Bike Blessing and Lunch

BREAKING NEWS: We have a new church home for our Bike Blessing!!
Thanks to Kim Jones, we have a new church to host our annual Bike Blessing! Pastor Mike Snow and GracePoint Church are very VERY excited to open their doors and parking lot to the Krome Kitties and all their biking friends and family. Remember that condition we had that Pastor Clayton continue to be involved in the blessings? “ABSOLUTELY!! He can run the whole thing if he wants to!!”, was Pastor Mike’s response. Well, Pastor Clayton doesn’t need to run the whole thing, but he’s super pumped to be involved again this year and every year.
PLEASE READ THIS ENTIRE POST CAREFULLY! The procedure for this year’s Blessing is significantly different from years past.
Church Service: The Blessing will be held directly following the 10:30 am service. Everyone is invited to attend this service. The sermon will be focused on the Bike Blessing. Rumor has it that Pastor Mike will have a very special surprise for the service. I’m not going to reveal the surprise. You’ll just have to come see it for yourself, but I promise, you won’t be disappointed!
Meeting location: THERE IS NO MEETING LOCATION THIS YEAR. Come directly to the church.
Arrival time: You are welcome to come at any time, certainly before 10:30 if you plan to attend the service. If you are not attending the service, please be there no later than 11:00 am. We expect the blessings to begin at around 11:30.
Line-up: Kim and I will be attending the 10:30 service. We will start the line-up directly in front of the main door. Continue to line up two by two behind us following the side parking lot which is to the north of the church. If the bikes fill up the side parking lot, there is a huge back parking lot where we can continue the line.
The Blessing: Pastor Mike and Pastor Clayton and others will perform the blessings. They will bless your throttle hand, helmet, gloves, bike and anything else you want them to. Just tell them what you want specifically blessed. If you are unable to ride your bike for whatever reason, feel free to come in your car, bring your helmet and whatever else you want, and you can still be blessed. If you aren’t able to attend at all, you are welcome to get one of your items to another Kitty and they will have it blessed for you.
Palm Sunday Palms: Pastor Clayton and his wife, Katie, are personally providing palm branches. We will be asking the children of the church to distribute them to the bikers.
ALL BIKERS ARE WELCOME! Invite your spouse or significant other and anyone else who rides and would like to be blessed. We will be inviting our brother motorcycle club, Fire and Iron Motorcycle Club, to attend, as well.
Lunch following the Blessing: Spears Restaurant, 4323 W. Maple, where they have PIE! They have a pretty good buffet on Sundays and I would encourage you to take advantage of that for a quicker service.
In the past, the lunch has been for Kitties only, primarily because to invite all the bikers and spouses would generate a HUGE group. However, this year, everyone is invited to attend the lunch. Will the group be massive? Yes. Is it likely to be chaotic. Most definitely. But Kim and I agreed we’re going to give it a try. If it’s totally unmanageable, the Club will reevaluate next year. Be sure to wear your Patience Pants so it goes as smoothly as possible!
THIS IS NOT THE TUTU RIDE!
RSVP: Please RSVP by Sunday, March 17th.
MEOW!
Queenie

Bike Blessing – April 2, 2023

What. A. Perfect. Day!! I commented at lunch that we always manage to have a good weather day for the Bike Blessing (for the record, I did knock on wood when I said it), but today was the warmest of them all! It was super windy when we first arrived at the meeting location, but it did seem to die down even before we left for the church.
 
Shortly after Greg and I arrived, we had a man approach our gathering group on a bicycle and at first, I thought he was coming to admire the bikes. It didn’t take long to realize he was not admiring the bikes, but rather went into attack mode and started shouting accusations at us for being the root cause of all the problems in the world. He wrongly assumed that since we had motorcycles, we were all “rich M….F….ers” and went all cra cra on us. Greg immediately tried to tell him to move on and blocked him from getting any closer to our group, which were all ladies at the time. I tried to tell him he didn’t want a piece of what was about to show up (meaning Jennifer’s Tom Kat Justin and all the Fire and Iron riders), but he was on such a roll about murders we were responsible for etc. etc. etc., that I don’t think he heard me. He eventually wandered off, but decided for his next cry for attention, he would throw his bicycle right into the middle of West St. Well, he got lots of attention alright…from the PoPo as that’s when Greg called the police. Now that he was in the capable hands of the Wichita Police Department, we could get back to more pleasant business. Like looking cute for parking lot pictures, selling 50/50 tickets and exchanging lots of hugs.
 
I gathered everyone together for some brief instructions and with Kathryn blocking traffic in her car, our huge line of bikes poured out of the parking lot headed to the church.
 
Hold up! We have a problem Houston. Brenda’s bike wouldn’t start so Melaina offered to stay and see if she could get it running and would try to meet us at the church. Turns out that bike wasn’t good anywhere soon, so Brenda’s husband was called, but by the time that all happened, it was too late to join the blessings. Thank you, Wrench, for staying with your Kitty Sister! ❤️
 
The first little surprise we had when church services let out was a dadgum bagpipe player! Try saying THAT five times! 😄 He entertained us for a few minutes before Pastor Clayton and Pastor Bob came out of the church. Pastor Clayton welcomed everyone and said a prayer for the group. We were then treated to another bagpipe song and then the individual bike blessings began. Photographer Gary scurried around like the Energizer Bunny getting pictures of blessings and candid shots. 
 
After all the blessings were completed, we gathered for the Kitty group picture and then the ALL group picture. Gary said, “Hold up! I gotta switch to the wide angle lens!” What are you trying to say Photographer Gary?? 😄
 
Then it was time to draw the 50/50 ticket and Jennifer gave Pastor Clayton the honors. I said, “Be good to your Mom boy!” Was he? He sure was! I went away $63.00 richer!
 
And then there was this! Jennifer and Justin made the most amazing momento for all the Kitties who had signed up for the Bike Blessing! Jennifer had asked permission to use the Kitty logo and asked that I trust her. “I promise you will love it!” When she got them finished, she asked if I wanted to see them and I said no, I DO trust you and I want to be surprised. Man, we ALL were surprised! Check out the picture to see what we got. THANK YOU, Jennifer and Justin, for the time and patience you put into making these wonderful keepsakes and for praying over them before they were given to us. This was far more than I imagined and I love it! Oh yeah, big ole biker dude Justin was the one who thought of this idea. I think he just earned himself the title of King Tom Kat! ❤️
 
 
The Kitties then rode to Spears for lunch and the rest of the bikers went their own way. After filling our bellies full of every kind of diet cheat food imaginable, we waddled out to our bikes to make our way home.
 
Another Bike Blessing, one of my favorite events of the year, was over. Thank you to Pastor Clayton and Pastor Bob for doing this for us every year. We always feel a lot safer after the blessings! Also, thank you to Gary for always always saying Yes when I ask him to take pictures! He manages to be everywhere at once; has a smile on his face the entire time; never gets flustered with shouts of “Gary, take a picture of this!” and spends HOURS going through hundreds of photographs to edit and make sure we have the best shots. I’m so glad Gary is in my family so I can abuse his good nature and photography skills! ❤️
 
With the Safety Meeting reminders and our bodies and bikes blessed, we are prepared for a fun and SAFE riding season!! 
 
Those on board for the Bike Blessing were Janice, Brenda, Kathryn, Stella, Melaina, Pat, Tina, Alice, Bobbie, Stephanie, Kari, Kim, Susan, Maureen, Christine, Donna, Jennifer, Cindy, Angel, Lily, Linda, lots of Tom Kats and Fire and Iron Motorcycle Club members.
 
 
 
Janice – Founder
 
 

Jesus, Bikes and Pie – Take Two

It may not be Palm Sunday, but we still need to be blessed!

Meeting location: Plaza West Shopping Center. This is on the southwest corner of Central and West St. There is a Taco Shop right on the corner and the mall is directly behind that. If you need gas, please fill up beforehand. Meeting at this location gives us plenty of space to gather and it’s only two right hand turns to get to the church, which will give us a better chance of staying together.

Meeting time: 11:15 with kickstands up at 11:45 sharp!

The Blessing: Pastor Clayton, Pastor Bob and Pastor Brandon will perform the blessings, which includes using blessed oil and touching the top of your throttle hand. If you are uncomfortable with them making skin to skin contact, just tell them to bless your helmet/ bike bells/bike only.

Lunch: Spears Restaurant, 4323 W. Maple, where they have PIE!

After Lunch: If anyone wants to extend our riding time, we could ride to Snappy Chicks in Derby or Twister City.

SPECIAL NOTE: There was a previously scheduled Meow Mixer on June 11th. The Bike Blessing will take the place of the June Meow Mixer so you can remove the June 11th event from your calendar.

RSVP: Please RSVP by June 12th.

MEOW!
Queenie

Palm Pilot – April 14, 2019

Trust God’s plan.  That was the moral of the story for Sunday, April 14th, when we thought we were going to be riding to Council Grove for our annual Tutu Day after the bike blessing at Douglas Avenue Assembly of God church.  However, God blew some unseasonably cold weather our direction two days before our ride and while He warmed it up enough for a comfortable afternoon ride, He said “You won’t be going anywhere in the morning.”  So, Lori, Kathryn and I feverishly texted back and forth and came up with a Plan B, which was to give God some time to do His thing with the weather; go to the bike blessing AFTER church services and then ride the short distance to Stearman Field in Benton for lunch. 

I guess my use of All Caps when I typed “We are leaving at 12:15 SHARP” in my Facebook post scared the bejeebers out of everyone because when I arrived at 11:40 for the 11:45 arrival time, there were already about a dozen beautiful bikes and snazzy tutued bikers in the parking lot.  As more Kitties joined us, Gary, our personal Krome Kitty photographer, snapped picture after picture of the greetings and frivolity.  I’m going to make a detour in reporting on the day with a story that occurred the next day.  Gary and I were on the phone talking about the link that he had created with all the pictures.  During that conversation, he asked, “When you looked at all the pictures, what was the first thing that popped into your head?”  “That we all love each other?” was my response, to which he replied, “That’s exactly right.  Everyone is hugging one another and laughing with one another and anyone observing the interactions can see there is a great amount of love you all have for each other.”  Amen to that!

As 12:15 SHARP approached, I did a quick check of my slip of paper that required using both sides to record the names because we had a WHOPPING 26 KITTIES signed up and confirmed that everyone was present and accounted for and properly tutued up.  I held a brief meeting to give the instructions for how it was going to go down at the church and we mounted up.  At 12:15 SHARP, we exited the QuikTrip parking lot with Photographer Gary doubling as Traffic Stopper Gary, with my Tom Kat, Greg, providing assistance.

While my son, Pastor Clayton, had left instructions for the congregation to not park on the very farthest west row of parking spaces so we could use it, that didn’t happen.  But once again, God knew best because we all crowded into the very south row and it actually was better because we weren’t so spread out.  Here’s where I have to take another detour in the story.  Clayton later told me that he was in his closing prayer for services when they all heard the bikes come roaring into the parking lot.  Everyone started shouting, “They’re here!  They’re here!”  He told me that he finished his prayer, but I have a feeling he pretty much lost his audience at that moment. 

No sooner had we all gotten parked and started taking off helmets, people came pouring out of the church.  Hugs were plentiful as the members of the church greeted us and welcomed us to Douglas Avenue Church.  After gathering together, Pastor Clayton greeted us with a message and announced that he would be blessing not only the bikes, but our helmets and brake hands.  He also said that since it was Palm Sunday, each of us would be given a palm.  Gifts?  We weren’t expecting gifts, but Kitties love gifts!  Never underestimate the power of prayer (not for gifts!) as Pastor Clayton pointed out Larry, a member of the church, had prayed that God would intervene and allow him to be a part of this event.  You see, Larry loves motorcycles, but he teaches Sunday School before services and had we’d been there earlier in the day, he would have completely missed the whole bike blessing event.   

Pastor Clayton then gave a touching prayer by asking God to keep our bikes steadfast and upright; to keep us off the sand; and to allow us to see the beautiful country He created with a shield of protection around us.  Following the blessing, Pastor Clayton and Pastor Brandon, went to each individual Kitty to say a prayer over us and anoint our helmets, heads, bikes and hands with blessed oil.   In God’s infinite wisdom he thought there was one special Kitty who needed a double blessing.  That special Kitty was Kim and God brought both Pastors together at the same time to pray over her. 

Following the blessings, several of the children from the church passed out the palms and we gathered under the church sign and the cross on the church for group pictures.  We’ve had a lot of group pictures taken over the years, but hands down, the ones with these palms were the absolute best!  The sun was shining brilliantly upon us and all the green against our black leather and what all that green symbolized made for some pretty spectacular pictures.  Speaking of pictures, Photographer Gary and Novice Photographer Greg captured each individual blessing and lots of candid shots of the event.  While I had complete faith in Gary, I was a very worried about Greg.  You see when I labeled him “Novice Photographer”, that’s exactly what I mean.  If it ain’t a truck part, Greg ain’t taking a picture of it so to trust him with this important responsibility was a leap of faith.  Thank you, God, for not letting him let me down…this time. 

After stowing our palms in our saddle bags, we bid our farewells to our new church friends and prepared to leave; feeling a whole lot more blessed and grateful for everything Pastor Clayton, Pastor Brandon and all of Douglas Avenue Church did to make this day so special for us.  Truth be told, they were as excited about us coming as we were about us going…eventually.  Clayton told me a story of when he first announced to his church family that a big ole gang of lady bikers were coming on April 14th to be blessed that there were a couple of elderly women who were not in favor of having us.  In their defense, they are from the era when bikers were a symbol of roughhousing, hooligans and ne’er-do-wells.  Clayton’s response to them was, “After these ladies leave the church, they are going on an hour-long ride (this was when we thought we were going to Council Grove.)  If we can play one small part in them thinking about God for that hour, then it’s our duty and our honor to do that for God.”   The ladies’ response…”Amen Pastor!”  And guess what?  Those ladies were right there praying with us and for us on that Sunday morning!  They probably took one look at our tutus and thought, these ain’t no Alley Kats; these are just a bunch of Pretty Kitties!  (No offense Alikat!)

So, we fired up our bikes, revved the engines and honked our horns (which caught the attention of more than one neighbor!) and filed past the receiving line of well-wishers and palm-wavers, who were trying their darndest to out-hoot and out-holler the roar of our bikes.   As I was leading the first string of Kitties to Benton, Pastor Clayton’s words to the elderly ladies replayed in my head.  He was right, I DID think about God and all of my many blessings, so mission accomplished Douglas Avenue Church!

Without one missed turn or one gravel road (you’re welcome!), I led the king-sized group right to the closed gate that Stearman Field had promised me that morning would be open so we could park on the tarmac.  As I sat there wondering how did this happen, Maureen took matters into her own hands and squeeeezzzzed past the gate and one by one, we followed her lead.  I briefly thought about saying something in my stern voice to the staff about that little fib they told me, but being so full of blessings made me think better of it.  Hey, we all make mistakes, am I right?  Yeah, remember that the next time I lead you down a gravel road!

What Stearman Field did get right was they had plenty of tables reserved for the Tutued Throng of Kitties that descended upon them.  We all claimed our seats and starting de-layering as the day had warmed quite nicely.  Orders were placed and the booming noise that has become synonymous with Lunchtime with the Kitties commenced. 

I had given the job of selling 50/50 tickets at the QuikTrip to Bobbie Cole and she reported we had a staggering $62.00 up for grabs.  Again, after having just left such a spiritual event, I resisted the urge to pray to God that He would let me win this ginormous pot, but I sure had my Kitty paws crossed!  After I pimped all my wares that I had brought for eager Kitties to buy, we gave the honors of pulling the ticket to our kind waitress.  It’s remarkable how quiet the Kitties can be when they’re waiting to hear a number called and there’s $62.00 at stake.  After the waitress called out the number, all you heard was the rustle of tickets being looked at, until out of the blue, we heard, “That’s me!”  “That’s me” turned out to be none other than Dawn!  Congratulations Dawn and not to be tooting our own horn, but did you all see that she just bought ANOTHER Valkyrie motorcycle?  Let’s all say it together…You’re Welcome!

After settling up our tabs and taking some fun pictures by the bikes; with each other and at least 100 selfies (seriously, I do believe Suz got a selfie with every single Kitty!), it was time to start herding Kitties for the group lunch shot.  Lori happens to know the owners of the luxury hangar next door to Stearman Field so she real quick texted them to see if we could use their patio for our group picture.  Of course, as soon as they heard, Kitties, tutus, and bikers, they couldn’t throw enough thumbs up her way!  So, we’re all gathered, but wait…we need a photographer!  Where the heck is Photographer Gary when you need him?!  Lori ran back to Stearman Field and commandeered a lady to take the picture and as luck would have it, she was a professional photographer!  That means two things:  1) she knows what the heck she’s doing; and 2) she brought her own professional camera!  She snapped a few pictures with my non-professional camera phone and took some with her fancy schmancy camera.  After checking to make sure we got a good one, I released the Kitties, who started scattering like crackheads at a drug raid.  Not that we’re crackheads; although, I’ve been known to be a knucklehead on more than one occasion.  I know what you’re all thinking…143rd St.  Turn the page people!

Several of the Kitties announced they were going to Twister City, while the rest of us said we were pointing our noses home, in all kinds of directions.  While we tried to have a plan for Twister City people to gather in one spot and everyone else in another, it didn’t quite work out that way.  And because we went in different directions, we didn’t have a clear idea of who was going where and that caused one Kitty, Justine, to be left behind…stranded…with a bike that refused to go.  But with palms in her saddle bags and a blessing still fresh from this morning, God sent her three saviors of Bobbie, Denise and Krista, who were in a car.  They were the last of the Kitties to leave Stearman Field and saw Justine on the side of the road.  Justine was eventually able to get her bike started and the three saviors followed her home to make sure she was safe and sound.  Thank you Krista, Bobbie and Denise! 

And that’s not the only example of God intervening that day.  This was reported to me the following Monday and it literally gave me goosebumps.  Kim, being one of the Twister City Kitties, was on her way home when a guy in a car who must have been on his phone, reading a book, trimming his nose hair, or doing anything other than paying attention, merged right into Kim’s lane without one iota of an idea that she was there.  Her words to me were “I felt no fear or panic and had the wherewithal to speed up instead of slow down or he would have hit me.  He never saw me.  It didn’t even shake me up.  Oh, and I also didn’t give him the finger!”  Well, the mystery as to why Kim got that double blessing has been solved!  God knew she was going to need it that day.  With a strong shield of protection around her and a palm as her pilot, Kim avoided a serious tragedy.  And let’s not overlook the “I also didn’t give him the finger!”  If that’s not a sign of God working through Kim, I don’t know what is!  When I told Pastor Clayton this story, he was overjoyed that a) Kim was OK; b) his prayer for our protection worked so quickly; c) the palm, which is a symbol of peace, allowed her to remain calm; and d) he had a new topic for a sermon.  And what happened when Pastor Clayton told Pastor Brandon, the most enthusiastic man in all the land, about this?  As you might expect, he shouted out with joy and praise to God!

Well, there you have it!  I don’t know if it was the tutus or the bike blessing or everyone itching to get out on their bikes for the first official Kitty ride or a combination thereof, but it was the largest attended Kitty ride in our 15-year history!  As a matter of fact, I did the math and 76% of the Club came out to play that day.  I don’t know how that day could have been any better; well, maybe if I had won the 50/50 pot.  That would have made it better.

Those on board for the Palm Pilot Road Trip were Janice (Queenie), Justine, Lori, Kristi, Kathryn (Lady), Stefany (Curly), Alice (AliKat), Shelley, Bobbie (Tink), Stephanie (BadA$$), Lily (Sugar), Chris (River), Sonja, Kim (Lil Pibble), Susan, Tresny, Maureen Moonshine), Annette (Howdy), Denise (Squirrel), Krista, Suz (Sycho Suz), Nellie (BatKat), Linda (Ice), Deborah (Shorty), Jan, and Dawn (da Vinci). 

Janice – Founder

Palm Pilot – April 14, 2019

Trust God’s plan.  That was the moral of the story for Sunday, April 14th, when we thought we were going to be riding to Council Grove for our annual Tutu Day after the bike blessing at Douglas Avenue Assembly of God church.  However, God blew some unseasonably cold weather our direction two days before our ride and while He warmed it up enough for a comfortable afternoon ride, He said “You won’t be going anywhere in the morning.”  So, Lori Gibbs, Kathryn Langrehr and I feverishly texted back and forth and came up with a Plan B, which was to give God some time to do His thing with the weather; go to the bike blessing AFTER church services and then ride the short distance to Stearman Field in Benton for lunch. 

I guess my use of All Caps when I typed “We are leaving at 12:15 SHARP” in my Facebook post scared the bejeebers out of everyone because when I arrived at 11:40 for the 11:45 arrival time, there were already about a dozen beautiful bikes and snazzy tutued bikers in the parking lot.  As more Kitties joined us, Gary Friedman, our personal Krome Kitty photographer, snapped picture after picture of the greetings and frivolity.  I’m going to make a detour in reporting on the day with a story that occurred the next day.  Gary and I were on the phone talking about the link that he had created with all the pictures.  During that conversation, he asked, “When you looked at all the pictures, what was the first thing that popped into your head?”  “That we all love each other?” was my response, to which he replied, “That’s exactly right.  Everyone is hugging one another and laughing with one another and anyone observing the interactions can see there is a great amount of love you all have for each other.”  Amen to that!

As 12:15 SHARP approached, I did a quick check of my slip of paper that required using both sides to record the names because we had a WHOPPING 26 KITTIES signed up and confirmed that everyone was present and accounted for and properly tutued up.  I held a brief meeting to give the instructions for how it was going to go down at the church and we mounted up.  At 12:15 SHARP, we exited the QuikTrip parking lot with Photographer Gary Friedman doubling as Traffic Stopper Gary Friedman and Greg Friedman providing assistance.

While my son, Pastor Clayton, had left instructions for the congregation to not park on the very farthest west row of parking spaces so we could use it, that didn’t happen.  But once again, God knew best because we all crowded into the very south row and it actually was better because we weren’t so spread out.  Here’s where I have to take another detour in the story.  Clayton later told me that he was in his closing prayer for services when they all heard the bikes come roaring into the parking lot.  Everyone started shouting, “They’re here!  They’re here!”  He told me that he finished his prayer, but I have a feeling he pretty much lost his audience at that moment. 

No sooner had we all gotten parked and started taking off helmets, people came pouring out of the church.  Hugs were plentiful as the members of the church greeted us and welcomed us to Douglas Avenue Church.  After gathering together, Pastor Clayton greeted us with a message and announced that he would be blessing not only the bikes, but our helmets and brake hands.  He also said that since it was Palm Sunday, each of us would be given a palm.  Gifts?  We weren’t expecting gifts, but Kitties love gifts!  Never underestimate the power of prayer (not for gifts!) as Pastor Clayton pointed out Larry, a member of the church, had prayed that God would intervene and allow him to be a part of this event.  You see, Larry loves motorcycles, but he teaches Sunday School before services and had we’d been there earlier in the day, he would have completely missed the whole bike blessing event.   

Pastor Clayton then gave a touching prayer by asking God to keep our bikes steadfast and upright; to keep us off the sand; and to allow us to see the beautiful country He created with a shield of protection around us.  Following the blessing, Pastor Clayton and Pastor Brandon, went to each individual Kitty to say a prayer over us and anoint our helmets, heads, bikes and hands with blessed oil.   In God’s infinite wisdom he thought there was one special Kitty who needed a double blessing.  That special Kitty was Kim Jones and God brought both Pastors together at the same time to pray over her. 

Following the blessings, several of the children from the church passed out the palms and we gathered under the church sign and the cross on the church for group pictures.  We’ve had a lot of group pictures taken over the years, but hands down, the ones with these palms were the absolute best!  The sun was shining brilliantly upon us and all the green against our black leather and what all that green symbolized made for some pretty spectacular pictures.  Speaking of pictures, Photographer Gary Friedman and Novice Photographer Greg Friedman (yep, they’re brothers, although I see zero resemblance) captured each individual blessing and lots of candid shots of the event.  While I had complete faith in Gary, I was a very worried about Greg.  You see when I labeled him “Novice Photographer”, that’s exactly what I mean.  If it ain’t a truck part, Greg ain’t taking a picture of it so to trust him with this important responsibility was a leap of faith.  Thank you, God, for not letting him let me down…this time. 

After stowing our palms in our saddle bags, we bid our farewells to our new church friends and prepared to leave; feeling a whole lot more blessed and grateful for everything Pastor Clayton, Pastor Brandon and all of Douglas Avenue Church did to make this day so special for us.  Truth be told, they were as excited about us coming as we were about us going…eventually.  Clayton told me a story of when he first announced to his church family that a big ole gang of lady bikers were coming on April 14th to be blessed that there were a couple of elderly women who were not in favor of having us.  In their defense, they are from the era when bikers were a symbol of roughhousing, hooligans and ne’er-do-wells.  Clayton’s response to them was, “After these ladies leave the church, they are going on an hour-long ride (this was when we thought we were going to Council Grove.)  If we can play one small part in them thinking about God for that hour, then it’s our duty and our honor to do that for God.”   The ladies’ response…”Amen Pastor!”  And guess what?  Those ladies were right there praying with us and for us on that Sunday morning!  They probably took one look at our tutus and thought, these ain’t no Alley Kats; these are just a bunch of Pretty Kitties!  (No offense Alikat!)

So, we fired up our bikes, revved the engines and honked our horns (which caught the attention of more than one neighbor!) and filed past the receiving line of well-wishers and palm-wavers, who were trying their darndest to out-hoot and out-holler the roar of our bikes.   As I was leading the first string of Kitties to Benton, Pastor Clayton’s words to the elderly ladies replayed in my head.  He was right, I DID think about God and all of my many blessings, so mission accomplished Douglas Avenue Church!

Without one missed turn or one gravel road (you’re welcome!), I led the king-sized group right to the closed gate that Stearman Field had promised me that morning would be open so we could park on the tarmac.  As I sat there wondering how did this happen, Maureen Stout took matters into her own hands and squeeeezzzzed past the gate and one by one, we followed her lead.  I briefly thought about saying something in my stern voice to the staff about that little fib they told me, but being so full of blessings made me think better of it.  Hey, we all make mistakes, am I right?  Yeah, remember that the next time I lead you down a gravel road!

What Stearman Field did get right was they had plenty of tables reserved for the Tutued Throng of Kitties that descended upon them.  We all claimed our seats and starting de-layering as the day had warmed quite nicely.  Orders were placed and the booming noise that has become synonymous with Lunchtime with the Kitties commenced. 

I had given the job of selling 50/50 tickets at the QuikTrip to Bobbie Cole and she reported we had a staggering $62.00 up for grabs.  Again, after having just left such a spiritual event, I resisted the urge to pray to God that He would let me win this ginormous pot, but I sure had my Kitty paws crossed!  After I pimped all my wares that I had brought for eager Kitties to buy, we gave the honors of pulling the ticket to our kind waitress.  It’s remarkable how quiet the Kitties can be when they’re waiting to hear a number called and there’s $62.00 at stake.  After the waitress called out the number, all you heard was the rustle of tickets being looked at, until out of the blue, we heard, “That’s me!”  “That’s me” turned out to be none other than Dawn Morse!  Congratulations Dawn and not to be tooting our own horn, but did you all see that she just bought ANOTHER Valkyrie motorcycle?  Let’s all say it together…You’re Welcome!

After settling up our tabs and taking some fun pictures by the bikes; with each other and at least 100 selfies (seriously, I do believe Suz Tiede got a selfie with every single Kitty!), it was time to start herding Kitties for the group lunch shot.  Lori Gibbs happens to know the owners of the luxury hangar next door to Stearman Field so she real quick texted them to see if we could use their patio for our group picture.  Of course, as soon as they heard, Kitties, tutus, and bikers, they couldn’t throw enough thumbs up her way!  So, we’re all gathered, but wait…we need a photographer!  Where the heck is Photographer Gary when you need him?!  Lori ran back to Stearman Field and commandeered a lady to take the picture and as luck would have it, she was a professional photographer!  That means two things:  1) she knows what the heck she’s doing; and 2) she brought her own professional camera!  She snapped a few pictures with my non-professional camera phone and took some with her fancy schmancy camera.  After checking to make sure we got a good one, I released the Kitties, who started scattering like crackheads at a drug raid.  Not that we’re crackheads; although, I’ve been known to be a knucklehead on more than one occasion.  I know what you’re all thinking…143rd St.  Turn the page people!

Several of the Kitties announced they were going to Twister City, while the rest of us said we were pointing our noses home, in all kinds of directions.  While we tried to have a plan for Twister City people to gather in one spot and everyone else in another, it didn’t quite work out that way.  And because we went in different directions, we didn’t have a clear idea of who was going where and that caused one Kitty, Justine Busher, to be left behind…stranded…with a bike that refused to go.  But with palms in her saddle bags and a blessing still fresh from this morning, God sent her three saviors of Bobbie Cole, Denise Johnson and Krista Cotterill, who were in a car.  They were the last of the Kitties to leave Stearman Field and saw Justine on the side of the road.  Justine was eventually able to get her bike started and the three saviors followed her home to make sure she was safe and sound.  Thank you Krista, Bobbie and Denise! 

And that’s not the only example of God intervening that day.  This was reported to me the following Monday and it literally gave me goosebumps.  Kim Jones, being one of the Twister City Kitties, was on her way home when a guy in a car who must have been on his phone, reading a book, trimming his nose hair, or doing anything other than paying attention, merged right into Kim’s lane without one iota of an idea that she was there.  Her words to me were “I felt no fear or panic and had the wherewithal to speed up instead of slow down or he would have hit me.  He never saw me.  It didn’t even shake me up.  Oh, and I also didn’t give him the finger!”  Well, the mystery as to why Kim got that double blessing has been solved!  God knew she was going to need it that day.  With a strong shield of protection around her and a palm as her pilot, Kim avoided a serious tragedy.  And let’s not overlook the “I also didn’t give him the finger!”  If that’s not a sign of God working through Kim, I don’t know what is!  When I told Pastor Clayton this story, he was overjoyed that a) Kim was OK; b) his prayer for our protection worked so quickly; c) the palm, which is a symbol of peace, allowed her to remain calm; and d) he had a new topic for a sermon.  And what happened when Pastor Clayton told Pastor Brandon, the most enthusiastic man in all the land, about this?  As you might expect, he shouted out with joy and praise to God!

Well, there you have it!  I don’t know if it was the tutus or the bike blessing or everyone itching to get out on their bikes for the first official Kitty ride or a combination thereof, but it was the largest attended Kitty ride in our 15-year history!  As a matter of fact, I did the math and 76% of the Club came out to play that day.  I don’t know how that day could have been any better; well, maybe if I had won the 50/50 pot.  That would have made it better.

Those on board for the Palm Pilot Road Trip were Janice Friedman (Queenie), Justine Busher, Lori Gibbs, Kristi Evans, Kathryn Langrehr (Lady), Stefany White (Curly), Alice Friedman (AliKat), Shelley Seidl, Bobbie Cole (Tink), Stephanie Rodriguez (BadA$$), Lily Nordyke (Sugar), Chris Emond (River), Sonja McCall, Kim Jones (Lil Pibble), Susan Riley, Tresny Janzen, Maureen Stout (Moonshine), Annette South (Howdy), Denise Johnson (Squirrel), Krista Cotterill, Suz Tiede (Sycho Suz), Nellie Taylor (BatKat), Linda Moreland (Ice), Deborah Barker (Shorty), Jan Brock, and Dawn Morse (da Vinci).  We’s gots to get some Road Names assigned!

Second Bike Blessing

For those of you who wish to participate in the second Bike Blessing, please plan to meet at the QuikTrip at 13th and West St. (3933 W. 13th St.) at 10:00 with kickstands up at 10:15. We will ride the short distance to the church where Pastor Clayton will meet us at 10:30. It shouldn’t take but about 30 minutes to do the blessings.

For those who can, we will then all ride somewhere for lunch. I’ll wait to see how many will be going to lunch before picking a location so I know how big a spot we’ll need. If you’re coming for the blessing, but can’t do lunch, please let me know by commenting below. Otherwise I will assume if you click Going, you’re also having lunch with us.