Bea's Kitchen

We once again made a stop by one of our favorite places on the way to the Texas District Convention in Killeen, Texas. Bea's Kitchen in Cameron, Texas is a great place to make new friends and meet some of Milam County's nicest people. We stumbled upon it last year quite by accident and were pleasantly surprised. Our reception there is always warm and friendly. The volunteers and staff are always greeting people with open arms.

I was given the opportunity to speak to the 119 people who were there about Motorist Awareness. May being Motorcycle Awareness month, it was the perfect opportunity to share some of the hazards we face as motorcyclists and how they can help by taking a second look for the motorcycle while they are driving. I shared some important differences between motorcycles and other vehicles and how those differences accentuate the problems we face in day to day riding. I informed them of the ability of motorcycles to stop quicker than other vehicles and how hazardous that it for us. I also asked that they give us a second look and asked them to please share the road.



Milam County Jail built in 1895

This year we arrived a little early and got to tour the old jail across the street from the courthouse. Mr. King was kind enough to open it for us and shared the history of the jail and allowed us to take our time going through the four story building.


Mr. King and Beth Hartley



 

 Beth Hartley was taking in all the history as Mr. King shared the stories of how the jail was built and how it operated in the county.



Gene "Bubba" Tice and Mike Thacker


There was much to see and it seems that everyone had a great time.
The first floor was the home of the Sheriff and his family. The inmates were kept upstairs on the second and third floor. The sheriff's wife cooked for all the inmates. Imagine that. It was a very interesting tour and the price of admission was a donation! I love it when my wife lines up these wonderful excursions. She made all the arrangements with Mr. King for this to happen.

Milam County Courthouse

 After the fried catfish, hush puppies, french fries and cinnamon buns, some of us walked across the street to go into the courthouse while we waited for the rain to pass.

This bell tower was what originally attracted us to Cameron in the first place. We heard it play God Bless America one day at noon and decided that we needed to bring the chapter by on a ride to hear it for themselves.

It is a very pretty courthouse with a lot of history of its own. There was a gunfight in courtroom between the incumbant sheriff and one of his opponants in the election. We are talking wild west stuff for sure. Put this place on your list of places to see. It is in Cameron Texas on highway 36 about 50 miles from Killeen. You'll be glad you did.


Court room






Ride For Kids Houston Event

Humble Civic Center

Wow!  What a great event. So glad to be a part of this worthy endeavor. We were at the Humble Civic Center to help with the setup and putting on the Annual Ride for Kids fund raiser for Pediatric Brain Tumor Foundation. We had nearly 500 motorcycles participate this year and raised a lot of money for Brain Tumor research. Our GWRRA chapter, Region H, Texas District chapter N2 from Humble was 5th in fund raising with the top honors going to our friends in Chapter C from Baytown and second place going to our friends from Cypress in Chapter X2. Together, everyone who participated in the Houston area raised over $300,000 for this worthy charity. If someone asks you to get involved, I can whole heartedly recommend this organization.



Top 5 Clubs and Sponsors

The real stars of this show though are the kids. These kids deserve all of our support. They are truly Valiant Warriors with courage hard for most of us to imagine. It is the hope of all who participate in this event to see the cure for this deadly disease discovered and the disease eradicated from the face of the earth the way polio has become a thing of the past. The event will touch your heart if you ever participate and you will never look at life the same.

Hope to see you there next year on the last Sunday in April when the next Ride for Kids happens in Houston.