Palm Coast Red Knights 9/11 Memorial Run Slide Show

Last year I brought you photos of a 9/11 Memorial I attended in Palm Coast that was sponsored by the Palm Coast Red Knights Chapter 11. It was incredible! 400 bikes, a beautiful service, and a picture perfect day who could ask for more?

Getting to do again!

Over the past year I was fortunate to get to know the people who are from Chapter 11 of the Red Knights through other charity events, I asked if they were doing the 9/11 Memorial Ride again? When I was told yes, I was elated. I told their president Joe Vece that I would like to photograph it for them.

We figured out the best spot along their 87 mile route for me to shoot them as they go by, however I didn't know how they were going to arrive there.

One week before the Memorial/Ride I emailed them and within minutes I received a map and directions and the next day a phone call with directions. We were all set!

Steve and I arrived at Heroes Memorial Park at about 9:10 AM and there were already double the bikes, and they were arriving at a steady pace, filling the park up quickly.

The service opened with again the presentation of colors, the American Flag being brought to Half Mast.

The Ancient City Pipes & Drums was next, they played Amazing Grace so beautifully, words can't describe to you how it made me feel. Next year I'll do video.

We then had a local minister or pastor (and I do apologize for not getting his title correct) give a short but very meaningful service followed by one of his church members and local National Guard member singing God Bless The USA.

Taps was then played by a member of the Palm Coast Red Knights to finish our 30 minute Memorial Service. We were then briefed by one of the Flagler County Sheriffs Motorcycle and it was bikers to your bikes!

Let me show you what I mean, sit back, relax and enjoy the show!

9-11 Memorial Run ~ Sponsored By The Palm Coast Red Knights

Last year I attended the Red Knights 9/11 Memorial Run For The Fallen Hero's and what an experience it was. (Click the link to see the photos and read about it.)

A lot has happened in the past year and I have gotten to know members of the Palm Coast Red Knights while attending charity events around the area, what a super group of people!

These firefighters on bikes, active and retired do so much for folks in our area, you have no idea! They attend charity events for folks with cancer, folks who lost their homes to fires, they were huge supporters of our Annual Bikes And Blues With Mickey Jones benefiting St. Jude Children's Hospital, just to name a few.

Once a year The Red Knights organize a beautiful service for those we lost on 9/11/01 held at Hero's Memorial Park in Palm Coast, FL. The service is like non I've ever attended.

Following the service there is a 85 mile Police Escorted ride through out our beautiful area. It leaves Hero's Memorial Park and heads north to St. John's County, then south back through Flagler County, touches a bit on Volusia County and this year will end at the White Eagle Lounge in Korona.

The ride is going to be this Sunday, 9/7/08.

Sign up begins at 9:00 AM @ Hero's Memorial Park on Palm Coast Parkway
The Service will start at 10:00 AM

ALL MOTOR VEHICLES ARE WELCOME!

My Boss Is Going to MDA JAIL! Help Me Bail Her Out, Please!?!!

Midori Miller, Manger of Century 21 Sundance's Pelican Bay office is going to jail!

Yes, you read right! JAIL!

Ok... not city or county jail but

MDA Jail!

Here's the deal:

Midori is giving up her time to go behind bars until her "bail" of $3,200 is met to free her.

How you can help:

The Muscular Dystrophy Association & Midori have a secure site set up where you can donate money towards setting her free!

It doesn't have to be a lot, just a few dollars.

The money goes towards fighting MDA and helping Jerry's Kids.

Did you know:

There are over FORTY different types of Muscular Dystrophy?

Some diseases begin in infancy, some early childhood, others early to mature adulthood.

ALS Or Lou Gehrig's Disease is also a form of Muscular Dystrophy.

What was that link again?

Muscular Dystrophy Association

Help me help Midori raise some money for a good cause and maybe one day we won't need The Muscular Dystrophy Association anymore...

"Your 100% tax-deductible donation will help MDA continue research into the cause and the possible cure of the 43 neuromuscular diseases they cover. Your support of the MDA Lock-Up will also help MDA provide medical equipment, clinic visits, support groups and a magical week of MDA Summer Camp for the families served by the Association in our local area! " Midori Miller, Century 21 Sundance

Round & Round With A Limo Company

Sometimes celebrities would come to town and not want limo service. They would prefer a van so that they wouldn't get run over by fans, or could fit their luggage, guitars, clubs in the vehicle with them.

One such limo company would "farm out" his celebrity pickups to E&M Tours. We had two special vans that we would use for just such a pick up, they were 13 passenger vans, but they had an aisle with nice seats on either side then a bench seat in back. We also had T.V.'s in them, they were smooth and quiet riding. Big stuff for the 80s!

We had two woman employed by the company, one a driver and me as the airport dispatcher, neither were supposed to be near those vans when there was a celebrity pick up. My dispatcher didn't like that too well and on occasion neither did the owner.

Normally my radio and PAX List (Arriving passenger sheet) were dropped off at the airport by one of the drivers at around 1100AM. On this day, someone called me (I believe it was Kingsly our dispatcher and not the owner) and asked me to come to the house and ride in with the van. I was a little confused, he then explained to me that this way on my last pickup I would ride back in with the last pick up (a limo account) to their hotel and then back to the house. I was always up for causing a little trouble and I was all for this one, I don't like discrimination.

When I arrived at the house where our vans are kept and ask who are we picking up? I'm told we're picking up the band RATT and I'm to ride in the van with them. Make up any excuse needed when the limo company owner asks why I am there.

Just as planned the owner shows up with the band, smiles his smile and all is fine until I get in the front passenger seat. The owner was a houli like me, (that's Hawaiian for white), but blond as the day was long. His smile turned to a teeth gritting grin thing, and his face beet red when I climbed in with the driver. He asked what are you doing? I remember telling him that the band was the last scheduled pick up of the day and I was headed back for the yard, this was my ride, oh yeah, have a great night!

The band was really nice. We talked on the 15 minute ride to Waikiki. They never knew what had just transpired at the airport, but they had no problem with me riding in the van with them. I helped the driver unload the luggage and back to the yard we went. No harm, no foul. RATT was really cool.

As far as the band knew, my car was at the yard and I needed to go home. Every time I hear this song I think of that day so many years ago.

Round And Round~RATT

The limo company owner got over his anger that day. We didn't lose the account, we later picked up someone else in much the same way. This time though, I didn't ride in as it was a 3 day charter. That was a great 3 days for our driver. There is a story behind that one too.

photo courtsey of deviantArt.com

The Day I Met The Piano Man

Climb aboard my time machine with me, take a walk with me through some of my fonder memories..

It had to have been 1983, I was still living with my dad at Hickam A.F.B. and I bet meeting the Piano Man and his girl were the first celebrities I met in the 5 years I worked at the Honolulu Airport.

I was meeting a "inter island" flight at the inter island terminal, Hawaiian Airlines if I'm not mistaken. There were no jetways there, you came down the stairs of the 737, walked across the tarmac to the baggage claim, which was open air. There was a wall with a doorways and gates so one could not access the tarmac without permission, the rest of the baggage claim could be accessed by anyone.

The passengers began to come through the doorway as I stood there with my sign, my dispatcher from E&M Tours was also there with me. As I watch the passengers walk by I see a beautiful blond woman walk towards me with a bright smile, and a golden glow. The glow almost reminds me of an aura. The man she is with is shorter then her, wearing dark sunglasses, and has dark hair.

As they walk past me, it hits me who they are. I stare in amazement, more like gawk. I then look at my dispatcher who seems to be in another world, I asked him if he'd seen who just walked by him. He said who?

I was stunned. I remember telling him "the most beautiful woman in the world just walked by you and you didn't even see her!", he just smiled.

Yes, Billy Joel and Christie Brinkley had just passed by me and it seemed that no one had noticed but me.

I collected my passengers, we got their luggage and put them on the transportation to their hotel. I then walked over to Billy and Christie who were chatting with their limo driver and summoned up the courage to ask for their autographs.

Christie smiled that beautiful wholesome smile, she took my pen and paper and signed her name for me, then handed it to Billy, who I could tell was very shy. He kept his dark glasses on, his head tilted, almost as he was nervous about looking me in the eye. He was not rude though, he was very polite, almost child like. It was an amazing moment in time for me. There was only one other couple I met during the 80s who impressed me more. I will tell you about them soon.

I'm glad Billy and Christie are still friends today. They seemed like genuinely good people that day 25 yrs ago. They still bring a smile to my face to this day, that is a true fact.

photo courtsey of deviantArt.com

Interview With Mickey Jones

When Mickey was in town for our Bikes and Blues event back in April he along with Reuben the "Lounge Lizard" did a radio interview with Shannon Burke. Reuben put the interview on youtube with photos from Mickey and Mickey's book, "That Would Be Me".

Reuben and Mickey also sing Double Bogie Blues and there are some of my pictures on the video I took of them singing this song at the WHOG Studios a year ago.

Thanks Reuben!

Enjoy!

Coming Out Of The Fog!

Have you ever been in that awkward moment when the conversation lags and you or the person you've been speaking with have nothing else to say? Sure you have!

In times like these I go back to my memories of the 80s and working at the Honolulu Airport. Most of these times were fun and I got to meet some pretty cool people. Steve says I name drop, but he says it with a smile. To me it was a way of keeping a conversation going. Its memories of good times and some neat people I happened across during my day to day life.


In order to get out of my BLOG FOG I've decided to tell you a bit about my life in the 80s working at the airport in Honolulu. I wanted to go happy with this series, I hope you can feel my smile as you read on.

My Airport History:

I began working at the airport as a Lei Greeter for a company called Aloha Lei Greeters in 1983. No, I wasn't wearing a grass skirt and bikini top, that was for the models that posed for pictures.

I wore a long muumuu with slits on the sides, one was sky blue and white and the other was a dark red and black pattern. We had one major account, Tradewind Tours and several smaller or private accounts. My job was to hold up a sign at the gate of the airline with the passengers name (or tour group name) and meet them with a lei and kiss.

If the passenger was on a tour, I would take them to the models for photos, then to the baggage claim and finally make sure they got on their transportation to their final destination, (hotel or outer island).

At one point I began meeting the 1st flight of the day arriving from Alaska at either 4:55AM or 5:55AM depending on the time of year, then move on to the customs area and meet the flights from Japan, China, Korea, Australia and New Zealand. (I had Japanese group escorts who would actually meet the passengers then bring them to me for their leis). I would finish my day at noon so I took a 2nd job as a dispatcher for E&M Tours, a transportation company that would take passengers back and forth from the airport to their hotels.

Tiring of working strictly at the airport I took a job at Waikiki Express driving the passengers myself. I loved that! I was one of two girls driving for the company, the other one mainly dispatched and I had the respect of all of the men there. At night one of them always waited for me at the station where we parked our vans if I was running behind. We usually went out after for a bit of fun until I made the fatal mistake of dating one of the other drivers. I was making good money then, tips plus a good hourly wage and threw it away for a man who couldn't take that a woman who could drive as well and toss luggage as high as he could.

I gave renting cars a try for a bit.. but they wanted me to push the coverage. I believed in it and still do to this day, but got let go because I wouldn't push it. I went back to the airport...

I went to work for a porter company, Paradise Sky Cap, under contract for United Airlines who took care of their wheelchair bound and unaccompanied minor passengers. That was pretty cool for a bit, but the pay was really low and tips hard to come and I soon found myself back at Aloha Lei Greeters as Asst. Manager.

Now, to remember the who's and whens, and will I be able to find pictures that I am allowed to use?

photo courtsey of deviantArt.com

Life After Living With Addiction ~ The End!

It's finally time to wrap up this series! Time to tell you how life can go from bad to good to wonderful.

If you want to catch up I'll leave all the links to the past posts at the bottom of this post.

When I last posted (aways back) in Life After Living With Addiction ~ Part 1 I told you I that a ride was coming up for St. Jude and I would be going with a friends husband. That ride was taking place in April, after Bike Week of 2006.

Bike Week that year was quite exciting for me, I spent it with my girlfriend and her 39 Chevy Sedan and boy did we turn some heads. Her man had to go out of town that week so we decided to go out and have some fun. Let me tell you, this car is one heck of a hot rod. It used to drag all over the NE Circuit back in the 60s. In fact one person even recognized it and told us it used to be painted silver. I got the biggest kick out of watching my girlfriend shock the men by knowing every inch of her car and being able to answer every question they threw at her.

The last Friday of Bike Week, her and I along with a 3rd friend went to the White Eagle and she introduced me to someone who was about to change my life. It was the night I met Steve.



There he was sitting on the bench in front of the bar, just watching the crowd & minding his own business when my girlfriend sat next to him and began talking to him. I remember it like yesterday. She introduced me and our other friend to Steve and jokingly mentioned she was trying to find a date for me. I shot back some wise crack that next time I gave out my number I was going to get the guys number at the same time. Next thing I know I had a card in my hand.



About that time I had to run off and get a camera to a friend and when I went back to the bench Steve was gone. I remember thinking to myself, I blew that one.


About a month later Steve calls me at work. (took him long enough!) He invites me to go on a Poker Run which I believe was a week after the St. Jude ride. He actually wanted to take me on the Bikes and Blues ride, but I had already made plans and didn't want to break them.


At this point in my life, I didn't think I was ready for a full time relationship. I told Steve that up front, I just wanted to have fun and enjoy life.

We did the poker run and we had a great time. We both felt we really connected that day. The next day was Sunday, my day to meet my friends on Main Street, he called me as I was headed that way and I invited him to meet me there, he was about 15 mins behind me. We've been pretty much inseparable every since.

Steve has been the best thing to ever happen me as far as a partner in my life goes. He treats me like a person, an equal and a lady. He treats me better then anyone has ever treated me before.

I remember when I used to run away to the beach while married to the addict, I would see couples that seemed to be in what is called "the golden years" holding hands, I would feel jealous. I knew I didn't have that kind of love and I thought then I never would would. Well my friends, never say never.

I've finally found that happiness. I wasn't even trying.

Thank you for not believing a word I said Baby!

Living With Addiction ~ Part I
Living With Addiction ~ Part II

Living With Addiction ~ Part III
Living With Addiction ~ Part IV

Living With Addiction ~ Part V
Living With Addiction ~ Part VI

Living With Addiction ~ Part VII
Living With Addiction ~ Part VIII

Living With Addiction ~ Part IX
Living With Addiction ~ Part X

Living With Addiction ~ Part XI
Living With Addition ~ Part XII

Living With Addition ~ Part XIII
Living With Addiction ~ Part XIV

Living With Addiction ~ Part XV
Living With Addiction ~ Part XVI ~ Freedom?

Life After Living With Addiction ~ Part 1