Christmas Lights in Lake County Ride

Today we rode west and enjoyed an early dinner at Hurricane Dockside Grill in Tavares and then Teresa led us on an incredible scenic ride to see the holiday lights in Mount Dora, Eustis and Tavares in Lake County.

 

Dinner overlooking the water at Hurricane Dockside Grill

Reindeer Diva

Look who we found at Hurricane Dockside Grill!

The Orlando Chrome Divas with Mr. and Mrs. Claus



Melanie, the Wallhooky Champ

 

"Cindy's here!!"

Ride to Stumpknockers

What's a stumpknocker? 

 

All of us who rode the 200-mile ride today now know.  And what a ride it was!  There were lots of curves, some tight twists and turns (Yes, in Florida!), beautiful tree-canopied streets and plenty of head-turning scenery along the way as we headed to Stumpknockers on the Square for lunch in Historic Downtown Inverness.  Except for a hiccup or two along the way when first Penny had to pull over early in the ride due to a flat rear tire and then Wendy's bike broke down after lunch, it was a perfect day of riding.

The Orlando Chrome Divas at meetup in Winter Garden

Uh-oh.  Penny's bike has a flat in Ferndale.

 

Pulling over to safety. 

 

Waiting for the tow truck.

 

Poor baby!

 

Jean looks happy to be heading back out.

Continuing on with the ride.
 How fortunate that there was a bicycle race going on and that we had police security at the intersection where we were stopped!

Photo op after a fantastic ride and our bellies full of incredible seafood at Stumpknockers on the Square.  Be sure to try the catfish if you go!

 

 

  And for those of you who couldn't join us and are still curious, here is Stumpknockers' definition:

 

The Stumpknocker is a fish that has long been a part of Southern fishing lore. You’ll find these small bream-like fish hugging the submerged cypress stumps where they live and feed – thus giving them the name Stumpknockers. Stumpknockers are found in large numbers along the scenic Withlacoochee and other Florida rivers.  Stumpknockers Restaurants is like its namesake – small and tucked away, but well worth the trouble to find.

Donating for Dollars

The Orlando Chrome Divas had a yard sale today in Leesburg from items donated by Divas and friends to raise money for our group.  By the end of the afternoon we netted a total of $260, made another charity organization very happy by donating all the items we didn't sell and rewarded ourselves with good, cheap food at the Leesburg Chili Cook-Off.


Divas Keri, Joni, Victoria Teresa, Wendy and Esther
making it happen.  Nice job ladies!

Look at all the stuff!

Daytona's 20th Annual Biketoberfest

Today was a beautiful afternoon and a perfect day to ride out to Daytona for Biketoberfest.  This month's ride was an open ride, so some of our family and friends joined us.  Once we got to the Speedway, Wendy's bike broke down.  Thankfully, we had a safe place to pull over, diagnose the problem (battery) and wait while we got a new battery installed (Batteries Plus just happens to be across the street!)  In no time at all our Diva mechanic, Victoria, had us back underway and we joined in on the festivities in progress.

At meetup

Hmmm... what could be wrong with Wendy's bike?

Victoria's got it all under control, doing what she loves.

Now it's a party!  The Divas have arrived.

Hey check us out in Examiner.com!

A big thanks to Bruce Larson for such a nice article about the Orlando Chrome Divas and some of the community services and charities we've been involved with.

 





Click here to read "Using a passion for riding to provide community services", by Bruce Larson

Pool Party 2012

 

Since August is usually our hottest month in Orlando and since we liked it so much last year, we decided to have a pool party again in lieu of riding.  But this year we had a special surprise when Cheryl, our awesome Safety Officer, demonstrated the proper way to pick up a dropped bike.

 

Here's the video:

 

Once Cheryl showed us the technique, we got to each try for ourselves. 

 

Go Keri! Go Keri!

 

 

She did it!  Woohoo!

So it was another great day of fellowship and fun, with a little FYI.  Thanks all! 

****

Update: Two weeks after our Right Your Bike tutorial, one of our Divas had this to report:
 

"Given the right situation (I dropped my bike) and the right shoes (wearing my riding boots) and the right motivation (I was mad)...I was able to pick up my bike from my training by Cheryl..."

 

Kinda cool, huh? 

Pancake Ride

We had originally planned our pancake run to the Old Spanish Sugar Mill for May 27th but had to reschedule due to tropical storms expected to start rolling in that afternoon.

Good thing we postponed, because this was just the beginning...

 

Disaster averted!

 

So today, after a nice little ride, we finally made it to De Leon Springs for our much anticipated pancake breakfast.  We had plenty of time to work up an appetite, as we apparently weren't the only ones that had a hankerin' for some all-you-can-make pancakes and had a little bit of a wait once we got there.   

 

Tick tock, tick tock... 

 

 

And then it was finally our turn and all was right in the world again.

 

Another successful Olrando Chrome Diva ride-to-eat! 

 

Go Pink! 2012

Divas Wendy, Peggy, Cheryl and Suzie participated in the Ribbon Riders' Go Pink! 2012 ride today.

Smile ladies!

The Ribbon Riders promote breast cancer awareness and provide assistance to women and men in Central Florida who are fighting the disease.

Apopka Music and Bike Fest

Divas Cheryl, Wendy, Teresa, Victoria and Trish rode out to Zellwood today to participate in the Apopka Music and Bike Fest and the 3rd Annual Sun & Fun Poker Run.  The poker run took them through some beautiful country roads of Apopka and Lake County and the proceeds went to the BASE Camp Children's Cancer Foundation.  And, yes, there was both sun and fun.  Right up until the ride home, at which time there were torrential rains and all participating Divas were soaked to the core.

Daytona Bike Week/Chrome Diva Meet & Greet

"We had a terrific time at the Daytona Meet & Greet on March 17th. The Orlando Chrome Divas Board of Directors decided to make the event a memorable one by playing a game we created called, "DIVAS". We created a BINGO-type card with a variety of questions that would get the girls talking with other chapters. Some of the tougher questions were, "Are you an international rider?", "Do you have a dog that rides?", Do you ride an Indian motorcycle?", "Do you have a Chrome Diva tattoo?" and finally "Have you ever ridden the 48 contiguous states?" Twenty five questions in all.

We tasked our members to speak with everyone represented at the Meet & Greet. If the Orlando Diva got a positive reply, the card was marked, name and chapter noted on the back and the questionee was given a token of our appreciation. We purchased these awesome beads that included two motorcycles, two sets of boots and a medallion that stated, "Live to Ride". Everyone wanted the beads!! The winning Orlando Diva was awarded a $25 gift card to the Caribbean Jack's Restaurant.

Our winner was Debi Thomas, the founder of the Orlando Chapter and current SE Regional Director.

I must say that this was an exciting time. All the women were talking with each other, everyone was finding out so many wonderful things about other chapter members. It was a great time had by all.

This was our sixth Meet & Greet and I believe the first time that every member of every chapter represented met an Orlando Chrome Diva."

               ~Victoria Mitchell, Orlando Chapter Director

Vic sporting her new Betty Boop hat

At meetup before a fantastic ride to Daytona

Goofing off at Caribbean Jack's

The party in full swing at CJ's

Debi taking a brief photo-op before getting
 back to some meeting and greeting

Enjoying the wonderful seafood at CJ's

Debi and Diva Skelly

Diva Robby (right) traveled all the way from Canada to join us!

All the Chrome Divas that participated at the Meet & Greet

Nice jazz hands ladies!

Joni and our fearless Caribbean Jack's server, who
does an absolutely incredible job every year

As Keri would (and did) say,
"Winner, winner chicken dinner!"

Orlando Chrome Divas and our Divos, Ron and Mark

Divas Ride to San Antonio

Yeeeeeha! 

The Divas saddled up early this morning and enjoyed another fantastic ride out to San Antonio, Florida.  We had the beautiful, country roads of Pasco County to ourselves most of the day as we rode west basking in another glorious winter day in Florida.

Lunch at the San Ann Market in San Antonio.
 

 

Trading Our Motorcycle Gloves for Gardening Gloves Once Again

Here is a video GrowGreen4Women recently posted about the Fall Work Day the Orlando Chrome Divas participated in last September:

Click HERE to read about how the Divas became involved with GrowGreen4Women.

The Divas Participate in The Bikers Against Child Abuse Ride

 

(Photo: Bikers Against Child Abuse)

 

We SHUT DOWN I-4 today!

The Orlando Chrome Divas took part in the police-escorted ride that had part of I-4 completely closed to all vehicles except for the over 800 motorcyclists riding to support victims of child abuse.  The Tri County Chapter of Bikers Against Child Abuse and Orlando Harley Davidson teamed up to organize the ride that started at Downtown Disney in Lake Buena Vista and ended at Orlando Harley Davidson for an after party event.  It was really heartwarming to see so many bikers come out to raise money for Tri County BACA, whose members STAND UP for these kids who so often feel they have no one in their corner.  BACA members arrived from all over the country for this event, and members from some of the chapters in Italy, Norway and Australia came to ride as well.  Even our hosts had not anticipated such a crowd, but the ride went off without a hitch as we filed out of Disney property onto the Interstate.  

And here's the really neat part: instead of all the cagers stuck in traffic along the ramps and side streets to I-4 being aggravated, they seemed to all get caught up in the excitement and the spectacle of it all.  Many were out of their cars smiling, waving and filming as we rode past.  The Divas had a great time taking part in such a worthwhile cause. 

(The proceeds from today's ride went to Tri County BACA.) 




(At meetup in Altamonte) 
Cheryl came prepared just in case some Bozo thinks about jumping on the back of her bike with her again.

   

(At Downtown Disney)
The Orlando Chrome Divas arrived to a sea of motorcycles.
(And the bikes just kept coming.)



Eleven of Orlando's Chrome Divas joined in today's ride.

 

Oh, the tables have turned, Melanie... 
(Melanie's kind of famous for "showing up" in pictures.)

 

Lunch at Orlando Harley Davidson

  

With Bob "BaddBob" Simmonds of the Tri County BACA Chapter.   

 

About Tri County Chapter of BIKERS AGAINST CHILD ABUSE®

Bikers Against Child Abuse (BACA) is a national nonprofit organization whose mission is to help create a safer environment for abused children. The Tri County Chapter of BACA lends support to Central Florida children by involving them with an established, united organization that is prepared to lend its physical presence and emotional support in order to shield children from further abuse. BACA works in conjunction with local and state officials who are already in place to protect children.