I'm not very good at writing multi-page reports on my rides but I did want to take a few minutes to share a little bit about the ride Joe Botta and I did to Hershey on 3-4 May. We met at 0700 at the car pool lot on RT-123 in Woodbridge and after checking to make sure I had the correct hotel address punched into the GPS, we headed up I-95 to Hershey, PA where the MDA event would be held this year. It was overcast and chilly but otherwise a nice ride. We left early so there was not much traffic on I-95, I-495, I-270 or US-15.

Three hours later we arrived at Hershey Park. Joe arrived safely and your Director (that would be me) arrived with a broken side stand. I missed the turn into the parking lot and made the poor decision to ride over a sidewalk. That decision would not have been a problem if the back side of the walk was only two inches like the front side of the walk. I got up on the walk easily but when my front wheel went off the back side, there was a 4-6 inch drop and my bike came down hard breaking the spring on the side stand. Fortunately as many of you know, I have a center stand and I was able to park the bike and tie my side stand up.

After the initial trauma of breaking my stand passed, we found the booth to turn in our chapter donation packets and headed into the park for a bit of fun. They have a variety of rides and other activities but they have wooden roller coaster there that was awesome. We walked around the park a bit but Joe was sensing my uneasiness with having a broken side stand and suggested we find a local Harley dealer to get it fixed. He pulled out his handy-dandy list of dealerships and we found one close by

We arrived at the dealership and they took me right in and replaced the spring while I waited. Five minutes later, we were on the road back to the event site. Harley was doing demo rides so Joe and I signed up for a ride. Joe rode an Ultra and I rode a Street Bob. I can't speak for Joe but the Street Bob was awesome!! Joe rode two more bikes and told me he enjoyed the

V-Rod best. Mary Ann, I hope you have room for another Harley in your garage.

The festivities Friday night were fun and sad at the same time. Looking around the room at all these children who seem so full of life and knowing there isn¢t a cure and that most of them will not live past twenty was sobering. One of the most inspiring parts of the night for me was seeing all the owners of Harley dealerships that came out and to see how much they had given to be auctioned to raise money for the kids. The amount of generosity was staggering.

Oh, I forgot to mention the chocolate fountain and all the goodies they had to dip in the chocolate. Delicious!

Saturday morning we got up and headed back to Hershey Park to ride in the parade. The parade was about 20 miles from the park to a casino on the Indian reservation. It was comparable to any of the Rolling Thunder rides I have attended. The fun part was watching all the kids in the side cars. They love the motorcycles and they especially love the opportunity to ride in/on one for the parade.

The ride back was warm and sunny. Joe brought us back US-15 to RT-234 via a nice little diner outside Gettysburg. I would highly recommend making the ride and attending the many events if you have not done so.