Darchelle's memorial ride

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Darchelle's memorial ride

The White Spar was pristine and has always been one of my favorite ballet runs...It was sunny, a gentle breeze, a nosegay full of pines, your muscles and body relaxed, your mind starting to drift into the silence...you know the place I am talking about...it was a blissful afternoon ride...Lunch at Kirkland Junction was great. They opened up especially for us..I understand we had to send back a few BBQ buns though. Everyone enjoyed seeing our photo scrapbook for the first time...Mormon Lake/An Unofficial Durango Ride/and the Bisbee Run...Everyone who has taken photos has been very generous sending me duplicates for this special photo journal of our history (and we are making history). Then, Nancy rewarded the Bisbee Group last month with the most precious black & white photos of us on a postcard. What a treasure! I know everyone else at the table was jealous. I remember it was hot that day, no one had any sleep to speak of the night before and we had a long way to ride yet to get home that night. We whined, "Oh Gawd, please no more pictures." Nancy persisted though and she coaxed us into a naturalness and captured our spirits. She is truly a brilliant photographer and we thank you for being a part of us and putting up with us when you ask us to pose for you...

On that note, we got her back! We managed to haul a birthday cake around with us all morning long and lit a candle on it and sang her a surprise birthday song. Yvette's daughter, Rachael, was brilliant passing that card around for her so secretly. Nancy is 57 and she is our oldest rider. She also publishes our stories and is quite handy at writing.

We honked our horns and wished under the Skull Valley bridge and blissed out again riding into Prescott to fuel up...After gassing up we left for Jerome. We shared a wild, woman dance in the Spirit Room and the SRO band was so gracious as we circled around and embraced on the dance floor to "Amazing Grace" filling our hearts with love as we thought of Darchelle and her lovely spirit flying over us.

We miss you Darchelle...

Char, Road Captain

Excerpts from November 1998 Newsletter:

Raw Thunder Ladies Only Ride dedicated to the loving memory of Darchelle who was killed instantly on her motorcycle October 9, 1998

Darchele was killed by a careless driver in 1998 on the eve before our first annual Bisbee Ride. This was her memorial ride. An all-women's motorcycle procession was held at her service in Phoenix, Az. Several women's clubs joined up in colors, led by the different Road Captains, and rode together to honor her.

Darchelle brought us all a little bit closer today...We all made new friends, had opportunities for new beginnings, and glimpsed realizations we can break patterns and change our own personal lives...Today left me with the feeling that we should openly celebrate our lives every chance we get...She definitely rode with us freely in the winds today...

All 19 of us circled up in an embrace for a moment of silence to invoke Darchelle's spirit. Then we lined up and blazed the trail for the White Spar/Kirkland Junction/Jerome Run...There is no doubt...Darchelle rode with us all...Near Peeples Valley a very large, extremely plump and well feathered white bird flew over our pack and lingered low for a moment intentionally making us aware of its presence with this enormous, thickly covered wing span. Talk at lunch was that it was a hawk, but I think it was a white Owl flying at almost high noon which is an extraordinary witnessing of strong spirit vision, in my humble opinion. Such a rare sighting. I am convinced it was Darchelle blessing us all. She was in the Goddess Movement and understood that magic is about transformations.

©2003 Raw Thunder. All rights reserved.

raw thunder
motorcycle association for women




	Darchelle's memorial ride
		The White Spar was pristine and has always been one of my favorite ballet runs...It was sunny, a gentle breeze, a nosegay full of pines, your muscles and body relaxed, your mind starting to drift into the silence...you know the place I am talking about...it was a blissful afternoon ride...Lunch at Kirkland Junction was great. They opened up especially for us..I understand we had to send back a few BBQ buns though. Everyone enjoyed seeing our photo scrapbook for the first time...Mormon Lake/An Unofficial Durango Ride/and the Bisbee Run...Everyone who has taken photos has been very generous sending me duplicates for this special photo journal of our history (and we are making history). Then, Nancy rewarded the Bisbee Group last month with the most precious black & white photos of us on a postcard. What a treasure! I know everyone else at the table was jealous. I remember it was hot that day, no one had any sleep to speak of the night before and we had a long way to ride yet to get home that night. We whined, "Oh Gawd, please no more pictures." Nancy persisted though and she coaxed us into a naturalness and captured our spirits. She is truly a brilliant photographer and we thank you for being a part of us and putting up with us when you ask us to pose for you... On that note, we got her back! We managed to haul a birthday cake around with us all morning long and lit a candle on it and sang her a surprise birthday song. Yvette's daughter, Rachael, was brilliant passing that card around for her so secretly. Nancy is 57 and she is our oldest rider. She also publishes our stories and is quite handy at writing. We honked our horns and wished under the Skull Valley bridge and blissed out again riding into Prescott to fuel up...After gassing up we left for Jerome. We shared a wild, woman dance in the Spirit Room and the SRO band was so gracious as we circled around and embraced on the dance floor to "Amazing Grace" filling our hearts with love as we thought of Darchelle and her lovely spirit flying over us. We miss you Darchelle... Char, Road Captain
	Excerpts from November 1998 Newsletter: Raw Thunder Ladies Only Ride dedicated to the loving memory of Darchelle who was killed instantly on her motorcycle October 9, 1998 Darchele was killed by a careless driver in 1998 on the eve before our first annual Bisbee Ride. This was her memorial ride. An all-women's motorcycle procession was held at her service in Phoenix, Az. Several women's clubs joined up in colors, led by the different Road Captains, and rode together to honor her. Darchelle brought us all a little bit closer today...We all made new friends, had opportunities for new beginnings, and glimpsed realizations we can break patterns and change our own personal lives...Today left me with the feeling that we should openly celebrate our lives every chance we get...She definitely rode with us freely in the winds today... All 19 of us circled up in an embrace for a moment of silence to invoke Darchelle's spirit. Then we lined up and blazed the trail for the White Spar/Kirkland Junction/Jerome Run...There is no doubt...Darchelle rode with us all...Near Peeples Valley a very large, extremely plump and well feathered white bird flew over our pack and lingered low for a moment intentionally making us aware of its presence with this enormous, thickly covered wing span. Talk at lunch was that it was a hawk, but I think it was a white Owl flying at almost high noon which is an extraordinary witnessing of strong spirit vision, in my humble opinion. Such a rare sighting. I am convinced it was Darchelle blessing us all. She was in the Goddess Movement and understood that magic is about transformations.
©2003 Raw Thunder. All rights reserved.