| Grand Tour October 19, 2008
On a crisp and bright Sunday, Dan Miller (PA 17 and PA2) along with Gary Gordon (PA2) joined up with Red Knights Pottstown PA17 for a GRAND TOUR.
What is Grand Tour?
When the clubs were young, the easiest way to tell others about it was by word of mouth. This meant that the members had to get out to visit other firefighters in their areas, and one of the best ways to do that was to visit Fire Stations. Someone came up with the idea of rewarding members who made a certain number of visits with a certificate and a pin. Proof of these visits was needed and so the idea of Grand Tour was born.
In order to earn a pin a member had to supply a photo of him/herself and his/her motorcycle in front of Fire Stations whose names' began with the first letters G R A N D T O U R and that is basically the way it works for today's Red Knights!
For this tour, our stops were at Gilbertsville, Ringing Hill, Amity, Norco, Dublin, Trumbauersville, Oley, Upper Frederick and Red Hill Fire Companies. The tour would be about 75 miles through Chester, Berks, Montgomery and Bucks Counties.
After getting our morning fill of coffee at the Wawa, 9 bikes and 1 passenger met at Norco Fire Company for the start of the tour. After a short ride, we reached the second stop at Amtiy Fire Company. We were lucky to find the station manned and were able to get a picture with their engine. A potential new member was recruited.
We continued on to Oley and Gilbertsville Fire Companies, enjoying the beautiful fall weather and scenery. On the way to Ringing Hill, we passed through two covered bridges. We stopped for pictures and talked to a couple of fisherman there.
After Ringing Hill, I had to jump off the tour but the rest of the group stopped for a nourishing lunch and continued on to finish up the grand tour.
Dan said "I think that was the best of our three rides this year for sure." What a great way to spend a fall day!
If you have not had the opportunity to do a grand tour, try to make one next year. PA17 did three this year and are planning to do more next year. Watch the calendar for tour announcements.
Photos by Dan Miller |
