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11th Annual Blue Knights Falling Leaf Ride For The ChildrenFor The Children
By: Wally Wersching
The Blue Knights international Law Enforcement Motorcycle Club is a non-profit fraternal organization consisting of active and retired law enforcement officers who enjoy riding motorcycles. In the spring of 1974, a few law enforcement officers from the Bangor, Maine area met, and formed a small local motorcycle club. Soon, Blue Knight chapters were being formed in Massachusetts, New Hampshire, and beyond. With the addition of Canada, and later Australia, the Blue Knights became an international organization. Now there are chapters all over the world.
The Blue Knights North Carolina Chapter XXIII “Foothills Posse” held their 11th Annual Falling Leaf Ride for the Children on October 17th. There are a few honorary members of the Blue Knights that were not former police officers. Chris Jernigan, the director of the Southmountain Children and Family Services since 1990, is an honorary member. He works very closely with the group as they help to support the home. I know him because he is also a ”Knobbie”.
Southmountain Children and Family Services operates the North Carolina’s first, and only foster community near Lake James, and Children’s Advocacy Centers serving counties all across North Carolina.
The ride would start at the Oak Hill Fire & Rescue Department, on Hwy 181, north of Morganton, NC. The 100 mile ride would go through the mountains of western NC with two stops along the way, and end at the South Mountain Children and Family Services in Nebo, NC where they all would enjoy a meal with the kids. Every entrant would receive an event T-shirt with their $20 registration fee. All proceeds would go to the South Mountain Children and Family Services.
I had gone to the ride twice before, and thoroughly enjoyed myself. I was reminded of the date when I read about the event in the Carolinas Full Throttle Cruisin’ Calendar. I was glad that they were still holding it even during the pandemic.
The weather Saturday was chilly in the morning (low 40’s) with temps scheduled to rise to the 60’s by the afternoon. There was no rain in the area. I dressed in my cold weather gear - long johns and chaps along with a sweatshirt under my leather jacket, and winter gloves. I left about 8:45am. I rode “Miss Vickie” on some back roads until I reached Rte. 18. I rode Rte. 18 north to Morganton, where it intersected with Rt 181. I took Rte. 181 north from there. It took a little over an hour, and I was comfortable – not cold at all. I was there a little before 10am – when registration was supposed to start.
When I arrived, there were three bikers there. I introduced myself to the man in charge and gave him a stack of the Carolinas’ Full Throttle magazines for the registration table. I went back outside to watch the bikers roll in. I usually don’t have many police friends but these guys were very friendly. We had some very pleasant conversations. All the while, more and more bikes came rolling in, most of them thundering in, too. Some of them had very loud exhaust, and stereos.
I noticed a couple other Victory motorcycles, too. One was a late model bagger, and the other was an early V92 model cruiser with flames painted on it. I had seen the
V92 many times at Myra’s in Valdese during their Cruise-
In on Friday nights. I finally got to talk with the owner. He bought the very low mileage bike for $2,000, and never had any problems with it. Victory motorcycles are very reliable.
After a while, I saw a very large early Honda Valkyrie pull in. To my surprise, Chris was riding it. I didn’t recognize him right away because of his full-face helmet. That bike sounded like a foreign sports car. It is a six cylinder bike. After he parked, we talked for a few minutes.
As it got close to 11am, people were getting anxious.
They wanted to ride. The man in charge described the ride, and then Chris told about the children that would eat with the bikers. They are a group of children who are learning to ride motorcycles on the trails on the property. It’s a program sponsored by Honda. When they display good grades and behavior, they get to ride the bikes. Then he thanked everybody for coming out, and even thanked me for being there for the Carolinas’ Full Throttle Magazine. Then a biker came up to me and told me how much he enjoyed reading my stories. He picks up a magazine every month at the local Harley dealership. It’s always nice to hear that my stories are enjoyed by the readers.
After a group meeting and prayer, they were ready to ride. I looked at the route that was scheduled for the ride, and all the roads were great mountain twisties. I’m sure that they all had a fun ride. At 11am, they left the lot heading north on Rte. 181. It was difficult to get decent pictures because of the location of the sun - behind the riders.
After they all left, I headed home. I decided to take the long way home through Glen Alpine. It had warmed up, so I didn’t care how long it took to get home. When I arrived in Glen Alpine, I stopped at the old mansion – “Aerie”. I love the look of that old building. I think that someone is living in it. All the windows had been replaced, and there’s a new roof. Soon it will be like (or better) than it was (when it was built in 1905. I got home a little after noon. I went out to get lunch before working around the house.
