Last week, ARM industry veteran and my longtime friend Jim Richards returned from a 21 day motorcycle ride nearly 6,000 miles across the U.S. to help raise money and awareness for war veterans who suffered injury while defending our country. While this was undoubtedly a “bucket-list” experience for Jim and personally very rewarding for him, it also paints the ARM industry in a very positive light as his team will donate over $100,000 to a worthwhile cause because of their efforts and generosity.
Along the same lines, insideARM has been highlighting many of the great initiatives where ARM industry participants are doing their part and making a difference through its feature “Doing It Right”. Drop me a line if you did something special this summer in support of others.
I encourage you to take a few minutes to read Jim’s update below and watch the videos of his stay in Sherman, Texas:
Everyone,
Well, we have traveled 5,586 miles to the beautiful State of South Dakota and back again. Lee Rubenstein and I, both members of Marco Riders, left Marco and met up with two of Lee’s friends in Marion, Illinois. Six days into the trip we made it to Sturgis. We stayed at the First Gold Hotel in Deadwood which is 10 miles from the Sturgis 2013 Bike Rally. Deadwood is the old western town where Wild Bill Hitchcock lived, was shot and buried. We went to the saloon and saw the actual chair where he was shot. Calamity Jane is also buried in Deadwood. All in all, the name of Deadwood is apropos.
Some other highlights of our trip are:
-
The Bad Lands
-
Rapid City Harley Davidson
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Devils Tower (yes, the one in Close Encounters of the Third Kind) America’s first monument
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Crazy Horse Sculpture (the worlds largest sculpture)
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Mount Rushmore (honoring four Presidents)
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Downtown Deadwood where we attended a concert with Creedence Clearwater Revival Revisited
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Downtown Sturgis 2013 Bike Rally
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Route 66 – America’s Highway
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Sherman, TX Party at Loose Wheels
We made appearances in the following cities:
Odometer |
Place |
Date |
3,579 |
Marco, FL (START) |
|
4,152 |
Macon, GA |
7/31 |
4,498 |
Nashville, TN |
8/1 |
4,615 |
Marion, IL |
8/2 |
5,300 |
Lincoln, NE |
8/3 |
5,617 |
Valentine, NE |
8/4 |
5,887 |
Sturgis, SD |
8/5 |
6,224 |
Leaving Sturgis, SD |
|
6,588 |
Denver, CO |
8/9 |
7,055 |
Albuquerque, NM |
8/10 |
7,331 |
Amarillo, TX |
8/11 |
7,728 |
Sherman, TX |
8/12 |
8,154 |
Lafayette, LA |
8/13 |
8,402 |
Biloxi, MS |
8/14 |
8,850 |
Gainesville, FL |
8/15 |
9,165 |
Marco Island, FL (FINISH) |
8/16 |
While in Sherman, two local TV stations were on location to interview all who were involved.
The links to the websites are:
http://www.kten.com/story/23118817/wounded-warrior-project-rides-into-texoma
Best news is according to our CFO we have raised over $31,000 which is reflected on the web-site that you can go and donate if you wish. https://support.woundedwarriorproject.org/individual-fundraising/JimsRideForourheroes.
Thanks to everyone who has contributed to this worthy cause. If you want to donate, remember every dollar donated will be matched once by Capio Partners and then matched again. So every dollar is worth three dollars for those who put their lives on the line and suffered personal injury for all of our freedoms. So far, we have over $93,000 and hope to top $100,000.
The website for donations will be open to August 26th.