’s Retreat with a mission team from our church. Dave Kyle will lead the ride and will be glad to tell about his “Lower 48 Ride Merit Badge”. New riders with the Son Chasers meet at the church at 9:00 am for registration and safety video review. Others gather at 9:30 am for devotional and prayer before departing at 10:00. Total round-trip is between 130-140 miles depending on return route chosen. Be sure to be on time so the group can try to arrive at the Whistle Stop Café early and get a seat. There aren’t many seats to begin with and this Saturday they are celebrating their 20th anniversary of the café opening after the movie, “Fried Green Tomatoes”, put them on the map.
Ride safely and Follow the Son!
Alan
April 30, 2011
Dear Son Chasers and Guests:
I did not send out a trip report yesterday
because we had a wedding
to attend yesterday
afternoon and evening and when I got home at
10:00 pm, I was just too tired (lazy). Also, I kept
running through
all the thoughts I had about the
day and had trouble deciding
exactly how I
would convey it (too linguistically challenged). So
here goes.
We started the day with four new riders; Jimmy
Strickland, Kim Day,
Rick Atkinson and Cesar
Cruz; registering and going through our
group
riding safety review class. Welcome guys! It was
certainly a
plus to have you join us on this
perfect weather day. Our emotions
then cycled
as we read from scripture that reminded us of
God’s
promise to be with us, especially in time
of trouble and to have a
plan for us and our
best interest foremost in His control, and I
brought the group up to date on the recovery
progress of Paul
Silfee.
We then went immediately into a memorial
service at our church for
Shirley, the mother of
Tom Rycroft, who went home to be with the
Lord last week as a result of a motorcycle
accident. Eighteen Son
Chasers stood as a
group to show our support for Tom and
Johanna and
their extended family as I read
from Psalm 5:11 and then led in
prayer. This
was a sad occasion because a loved one had
departed, but it was also a celebration of one
who knew the Lord and lived
life to the fullest.
We then had a fun, uneventful ride to
Williamson, Ga. except for
about a half mile
stretch of recent tornado carnage; with at least
one house missing its entire roof! There were
18’’ diameter trees
twisted in to and many
uprooted trees all around.
As we prayed before the meal at Barnstormers
we again lifted up Paul
and Cheryl Silfee and
the Rycroft family and those suffering from
the
recent storms and we thanked God that we
could enjoy the food
and fellowship and know
that He has a plan for us beyond the trials
of this
world. We then did our best to “explore” the
specialties of
the Barnstormer’s Grill menu and
the newest members to ride with the
Son Chasers. The ride back was again 10 out
of 10 and helped me
realize that the whole day
was a great reminder of what the Son
Chasers
are all about: Friends and members of God’s
family getting
together to share God’s love,
share the Gospel message and ride
motorcycles…….Oh, and eat some good food!
Just a reminder, The Kyles and the Harrelsons
will be gone on our
next great, motorcycle road
tour for the month of May so, God
willing, we’ll
see you in June. Ride safely and Follow the Son.
Alan
