The Ride for Jillian, Day 1 Recap

The Ride for Jillian As told by JB “Papa” Brostrom – Day 1 – The Start

What starts with a great idea coupled with beautiful intentions and ends with a patriotic food-truck-fire-truck coupled with the U of A Marching Band? If you guessed the “Patriots Pack’s annual Ride to Rolling Thunder / Ride for Jillian you would be correct. A marching band?!?! Followed by a Police Safe Ride Escort by Scottsdale’s finest to send us off safely… oh but first Slaw got off his bike to re-latch the tour pack he forgot to latch and thennnnn forgot to secure his kickstand. Not sure who/what is bruised more; Slaw or his bike. The rear view mirror saw Patriots Packers and Scottsdale’s men in blue running to his aid. I suspect it is the ego.

LIVE FEED – WATCH US ROLL DURING THE DAY!

We’re back and baaaad! Paco (Mike Stramaglio), Slaw (Andy Slawetsky), Gorgeous Gordito (Gavin Williams), and Papa (John Brostrom). We will add a few new members along the way… Probees!! Hazing!!As we made our way out of the parking lot and on our journey I was reminded of all the family and friends who took time out of their day to send us on our way.

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Besides my two angelic grandchildren the highlight of the day was professional and personal friend of MWAi (and Patriots Pack), Mike McGuirk.

Mike presented us with a $5,000 check for this year’s charity: The Jillian Fund. That put us close to $80,000 before we put on our first mile! The support is truly humbling. Thank you all

The Ride for Jillian

All of us are taking little pieces of our extend lives with us. Personally I am traveling with mementos from my Sister’s miraculously successful battle with cancer. I am traveling with pieces from the life of Elizabeth Holman. I can’t make the Loving for Liz ride so she is riding with us. Thank you Holmans. We are dragging streamers and scarfs and loving memories of the survivors and heroes of cancer battles. Tuesday will be an emotional day for us. (Teaser).

Click here to learn more about the Jillian Fund or to donate personally

We rode out with a little wind but no clouds as well as warm but not HOT weather. It was a great ride today. We stopped for fuel in Globe AZ. Turns out it was neither Slaw’s bike nor ego, rather it was his vape… yes he was worried about his fake smoking machine! There is no way another MC would take us seriously… not a chance.

The Ride for Jillian

We walked out of the hotel in Globe to cross the parking lot and enjoy the steakhouse. Darrin, a gentleman interested in our small group introduced himself as the “social media guy” for the resort… in Globe! Slaw fell in love. We took photos with our bikes and vests, told the story of our journey, and continued to the steakhouse to have a great first-day meal reignite our political detoxification of Slaw. We have a long way to go. The evening ended with several of us using our smartphone “stars in the sky apps” to determine which planets and starts were actually visible.