The 5th Annual Neidner Overnight HOG Themed Ride was a huge success! This year’s theme was “The Silver Anniversary Ride”. Thursday before the ride, Tanya dropped off four cases of special labeled water. Tanya had labeled each bottle with a 5th Annual Ride Label with Cathy and my picture on it along with the blog site quote “Ride Free, Ride Straight, Ride Sober, Ride Safe.” Fifteen couples counting Cathy and I left Saturday morning from Watertown on our way to New London. The ride took us through 
many small communities such as; Alto, Pickett, Waukau, Omro Winneconne and Readfield. Cathy and I celebrated our 25th wedding anniversary in May and wanted to share it will our close riding friends, in fact many of these riding couples will be celebrating their 25th before this year comes to a close! On a side note, Joe and Deb celebrated their 5th Anniversary of being the only couple that has made every Neidner Overnight Ride!
Staying with the theme of this year’s ride, we decided to e-mail a few WELS Lutheran Churches in the New London area to see if one of them would be interested in helping Cathy and I renew our wedding vows and have a picnic lunch for our riders. We asked a few Churches if they had a youth group whereas money raised by our riders would be matched by Thrivent to help a particular cause. One of the churches that e-mailed us back was Emanuel Lutheran Church in New London. Jack VandeGuchte responded by saying they would love to have our group stop in and money raised would go towards an outreach ministry comprised of four teens and four
chaperones from the church going to Grenada in the southeastern Caribbean Sea. Jack added that Rev. William Heiges would be honored to have a short renewal of wedding vows service prior to the luncheon.
What Cathy and I had planned for was not nearly what Emanuel had shown us as we arrived! I cautioned Jack prior to our group arriving that we all would be dressed as “bad ass” bikers. We were
welcomed into the church as if we were all members, and we were all strangers up until the time we arrived. After a brief welcoming, we were led into the church were Rev. Heiges held the service, along with flower arrangements and even a fresh flower bridal bouquet for Cathy! The service was brief as was planned.
After the service we were led into the commons area of the school and a wonderful meal took place. This was so much more than we ever dreamed of because they had taken the time to not only grill burgers and chicken, but decorated the tables with fresh flowers, confetti and candy bag favors. A sheet cake having the theme “Silver Anniversary Ride” had been ordered and a small motorcycle adorned the top! As I said previously, we were
welcomed and felt like this was our “home church”. We were all so amazed at what the youth group had done for us; we wanted to thank them further so additional money was collected to help with their youth mission work to Grenada.
After lunch, a newly wed questionnaire was given to both the men and the women to complete. The results would be made known at dinner that night. Before leaving, a group photo was taken.
Our ride continued to Manitowoc by way of Freedom, Wrightstown, Mishicot and Two
Rivers. At the next rest stop, Beth said “isn’t it funny that the first place you go to after renewing your vows is a town called Freedom!?”
Before reaching Manitowc and our hotel we rode through Point Beach State Forest and were greeted by cooling winds that brought much needed relief. After 200 miles we finally reached Best Western Lake Front Hotel. At check-in, each couple received an envelope containing an 8x10 photo collage. Each year we give the couples something to remember the ride by, this year we had
collected wedding pictures of each couple without their knowledge. The collage consisted of 15 individual mini photos of all of our wedding days. Getting all these photos without their knowledge is a story of its’ own, especially after talking to Doll’s mom! Most of the riders quickly changed and met by the pool, others had other engagements (wink, wink)!
Dinner was at the hotel. A champagne toast was made and afterwards Cathy and I were presented with a card thanking us, from the entire group. Like last year, a collection was taken by the group and money was presented
to us in appreciation for organizing the ride. The winner of the newly wed game was John and Tanya as they matched 9 of the 18 questions correctly! They were rewarded with a gift basket of Champagne, glasses, mints and massage oil. Each couple also received a one dollar scratch-off lottery card and Hershey kisses. After another piece of wedding cake, couples went back to their rooms, once again got their suits on and met by the pool.
Sunday morning many of us choose to have the buffet breakfast,
which was very good and filling. John and Tanya were not able to ride back with us because of a slow leak in the front tire valve stem. The return trip to Watertown followed Lake Michigan and County Trunk Highway LS to Sheboygan, Lake Church, Port Washington and Mequon. A stop at a Culver’s Restaurant for ice cream was a must! Everyone commented on how well organized the ride was and the fun they had. The nine new couples that had never gone were asking when next year’s ride is. Cathy and I 
want to thank all of our riders, Emanuel Lutheran Church of New London, Rev. Heiges, Jack VandeGutche and the youth group, Best Western Lake Front (Sonya and their staff). For additional photos from the ride go to Shutterfly and type in the password "chrome".
many small communities such as; Alto, Pickett, Waukau, Omro Winneconne and Readfield. Cathy and I celebrated our 25th wedding anniversary in May and wanted to share it will our close riding friends, in fact many of these riding couples will be celebrating their 25th before this year comes to a close! On a side note, Joe and Deb celebrated their 5th Anniversary of being the only couple that has made every Neidner Overnight Ride!Staying with the theme of this year’s ride, we decided to e-mail a few WELS Lutheran Churches in the New London area to see if one of them would be interested in helping Cathy and I renew our wedding vows and have a picnic lunch for our riders. We asked a few Churches if they had a youth group whereas money raised by our riders would be matched by Thrivent to help a particular cause. One of the churches that e-mailed us back was Emanuel Lutheran Church in New London. Jack VandeGuchte responded by saying they would love to have our group stop in and money raised would go towards an outreach ministry comprised of four teens and four
chaperones from the church going to Grenada in the southeastern Caribbean Sea. Jack added that Rev. William Heiges would be honored to have a short renewal of wedding vows service prior to the luncheon.What Cathy and I had planned for was not nearly what Emanuel had shown us as we arrived! I cautioned Jack prior to our group arriving that we all would be dressed as “bad ass” bikers. We were
welcomed into the church as if we were all members, and we were all strangers up until the time we arrived. After a brief welcoming, we were led into the church were Rev. Heiges held the service, along with flower arrangements and even a fresh flower bridal bouquet for Cathy! The service was brief as was planned.After the service we were led into the commons area of the school and a wonderful meal took place. This was so much more than we ever dreamed of because they had taken the time to not only grill burgers and chicken, but decorated the tables with fresh flowers, confetti and candy bag favors. A sheet cake having the theme “Silver Anniversary Ride” had been ordered and a small motorcycle adorned the top! As I said previously, we were
welcomed and felt like this was our “home church”. We were all so amazed at what the youth group had done for us; we wanted to thank them further so additional money was collected to help with their youth mission work to Grenada.After lunch, a newly wed questionnaire was given to both the men and the women to complete. The results would be made known at dinner that night. Before leaving, a group photo was taken.
Our ride continued to Manitowoc by way of Freedom, Wrightstown, Mishicot and Two
Rivers. At the next rest stop, Beth said “isn’t it funny that the first place you go to after renewing your vows is a town called Freedom!?”Before reaching Manitowc and our hotel we rode through Point Beach State Forest and were greeted by cooling winds that brought much needed relief. After 200 miles we finally reached Best Western Lake Front Hotel. At check-in, each couple received an envelope containing an 8x10 photo collage. Each year we give the couples something to remember the ride by, this year we had
collected wedding pictures of each couple without their knowledge. The collage consisted of 15 individual mini photos of all of our wedding days. Getting all these photos without their knowledge is a story of its’ own, especially after talking to Doll’s mom! Most of the riders quickly changed and met by the pool, others had other engagements (wink, wink)!Dinner was at the hotel. A champagne toast was made and afterwards Cathy and I were presented with a card thanking us, from the entire group. Like last year, a collection was taken by the group and money was presented
to us in appreciation for organizing the ride. The winner of the newly wed game was John and Tanya as they matched 9 of the 18 questions correctly! They were rewarded with a gift basket of Champagne, glasses, mints and massage oil. Each couple also received a one dollar scratch-off lottery card and Hershey kisses. After another piece of wedding cake, couples went back to their rooms, once again got their suits on and met by the pool.Sunday morning many of us choose to have the buffet breakfast,
which was very good and filling. John and Tanya were not able to ride back with us because of a slow leak in the front tire valve stem. The return trip to Watertown followed Lake Michigan and County Trunk Highway LS to Sheboygan, Lake Church, Port Washington and Mequon. A stop at a Culver’s Restaurant for ice cream was a must! Everyone commented on how well organized the ride was and the fun they had. The nine new couples that had never gone were asking when next year’s ride is. Cathy and I 
want to thank all of our riders, Emanuel Lutheran Church of New London, Rev. Heiges, Jack VandeGutche and the youth group, Best Western Lake Front (Sonya and their staff). For additional photos from the ride go to Shutterfly and type in the password "chrome".To all those “new” to group riding, you guys were great! Now you can say, I’ve got group riding experience! Until next year, continue to be safe!
Click on photo to enlarge it.
