The Beauty Around Us

Bikers Blessing 2009

By Linda G. on May 4, 2009

Great springtime weather prompted more than 1,000 bikers (including Bob and me) to ride to Tionesta PA the afternoon of May 3, 2009 for its annual bikers blessing. It was an enjoyable ride from our home to the bikers blessing and back. Most of the way we ride alongside the Allegheny River. Views of the river and the towering hills beyond the river make for a picturesque ride.

As in years past, the bikers blessing was held at Word of Grace Church located a mile up German Hill Road. We arrived later than usual, so we were directed to the overflow parking lot — alongside a cornfield, in the back yard of a house across the street from the church.

The church lot was jammed pack full of motorcycles and people.

 

The 3:00 PM event started with a word of prayer, followed by the reading of a couple passages from the Bible. A moment of silence, followed by a song (“Amazing Grace”) and a prayer, was held for bikers who had died during the past riding season. All bikers were then asked to form a circle around the motorcycles for a common prayer. Bob and I joined the bikers in the overflow parking lot and encircled our motorcycles, while those who had parked at the church encircled their motorcycles.

 

 

After the common prayer we went to our individual bikes where folks from the Christian Motorcyclist Association met with individual riders and said a word of prayer with them. After our individual prayer we received a sticker proclaiming “I was blessed in ’09”.

We saw our friends, Dave and Susan, at the bikers blessing. We tried to hook up after the blessing, to ride home together, but it didn’t work out. On hindsight we should have made plans to meet off the hill. We relied, though, on receiving telephone calls while riding. I telephoned Susan after Bob and I had been blessed. Susan didn’t answer, so I left a message that we had received our blessing and would soon be leaving. I put my telephone in my chest pocket, thinking that I would feel it ring. We stopped briefly in Tidioute so that I could stretch my leg. My knee was hurting. Bob has been looking at floor boards to replace the foot pegs that I currently use. Bob thinks that I’ll ride more comfortably using the floor boards. During our stop in Tidioute, I learned that Susan had telephoned twice. I returned Susan’s call; she answered the telephone. Susan and Dave were still “on the hill” (referring to German Hill). They had gotten waylaid by friends (it happens all the time :-)). It’s all good, though. When we ride with Dave and Susan, we meet and get to know lots of nice people. Dave and Susan, we will have to get together another time for a ride!

Before returning home Bob and I stopped at Dairy Delight in Warren PA for ice cream.