MARCH 6th, 2010  Ok,  all week it's been raining! In fact, it's been raining since the previous Sunday when we rode in the rain that day to make up for not getting to ride on Saturday due to the tsunami party. Well, the HOG gods was looking out for us and with only a light sprinkle heading down the H2 coming from Schofield Barracks heading to Kaneohe. By the time Hal, Maria and I made it to the H1/H2 merge, the skies were clearing and the sun was poking through the clouds. Going over the H3, we knew that rain was waiting for us on the other side of the mountain! Even the warning signs lit up on the highway stated to "look out for wet roads". Popping out on the windward side of the H3, low and behold, the skies were clear, rode almost completely dry, and hardly any clouds threatening rain.
 
  Meeting up at Times Coffee shop in the Ko'olau Shopping Center, we scarfed down on some great grinds, talked story and headed outside for our safety briefing. Returning visitor Scott Goad brought his 13 year old son Jeff out to ride.   As we mounted up and started to twist some serious throttle, we headed south.   Our first stop was the Ho'omaluhia Botanical Gardens where we admired the awesome beauty. Catching up to us at the gardens, John Sullivan came rolling in on his Fatboy, ready for some HOG fun. After a group shot, we mounted up and continued to head South along Kamehameha Highway, cruising by Bellows Air Force Station and along the coast. With a quick stop at Sandy Beach Park for a pit stop and group shot, we jumped on our saddles and were off again heading for Hawaii Kai for a fuel stop. Then it was on towards Honolulu then up the H2, past Mililani to Wahiawa. Cruising pass Schofield Barracks (didn't we just leave this place a couple hours ago?) and down snake road to Haleiwa for some shaved ice and another pit stop. After getting a hernia from lifting a boulder, we mounted our Hogs and cruised along the North Shore making our way to Kaaawa for some great smoked BBQ at Uncle Bobo's. With our bellies full, it was on the road again for our final stop at Domenico's for some T-shirts, coffee and talking story with Paula and the gang. With our ride complete and mission accomplished, it was time to head for the house.
 
Great ride today, thank you everyone for the fun times!
 
Charley Pesnell
Membership Officer
Ride to Live, Live to Ride!!

FEBRUARY 28th, 2010   Due to a little shake, rattle and roll in Chile, a Tsunami warning for all of the Hawaiian Islands got, our usual Saturday ride canceled. With most of the roads closed and everyone heading for high ground, all we could do was sit at home and hope for the best. Come 2PM, the tsunami warning was lifted with barely a ripple having occurred. It was such a nice day also, sun shinning, partly cloudy skies, what a wasted day but thank goodness NO TSUNAMI!!
 
Come Sunday morning, the last day of February, it was raining, with wind gust up to 40 MPH! Did we stay home and sulk? HELL NO!! After being denied a nice day to ride, we were bound and determined to twist some Harley throttle this weekend! Meeting up at our favorite grind place (Times Coffee Shop in the Temple Valley Shopping Center Kaneohe, Hawaii) to chow down, talk story, and to plan our escape from the rain and wind.

We mounted up and first headed to Creekside in Kailua to offer our support and prayers to a fellow biker, Rick Davis, President of SBU who is about to undergo surgery. Soon after, we jumped on our saddles and headed West towards Waianae, braving the rain and high winds blowing through Honolulu. We soon made it past the H1/H2 split and out of the rain trying to dry off using the wind and heat from our big V-twins! By the time we arrived in Waianae, we were mostly dry and in need of a break. After a 30 minute restbit at McDonalds for some coffee, snacks and gear change, we set off with John and Johnny leading us to see the Black Pearl (pirate ship used in the movie "Pirates of the Caribbean") in the Campbell Industrial Park. With a group shot in front of the Black Pearl and photo ops with some tourist, we mounted up and headed for Makakilo where we hit every street in the subdivision.

Everywhere else, we could see it raining, raining and more rain. It was raining so hard in Honolulu, that you could barely see the first set of tall buildings due to the rain. So we kept on cruising around in Makakilo and Ewa until it was time to stop for some lunch in one of the shopping centers in Ewa. After some good grinds and talking story about our tsunami wash out escape, we set off in different directions heading for home. With another weekend conquered, miles ridden, and new stories to tell, the HOG mission was accomplished with miles of smiles!
 
Mahalo for the memories,
Charley

FEBRUARY 21th, 2010  Wow, two days of beautiful riding weather! Oh wait, we're in Hawaii!! Everyday of the year is riding weather on Oahu and where else can you ride all weekend long, every weekend of the year! Today, a few of us got out of bed early to throw our leg over the saddle and log some more HOG-rrific miles. Hal, James, Maria and I met at the COSTCO parking log at 8:30 this morning so we could attend another poker run to support the Armed Forces of America M/C Club. We arrived at Moanalua Park around 9AM and only a few bikers had shown up by that time. Greeting everyone, we ran into Kody Morris who's attending his very first poker run. After talking and getting to know one another, we invited Kody to ride with us so he wouldn't get lost and have someone to ride with. He had just bought a used Honda Shadow 600 a week ago that he was getting used to riding. His family had just moved here from Colorado last December and was just getting settled in. The five of us rolled out heading for the first card stop, The Shack in Hawaii Kai. After drawing our card, it was off to the next stop over Like Like to Creek Side in Kailua. After drawing our cards and scarfing down some free dogs, we cranked up our V-twins and headed over the H3 to South Seas in Waipahu for our 4th card draw. At this point, a lot of the bikers were merging into a mass group, getting ready to ride to the final stop in Wahiawa. Breaking way from the pack, we rolled down Farrington Highway to run up Kunia Road to KeMoo Farms for the final stop. Unfortunately, none of us won the high or low hand, but a couple of us did go away with some of the few door prizes they had to give out. With the end of another ride comes more memories, more stories and best of all, more friends made!
 
Mahalo for the fun,
Charley Pesnell
Ride to live, live to ride!

FEBRUARY 20th, 2010 Another beautiful day in Hawaii brings lots of happy HOGers out to our 2nd Chapter meeting of the year. Meeting at one of our favorite grind places (Denny's in Pearl City), we wolfed down some awesome grub and got to chapter business. After a quick meeting, recapping old and covering new business, we went out to the parking lot, took a group pic, did our safety briefing and mounted up for some HOGrific fun. With James & John leading us trough a maze of streets, our first stop was Makakilo Drive where we took the time to take a group shot and enjoy the view. From there, it was back down the hill, on the H1 and heading East toward Honolulu. Getting off at Kunia Road, we headed North to the North Shore, cruising by Scholfield Barracks and Wheeler Army Air Field. Hopping on Kamehameha Highway, we rolled pass the Dole plantation and on by Haleiwa to catch the surf action on the North Shore. With traffic at a crawl, we scooted by on our Hogs trying not to get overheated from our big V-Twins. After getting pass all the tourist and traffic, we headed for Papa Ole's to fill up on some great grinds and talk some more story. With the rest stop and lunch completed, we threw our legs over the saddles of our Hogs and headed for Domenico's to talk some more story with Paula and the gang, buy shirts, rockers and accessories. With our ride complete, everyone gave fond farewells and headed off in different directions for home. With over 130 miles ridden, new stories to tell, pictures to cherish and new friends made, another HOG adventure was completed successfully! Happy riding!
 
Charley Pesnell
Windward HOG
Membership Officer

FEBRUARY 14th, 2010   Day 2 of another great HOG adventure (Valentines Day):
      On this beautiful 3 day weekend in paradise, we were blessed by more great weather from the HOG Gods to twist some H-D throttle. Meeting up at Bob's Bar-B-Que and filling our gullets with some awesome cheap grinds, we set off for another HOG adventure with our guest from Minnesota (Mike and Kathy) along for the fun. We rolled into South Seas Harley-Davidson in Waipahu, 9 bikes strong and 14 members to show some HOG support for another fellow HOG event. The Waipahu Country chapter was having their "Maken' Bacon" sweetheart ride this Valentines Day, so with our sweethearts in tow and 18 bikes strong, we set off for that ever calling whisper in the wind "RIDE BABE RIDE!". Heading north, our first  stop was Dillingham Airfield, where we got to see some spectacular landings, as the skydivers came flying in. From Dillingham, we set off to Kualoa Ranch for the second stop, riding down along the North Shore beaches, sucking up all the great salt air from the ocean along the way. We then hopped back on our saddles and headed for He'eia Kea Pier where we could see people enjoying themselves fishing and sailing. After tossing our piggies, we headed back through the mountain on H3 for the last stop at South Seas. With our last piggy toss, we mopped up some grinds and talked story with fellow bikers about our adventures.
       We left the party early so we could get some more riding in before our guest had to return their rented Harley. Heading East, we cruised up Round Top Drive to Puu Ualakaa State Park were our guest were just in awe of the ride and beauty of the sites before them. We then headed down Tantalus Drive and a quick run out through Hawaii Kai to the Blow Hole.  Mike and Kathy had been there before on their last vacation, and wanted to experience it again. We then cruised back into towards Honolulu, around the back side of Diamond Head and back to Big Kahuna so Mike and Kathy could return their Harley rental. After many thanks, information exchanges and Hawaiian hugs, we concluded our great HOG adventure with new friends made, miles behind us and stories to tell. Mahalo for the memories!!
 
Charley Pesnell
Windward HOG
Membership Officer

FEBRUARY 13th, 2010
      Today's HOG adventure started out with members riding in to Chase Rentals in Waikiki to meet our Japanese HOG visitor, Tatsuro Kojima from the Yokohama HOG Chapter. While at Chase, one of our Ladies of Harley, Cindy Griffin, talked with this couple and then we met them . . . Mike and Kathy from Minnesota, husband and wife renting a Softail Heritage.  In talking with them, we found they both have Harley's and rode the island on a previous vacation.  We extended our HOG Aloha and they agreed, safety in numbers and appreciated our invite.
      We headed to Wailana  Coffee House to do some HOG grinding.  Our secretary Donna Lee had reserved room for a group - 20 members and three visitors made for a good sized group.  Bob and Carol met us in the parking garage after breakfast.  We had a good sized group to twist throttle towards H-3 and donate some money and pet food towards a HOG daughter's girl scout troop project with an animal shelter.  We had a safety briefing, fired up or V-Twins, didn't set off any car alarms, and headed out Ala Moana Blvd. towards H-1 West.
      We rode West and got on H-3 to head up and over the mountain to Kailua Aikahi Park Shopping Center to meet Kiley's Girl Scout troop, take a group picture and then ride towards the North Shore. But not before we took our visitors to Domenico's for T-Shirts and Pins, a chance to meet Paula, Kelli, Sam and TC.   We were going to head up Round Top but made a group decision to head around the island to offer our 3 visitors view's and sights they wouldn't see otherwise.  We had planned to ride Round Top at the end of the day if we had time . . . but we didn't have time.  We rode Punchbowl Cemetery after coming back around the island and stopping in at the Pearl City Big City Dinner. 
      Mike and Kathy decided to ride with us again tomorrow and setup another rental, this time with Big Kahuna Rentals.  Members in our group plan to meet tomorrow morning (2/14) and support another HOG chapter's Valentine's Day poker run.  The Maken' Bacon ride has been going on for years and is one of the first poker runs on the island in the new year.  We need to support our fellow HOG family and their event, as we hope their members will do the same with our even in April.  Time will tell as time flies by here in Paradise when you're having HOG fun.  Riding all year is a by-product of living in Hawaii if you ride a Harley-Davidson or a V-Twin.  Live to ride, ride to live; ride to eat and eat to ride.  The snow is deep in places on the mainland.  It snowed a foot in Houston, Texas yesterday, a record.  While we are riding in our short sleeves.
    We have lots of photos from our two day HOG adventure from Maria, our photographer.  We've also got a set of pictures from Donna while riding in front of the pack, shoot pictures looking back on the group.  Another weekend of pictorial history of the Windward Oahu Chapter.

FEBRUARY 6th, 2010
      Our first ride of February started out as a brisk morning ride up and over the mountain to Times Coffee Shop in Kaneohe for many of us.  Breakfast was good, HOG spirits were high and there was lots of talk story.  Guest riders signed waivers, new members signed applications, we swapped cold weather riding stories, finished breakfast, listened to a safety briefing, then rode to our dealership. Members purchased rockers, HOG patches, and shirts.  We talked story with Paula, Kelli, T.C., and Sam.
      We left our dealership reving our V-Twins as Paula smiled.  We headed for the narrow road to ride by where the opening pictures were filmed for Gilligan's Island.  We then rode past He'eia Kea Pier and further up the Windward coast to the Macadamia Farm Outlet.  We had members and guests who had never experienced this stop.  Be sure to check out our ride pictures. We got group riding pictures from the front and the back.  They are all pretty cool. 
      We left the Mac Farm Outlet and headed further up the Windward Coast towards the North Shore.  Our next stop was to the open market near Sunset Beach.  More riders had never stopped here before.  It provided more time to talk a little story, use the bathroom and plan our next stop.  Today the skies were so clear, the sun was out and the temperature was climbing back into the mid to high seventies. We cranked our H-D's and V-Twins to life and twisted throttle towards Dillingham Airfield where everyday people come to turn their world upside-down with a thrilling aerobatic ride by strapping on a parachute or climbing into an aerobatic glider with an experienced aerobatic pilot, and holding on tight for the ride of your life. Pull G's and float in zero-gravity. Dillingham Airfield is a general aviation airport operated by the Hawaii Department of Transportation under a 25-year lease from the U.S. Army. The state leases 272 acres of the 650 acre Dillingham Military Reservation and operates the single 5,000-foot runway primarily for commercial glider and sky diving operations.
      As the day rolled on, riders needed to call end-of-ride for other responsibilities, while for a few, this was our responsibility - to ride.  From the airfield, we rode back into Haleiwa for Huli Huli chicken, enjoyed by all of us. Then we rode up what we call "Snake Road", towards Kunia Road, then H-1 to South Seas Harley-Davidson where we posted our April Poker Run Flyers.  From there our next stop was to Baldwin's Shave Ice, where we ran into a HOG member, Randy Lum, getting ready to do what we were doing, eat some shave Ice.
      Our  end-of-ride was at Cycle City, were we posted two more Poker Run flyers.  It was a great day to ride - then again, almost any day is a great day to ride and to have fun in Paradise.    

JANUARY 30th, 2010
      We thought this last ride of the month would be called off due to rain, but the HOG's in the Heavens must have seen we needed to twist some throttle on this winter day in Hawaii. Some fairly intense rain covered the island of Oahu most of Friday night and into Saturday morning. 
      You can follow the story line in our ride day photos from our photographer.  We enjoyed each other's company as we ate breakfast at the Like Like Drive-In. It was a small group this morning because many would have had to ride through the rain to get to breakfast.  Those that did mopped up some breakfast kine grindz as we headed out to the parking lot to ride back out through a little rain as we pointed our V-Twins towards some clear skies.
      We rode up Beretania Street to Piikoi Street where we could catch a good entrance to H-1 West.  The itinerary was to ride to the Kapolei West Starbucks to pick up a couple of members, then ride East just far enough to find Kunia and head for the North Shore.
      We coffee'd up at Starbucks and happy that the cloudy skies had left us.  Our head road captain was able to look at the weather map on his i-touch and clearly all the clouds and rain were blowing towards Maui.  That opened up the roads for us to decide to follow through with a nice cool ride around the North Shore to Ted's Bakery.
      Today, we chose a nice little bathroom/rest stop at Waimea Valley.  The trees, the plants, the river make for a unique jungle feel in paradise.  This is always a great stop to talk story, take a group shot and look at the peacocks.  The bathrooms are clean and spacious too!
      From here, about 25 minutes further down the road is the infamous Ted's Bakery, where a lot of the surfers from around the world who come to surf the North Shore, stop to eat.  It's always busy at Ted's but locals and tourists alike share tables.  We've always been able to pull up a bench, eat, talk story and prepare for the next leg of our HOG adventure.
      From this point, we rev'd a little throttle and point our Harley's and V-Twins towards Heeia Kea Pier, a stop we haven't made in a while.  This is another rest stop to take in the beauty of the Windward side and the boat harbor, while talking story and taking a few more photos.
      The last stop just down the road into Kaneohe was at our dealership, where we talked story with Paula and her employees. We got to see Kelli, who was back after successful surgery.  Of course we spent some money, it's fun to support our dealership.  Then we took another group photo but this time getting Paula, TC and Kelli into the picture. It was end-of-ride as we all said our Aloha's to each other, hugged and made our way home in different directions.  Another great day for a HOG Adventure!      

JANUARY 23RD, 2010
     The roads were dry and HOG spirits high this Saturday, even though the VOG blew in with the Kona winds from the southwest from the Big Island.  HOG's rolled in early to Times Coffee Shop in the Ko'olau shopping center by Valley of the Temples.  Time's owner, Sharon, had the center section of her little restaurant ready for us as we began filling seats.  Our Chapter photographer   snapped a few pictures as we grazed on some breakfast grindz.  Paul drove his wife, daughter and their one-week old baby to Times to have breakfast and show member their new baby girl.  After breakfast he drove his wife and two girs home to Pearlridge, then he jumped on his V-Twin and rode back up over H-3 and met us at the dealership.
      We finished breakfast and rode to Domenico's, where for some reason lots of members were buying merchandise.  Paula was short staffed so she jumped on the register and helped to ring up sales.  She always comes to the door of the dealership, waves and stands there until the group rides out.  Our Chapter is so lucky to have that kind of support!
      A Road Captain and our Activities officer were our ride leaders. Our Assistant Director and Editor were our front road guards.  Our Treasurer and Patriot Guard Road Captain were our sweeps.  Follow our pictures and slides as we twisted throttle around the island, eventually ending up in Mililani for lunch.  After lunch, we rode over to Kaiser hospital in Moanalua to visit with our member Eddlyn's 90 year old mother as she recovers from injuries she received from a fall.
      We all agreed; HOG spirit is not only about riding and having fun.  It's about family, friends, respect and gratitude for what we have - also for what we don't have. Any day is a day for a good ride.  Today's ride was another HOG adventure for our little Chapter and big HOG spirit shared from our members.

JANUARY 18TH, 2010
      Martin Luther King holiday - another opportunity to ride our Harley's instead of going in to work.  We met at the Waikele Starbucks at 10 AM, allowing members to sleep in a little. We talked story, tanked up on some caffeine twisted our HD throttles in a very round-a-bout way to the North Shore, through back roads of Waikele, Waipahu, Royal Kunia, Wahiawa, Dillingham Airfield and Haleiwa.  We parked our Harley's along the wall at Shark's Cove, across from Foodland.  The surf was incredible and this stop turned out to be an excellent photo opportunity. In fact, this group picture with the wave crashing in the background made the Hawaii Now morning newscast on channel 7, with weatherman Dan Cook mentioning the Windward HOG group was out at Shark's Cove and if some of you don't know what HOG means, it stands for Harley Owners Group.  Pretty cool, eh? Good job Maria, your first photo on local television!
    From this stop, we had our mouths set for Uncle Bo Bo's smoked meats.  We rode past Papa Ole's, seeing that his doors were open and customers were grinding out.  We pulled into Kaa'awa and Uncle Bo Bo's only to find they were closed.  We were bummed but recouped and rode a little further and stopped at Ko'olau Ranch for lunch.  It's a beautiful stop and it did the trick . . . graze, grind, talk story and ride some more.
      Our end-of-ride stop was the Botanical Gardens in Kaneohe.  They have repaved the road in and the grounds continue in their immaculate views.  Maria continues to take awesome ride pictures, show casing our Hawaii and our members living the Harley Owners Group dream - riding and having fun in Hawaii.

JANUARY 16TH, 2010
      Pearlridge Center at Denny's Restaurant was the setting for our first Chapter meeting of 2010.  Welcomed our HOG guest from Oahu, Leonard Friedlander.  Then we got to business with officer reports. Our Secretary will have our minutes completed in a few days and our meeting minutes will be posted on our members only page.  We finished our first year on the web with a total of 63,509 page views total; averaging 4,885 views a month, 1,338 unique visitors a month, 748 first time visitors average per month and 590 returning visitors per month. 
      We began discussions for our April Poker Run and Domenico's 41st anniversary celebration as we begin planning for another Windward HOG-tasitc event with live music and HOG-awesome grindz at the end of our poker run, with lots and lots of great raffle prizes.  We discussed lots of business as we begin a new year of HOG adventures.
      Upon finishing up with our meeting, we took our signature Windward Oahu group picture and then headed out for Sandy Beach for our first stop, take advantage of awesome ocean and South Shore views and took another group shot.  Then we twisted throttle for Domenico's, our dealership, where two of our Chapter members are looking at a Softail Deluxe and an Ultra Classic - both in stock!   Now that's a way to HOG-start the new year!
      After twisting throttle from Domenico's, we headed around the Windward side towards the North Shore.  We stopped at Sunset Beach Park for another break to talk story and use the restroom. From there we rode into Haleiwa Joe's where we turned, rode past the boat harbor and out to Dillingham field to watch some par gliders jump from perfectly good airplanes.  From there, some of us rode back into Haleiwa into Cholo's where most of us had lunch while it was end of ride for others.  After grindz, it was end of ride as we made our way back to our homes to rest our Harley's.

JANUARY 9TH, 2010
    Today's ride started as a Ladies of Harley HOG family affair.  Ladies of Harley Officer Maria Pesnell had a great idea about having a baby shower before our ride at Times Coffee Shop, for Cathy Bianchini.  Her due date was TODAY!  Members brought gifts of baby clothing and Wal-Mart gift cards.  Her husband and Chapter member Paul, also have their 18 month old daughter, Raylee.  This was a great way to start a new HOG adventure in just the second week of a new year for Windward Oahu HOG.
    Our first stop was after a short ride from Times Coffee Shop to our dealership.  It's been a few weeks since we've rode in to give an aloha to Paula and her employees.  We received 7 renewal forms.  We currently have 4 applications of membership waiting on their USHOG numbers to populate in HOG's database. The fun continues to grow.
    We mounted our V-Twins, twisted throttle and rode towards Like Like to begin our first "Tunnel Ride" of the year.  From Like Like, to H-1 East, up the Pali Highway, left at Castle Junction to the H-3 on ramp, down to the Marine Corp base turn-around, then up and over H-3 to H-1 West, with a bathroom and coffee stop at Waikelee Starbucks.
    By that time, Paul headed back home to be with his expectant wife - baby is coming anytime - Karen needed to ride on to Mililani - Studs Michael needed to pick up Maria Maria, and the rest of us took the back road to Kunia to ride towards Haleiwa and Pizza Bob's.  We took the back way into the boat harbor and Pizza Bob's.  Stud's Michael and Maria met us for lunch.
    After lunch, we rode around the North Shore, taking in the sights of a Windward HOG ride.  The HOG mission to ride and have fun was accomplished again.  What a great way to start the year! 

JANUARY 2ND, 2010
  Maria and Charley rolled into Times Coffee Shop at 8:15 AM. Soon after, Pete with Cindy, Tom, Oren, Kile with Aubrey, Trevelyan and Kiley, Daniel, Paul, John with guest  passenger Carol Pohina (friend of Priscilla's), Johnny and Pricilla, Joe, Mark and Debra came rolling in. We mopped up some good grinds.
    After the feast, we went outside, took our group shot, had our safety briefing, and rolled West to Kaena Point State Park.  We then twisted some more H-D throttle and headed back East, roaring through China Town, Honolulu and Waikiki. In  Waikiki we stopped at a light, Ted and his wife just so happened to be crossing right in front of us in the cross walk. 
    We turned right at the light and pulled over to the side of the road so I could give Ted the pictures from yesterdays ride (all 876 of them) on a DVD Charley burned for him. He will have lots of HOGriffic memories to share with his Walnut Creek Chapter in California!! Charley and Maria caught up with the group at the shaved ice place and cooled off.  Charley experienced brain freeze with too much shaved ice!! We hopped on our HOGs and headed North around Blow Hole and on to Waimanalo.  There, some members broke off as we rode toward Haleiwa. Just another beautiful day in Hawaii to ride our HOGs!!!!

JANUARY 1ST, 2010 
Charlie and Maria rendezvoused with Mike Suan and Hal Wilson at the National Guard Armory in Wahiawa. They rode down to Waikiki together and met up with our guest HOG rider, Ted Chase at Chase Hawaiian Rentals along with Pete, Cindy, Karl, Paul, Oren and Frank. We mounted our Harleys and headed to the IHOP parking garage only 1 block away. Unfortunately, the garage was full and we had to leave. After making a couple circles around the block trying to find parking, we decided to twist some HD throttle, get the heck out of Waikiki and we headed to the Pearlridge Denney's. After scarfing down some good grinds, Hal took off to go pick up Eddie. A short while later, Johnny with Priscilla, John and Brad came rolling in, and then Hal with Eddie.
    After a brief safety meet and greet, we mounted up and headed for the mountains with John and Johnny leading the group. We first took the H-3 to Kaneohe, then pointed our V-Twins towards the North Shore making a few stops along the way for group shots and breaks.
    After checking out the big waves and small bikinis, we rolled on toward Haleiwa to make some noise. Unfortunately the road was closed right after Breakers and we had to turn around and go out the back way. We made our way out the back side of town and headed for snake road, then down Kunia road. Just before we reached the H-1, John took us on a little detour through the back roads to Farrington Highway. We made it back to Waikiki right at 5 PM for Ted to return his H-D rental and thanked us for a wonderful time.  This blog came from Charley Pesnell, our Membership Officer.

DECEMBER 31ST Last ride of the year!  A few of us met at the Aloha gas station in Waikiki, talked story and twisted throttle <quietly> through Waikiki, pointing our V-Twins towards Kapiolani Park, through Kahala, Hawaii Kai, passed the Blowhole and into Kailua where we dropped off a late Christmas present at Oren's house.
    We had planned a 'round-the-island' ride; traffic was light and we didn't have to worry about people popping fireworks next to the road as we made our way around the Windward side, passed the North Shore. It was a cool ride (literally) as the temp's dropped into the high 60's in some places.  This was also the 2nd night of the month for a full moon, called a "blue moon" because it happens only once in a while.
    Our group was small.  Once we rode into darkness and we were on the curvy two lane roads, the camera was put away and we just enjoyed our ride and each others company - one last ride for 2009!  With Shiiro's closed in Waimalu, we rode to Denny's in Pearlridge to mop up some grindz and talk story.

DECEMBER 26TH was our Chapter's second night ride of the year.  This ride was to celebrate Christmas lights.  We met on the Windward side at Domenico's.  Our dealership was closed for the holidays which gave us lots of parking.  By 6PM, we had 23 bikes and 30 people. 
   Our first guest was Cassandra Sangermano,  visiting from Daytona, Florida where she has been a college student for three years;   she is the daughter of members Joe and Trinidad.  Miyuki, our Editor Frank Schultz's wife made her first ever ride on the back of their Harley, this night. It was really neat to have her out on our Chapter's second night ride of the year and to get another opportunity to meet chapter members, after our Christmas party.  Our third guest was reverend Bob Smith.  This was his second ride with our Chapter.  He was a guest of our 2010 assistant director, James Butterworth.
    We had put an e-mail invite out for this ride to our other two HOG chapters in our HOG family on Oahu, per member request at our December chapter meeting.  But it was an all Windward Oahu HOG member ride tonight.
    Our newly elected activities officer planning this event was unable to ride at the last minute.  His replacement at his job called in sick and his supervisor gave him no option but to work until 10PM.  Mike, we gave you honorable mention, missed you, and twisted our throttles into the night.
    We rode through mid 60's degree weather as we crossed over from the Windward side, riding up over H-3.  Now THAT'S downright cold.....   brrrrrr.....  in Hawaii!   I'd say it had to be some of the best riding weather on the planet.  A half moon came out in a Hawaiian cloudless sky.
    We picked up Lopaka in Mililani, our 24th bike, as we took a shi shi break at Starbucks and tanked up on some hot Cheniago (Starbucks coffee) double and triple shots.  We saw some beautiful lights in Mililani, then made our way to Shiro's for some Saturday night hot saimin and grindz. Our secretary called a head by about 30 minutes.  Shiro's doesn't take reservations but they appreciated the call and made room for 30 of us in the back.   It was a perfect fit.  Their manager thanked us for the heads up and our business.  We had a blast!  
    We converged in front of Shiro's after eats for a group shot, then we rode into Honolulu to see the city lights.  From there, we went through Waikiki, Kapiolani Park, Diamond Head and through Kahala.  We ended the ride at the Aloha gas station in Kahala.  Karen was escorted by Oren back to Kailua via Waimanalo.  The rest of us headed back West on H-1.  Some of us split at Like Like, while other riders rode on towards H-2 back towards Mililani, Wahiawa and the North Shore.  Those that rode up Like Like went to Joe and Trinidad's to check out their festive condo.  Incredible Christmas trees, ornaments, trains, monorails, and more!!  You'll have to check out the pictures.
    Yep, we twisted more H-D and metric throttle into post Christmas eve, saw some neat Christmas lights, experienced some chilly weather and warm HOG spirit.  Truly another HOG adventure.        

DECEMBER 19TH 5:30PM was the beginning of Windward Oahu Harley-Owners Group #835 first Christmas party; and what a party it was.  How do you really know it was a great party?  Ask the 48 adults or 6 children who attended.  The games - the laughter - the raffle prizes - more games - Santa Claus - a birthday celebration - the grindz - and the singing. . . . all so much fun.  You'll have to check out the pictures!

DECEMBER 19TH  Another week flew by in a Harley Davidson hurry.  Today was our Chapter meeting. We had a total of 23 members attending  We gave a HOG HELLO to Jen Aldrete, our Big Island Windward HOG member.  Jen came up to Oahu to join in our Chapter Christmas party, and to see James.  Or was it the other way around?  It was good to have her smile and her Ohana spirit back in the group.
   Members gave a HOG welcome back to our associate member Priscilla May who rode in with Santa Claus (more about that later).  We have missed her smile and Ohana spirit too - somehow that dresser of Johnny's doesn't look the same with her not riding double-up, pointing out the potholes in the road, signaling lane changes and snapping a picture here and there.
    Yup, 23 members at our Chapter meeting and we didn't have a lot of business to cover. . . . BUT one important piece of business was the nomination, acceptance and election into office of our new Activities Officer, Mike Cantu.  Mike has been a National HOG member and a local member with another chapter for several years. Mike recently joined the Windward Oahu Chapter.  He noticed there was a missing person on the Officer's page of the website - a volunteer position that needed filledwith HOG passion and Harley-Davidson spirit. He told us he was ready to get into service and with his belief in HOG, he understood that without volunteers, the Harley Owners Group® as we know it would not exist. Chapters would not form. Events would not happen. Many programs would not be possible. In other words, volunteers comprise an essential, highly valued part of the H.O.G.® organization. 
   Mike also understood that our Chapter officers believe in supporting HOG's direction in the HOG Handbook, to be willing to develop our officer replacements and encourage individual members with a desire for service to jump on and hang on while they help take the Chapter in a direction the members want to go. It's actually pretty cool stuff. 
   Mike  is excited about the Chapter and members are excited about his desire for service.  Mike's first HOG adventure is to help plan is our Christmas lights ride next Saturday night, the next evening after Christmas.  Mike has the local newspaper with all the addresses of awesome Christmas light displays and will have it mapped out very soon.  Member's will be getting an email update as plans develop.  We know we will be meeting at Domenico's at 5:30PM, Saturday evening and this will be our Chapter Informal Ride, taking the place of our daytime Saturday ride. 
   This is an open event to chapter members, national H.O.G. members and other guests as desired.  It was brought to our attention at the chapter meeting that a Honolulu HOG member has asked if some of their members could join our Chapter on a Christmas lights ride.  It was decided that because our Chapter has SO MUCH Aloha HOG spirit, we would put an invite out to both Honolulu and Waipahu HOG members.
   We then moved on to talk about our Christmas party, to take place this evening. All but one of the members present for the Chapter meeting were going.  With spouses, partners and kids, we would have 50 people at our very first Windward Oahu HOG Christmas party.   Doesn't it seem like we have had a lot of firsts this year?
   We had a group picture but with no Chapter flag.  Another first (or second?) for our Chapter director not to bring the flag.  Different M/C, so many things going on with planning for the party, he forgot the flag.  We still had a great picture and then we rode for Round Top.  It was already announced on the calendar and in the meeting that today would be a short ride, as several of our members were arriving early to the Christmas party to setup. Check out our pictures from today's ride from our photographer.  Another HOG adventure as our HOG year comes near to a HOG end.

DECEMBER 12TH was an incredibly clear, crisp, Hawaiian winter day.  If you take the time to view our pictures from Maria, you will how awesome our weather for our ride was.  We started out at our windward favorite Times Coffee shop for breakfast and to talk story.  The primary officers throttled into Kaneohe Bank of Hawaii to take care of the account signature changes, then met up with the group at our dealership, Domenico's.
    It was good to have our Head Road Captain back in the saddle.  Daniel led for the first half of the day, taking us up the ridges above Pearl City.  The views were perfect, as you'll see the background of Ford Island and Pearl Harbor in our group picture.  Daniel led us over to one of his favorite shave ice stands in Aiea, where we took a break, mopped up some shave ice and drank Starbucks triple shots.  Daniel headed for the surf in Waikiki after this so with a new ride leader, we headed for the country and the North Shore.
    Gary twisted throttle for H-1 and Kunia Road.  With our road guards Brad and Frank protected the pack, we safely navigated through freeway traffic and launched into a nice cruise on a virtually traffic-less Kunia road.  It was a great cruise as we made our way to the North Shore.  We rode through the Haleiwa bypass and on to Ted's Bakery, where we enjoyed pie, talked story and eventually called it end of ride as half the riders turned around and the other half rode on around the windward side to Kaneohe and Honolulu.  It was another HOG adventure.  

DECEMBER 6TH was Honolulu's 35th annual Toys for Tots or "Toy Run" sponsored by Street Bikers United and the United States Marine Corps.  We have some awesome pictures of the event, which may have topped 6,000 motorcycles.  Our Chapter took the initiative to donate to SBU $200 towards the costs of the event.
   Members from the West-side and North Shore met the rest of us at Starbucks off of Ward Avenue at 7:30AM. We were able to roll at 8:06 for Magic Island and get a good spot up front - albeit we had to have lots of HOG patience with just over a three hour wait before SBU started the event.
    It was all for a good cause though - to raise thousands of toys for kids all over the Hawaiian Islands - distributed by the Marine Corp and Salvation Army.  We were entertained by live music while individuals went throughout the crowd collecting donations and selling SBU and Toy Run shirts.
    We were able to ride of Montserrat Avenue pretty well, deliver our toys, regroup and ride to Hawaii Kai where we stopped for lunch, gas and refreshments.  We then rode past Sandy Beach, towards and up H-3, to H-2 and Haleiwa to talk some story and basically call it end of ride.  The three hour wait at Magic Island took a lot out of most of us and we were ready to call it a weekend.

MILWAUKEE HOG VISITOR  December 3rd brought us a HOG friend who's ridden with our members in our Chapter three times now, over the past couple of years.  He needed a quick little get-a-way from the cold back East.  Six members either had the day off or took the day off to enjoy another HOG adventure with a visiting HOG member.
  
ITALIAN - HAWAIIAN INFORMAL RIDE  What an incredible HOG adventure meeting Stefano, Gianfranco and Marcello, HOG members from Italy.  Members met these guys at Big Kahuna Harley Rentals in Waikiki on Friday, November 27, 2009.  We did introductions and then rode over to Bob's on Dillingham for a cheap eats, quick and hot breakfast. We looked at the sky and made a decision to twist our Harley throttles towards Kunia Road and to Haleiwa. We wanted to give our visiting HOG® members a good HOG tour on their first day riding.
    After a short stop at the Market Place, we took the back roads to Dillingham Airfield, talked story and watched some parachute gliders.  That was good fun. On the the way to cruising towards for Laie Point, our visiting HOG's got to see the surf at Sun Set Beach and the Pipeline.  We kept riding and made it to the point for group pictures and getting to watch near monster waves pounding the rocks. We spent time to talk story about the history of the area, take lots of pictures then start our Harleys and head towards Papa Ole's for lunch.  This was a courtesy grindz stop to personally thank Papa Ole's for being a sponsor of our Bikers for Hunger benefit poker ride. We mopped up grindz then headed towards Honolulu.  It was a long day for six of us because we were crazy enough to stay up and/or get up early in the morning to hit a store or two for "Black Friday", the busiest and best bargain day of the year.   We still had a great ride then, there was a surprise  birthday party at the Outback Steakhouse for this old webmaster - just like we did a few months back for Windwardhog member Johnny Franklin.  It was good fun, good atmosphere to talk HOG story and enjoy each other's company.  I received several very nice Harley gifts, to include a couple of neat gifts from our Italian visitors.

NOVEMBER 28th was our regular informal ride.  We met our Italian HOG visitors at the Aloha gas station in Waikiki and twisted H-D throttle up Like Like for Times Coffee Shop in the Valley of the Temples.  After breakfast, we rode directly to Domenico's where we met our dealership sponsor Paula and a program director from the Hawaii Foodbank.  We presented her with the "BIG" check, she gave a speech, we gave a speech and group pictures were taken.  There was no press but Don Fern has some connections he plans to send the group pictures to.
    We then rode towards the Pali Lookout, sharing some local stories with our HOG visitors, while they checked out the views.  Next quick stop was air in Paul's front tire - no problems, just a little low.  We then rode into the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific, took some pictures and headed up the hill to Round Top.  There was a some debris on the road but nothing dangerous.  Our visitors again got to enjoy the ride and the sights.  More good fun.  We then headed back down the Round Top, up through Manoa Valley, then towards Hawaii Kai, with a run up one of the ridges at the very start, to catch the awesome views of the back side of Diamond Head coming down.  We made our way to Big City Diner in Kailua, another sponsor of our poker run.
    After talking a lot of story, sharing a lot of laughter and eating a late lunch, we headed for the backside of Kailua towards the H-3, down to the Marine Corp base, up to the Kaneohe marina outlook, then up and over H-3 to H-1 and a fun ride out to Kapolei Starbucks for coffee and another hour of sharing stories.  Today was a great day for a ride.  Pictures will be coming.  Charley is putting all three days riding with our Italian HOG visitors onto one DVD for them.  We'll get a copy of the DVD to start building ride pictures for our Chapter website.  
   
NOVEMBER 29th was a ride to Waianae for our visitors to experience a last day of their 3-day HOG adventure on the island of Oahu, "The Gathering Place".  It was another day of great fun and laughter, and good riding.  We have epic pictures of our HOG visitors enjoying their last day on their Harley-Davidson rental motorcycles.  We made new HOG brothers from Italy.  Indeed this was a special experience.

NOVEMBER 21st CHAPTER MEETING HOG adventure had a definite different and fun HOG twist.  We rolled out of the Aloha gas station in Waikiki at 11AM instead of our normal informal ride departure time of 9:15 on the Windward side.  We rode through Waikiki, Kapiolani Park, headed up and around Diamond Head, through Kahala and Hawaii Kai, for our lunch Chapter meeting at the Outback Steakhouse.  Maria Pesnell, our ride photographer has great photo's of our HOG adventure.
    This month's chapter meeting was a little longer than usual. We had 33 adults attending, this was the largest Chapter meeting we have ever had. We needed to complete our officer elections; share praise for our 2009 officers service; vote on our donation amount to the Hawaii Foodbank; vote on a donation to Kelli Inouye; vote on a donation to SBU-HI for the Toy Run; approval of funds for a two-year renewal of our domain "windwardhog.com"; also approve a new two-year contract for our new domain host.  That's a lot of HOG business to cover.
     Our members attending the meeting voted to donate our entire profit of $2,165.47 earned from our "Biker's for Hunger" poker run to benefit the Hawaii Foodbank.  That's pretty HOG-awesome!!  Our H-D dealer had to be on the Big Island today and although the monies will be given to the Foodbank on Monday, our official check passing and photo public relations op will be on next Saturday's Informal Ride at Domenico's.
    Our officer elections for 2010 were conducted without a hitch. There were no contested positions nor were there any last minute changes.  Our volunteers elected to office for 2010 offer energy and a team effort to support the chapter members while continuing the HOG Mission within the Windward Oahu Harley-Owners Group: To Ride and Have Fun; to do our best to follow the direction from the HOG Handbook.
    Hawaii State 2009 Rally Coordinator Larry Holu came out to our Chapter meeting to enjoy grindz and some of our Windward HOG Spirit while thanking Windward Oahu HOG Chapter members for our participation this year at our State Rally. 
    Our domain name was renewed for two-years; our webmaster moved a ton of files that make up our Chapter website, over 18 hours to another domain host and renewed our website for two years at less cost of the first year of service.  We now have a database program that allows us to have individual, time sensitive password protection for all members access to our members only page.  The password expires when the yearly membership application expires.  There are other useful functions that will be disclosed as they are activated.
    We sang happy birthday to Trevelyan, Kile and Aubree's son.  He turned 8 years old this week.  We passed the hat to build him a little birthday cash to add to the birthday goodies Donna Lee Lloyd had picked up for Trevelyan.
   Yes, we did get to twist some throttle and ride between the clouds, back to Domenico's to present Kelli with a $500 check to use however she needs to offer support in her time of need during her cancer treatment.  Domenico's was end-of-ride, as we said goodbye to our HOG guest riders Mark and Debra, along with our HOG friends.                 

NOVEMBER 14, 2009 GRAZING HOGS This ride blog starts out at Denny's in Pearlridge on..  We're on a HOG® mission to give back to our sponsors who supported our "Bikers for Hunger" Poker Run.  Denny's supplied Grand Slam breakfast certificates. Our waitress was Cindy.  They gave us the back room; their service was fast and their breakfast was Ono.  Thank you Denny's in Pearlridge.
    We talked story in front of Denny's as three riders caught up with us and then we twisted throttle for the driest part of the island - Waianae.  Traffic was light as we rode towards the Leeward Coast. We stopped at Burger King to meet up with John, Hal and Edlynn.  The weather was cool on the coast, for Oahu.  Maria captured a group shot on the beach, we talked a little more story then twisted a lot of throttle from Waianae to Kaneohe to pay a visit to our dealership. We rode through a rain down pour (in Waianae of all places) but it only last about 30 seconds.  We dried off in another few minutes of riding.  Four riders peeled off towards H-2 and we headed for H-3.  We caught some light drizzles but we lucked out again as we crossed over through the tunnel into Kaneohe.
    We talked story with Paula, the employees, drank some coffee, ate some donuts and talked more story with each other. We even got to bump into our past director Jeff Pompadur and his wife Debra, who had also stopped in at the dealership.
    This is where our photographer put away the camera due to threatening rain and we rode towards Waimanalo for Hawaii Kai Zippy's for a late lunch.  We continued to dodge the rain, riding beneath the clouds just enough to miss it all.  We enjoyed another coastal ride past Sandy Beach and the Blow Hole, as the waves were crashing against rocks and cliffs.  It made for more HOG-tacular views.  Grindz were Ono at Zippy's as we talked more story.  This was end-of-ride, as we rode through Hawaii Kai and into Honolulu.  Another Saturday HOG® adventure.     

SOUTHERN HOG STORY Less than forty-eight hours before our Hawaii Foodbank Fund Raiser Poker Run kicked into full swing on October 31st, Windward HOG member Johnny Franklin returned home to Oahu from a bitter sweet two-week journey in Alabama.  After a couple of  decades in the islands, Johnny was called home to Alabama because his brother was in the hospital and his health was failing.  Johnny was able to spend time with his brother before he passed.  Our members offered heart felt condolences to our HOG® brother.
    JOHNNY shared with us that his momma suffered a heart attack during the same time and needed surgery.  With blessings, family support and great doctors, his momma is recovering.  While dealing with these hardships, one of his old friends lent him a scoot, which gave Johnny time to twist some throttle, keep his mind clear and see some old stomping grounds and friends.  Johnny said he got to ride 100 miles one way to meet up with the club his brother used to ride with, and they all rode together to his brother's funeral.
    THE HOG® family stretches across oceans and around the world.  HOG® spirit is just one of the many things that makes Harley-Owners Groups so special, through all the good, the bad and the sad.  Click on the links to enjoy Johnny's Heart of Dixie larger pictures.  Mahalo Johnny for sharing your story and being a part of the National HOG® Family.              

HOG BLOG: On this first ride in November, the morning of the seventh brought rains to the island of Oahu, which made the ride in to Times Coffee Shop through rain over the H-3 and Like Like, and even the ride around the North Shore, wet.  HOG's pulled into the parking lot in front of Times, got out of their rain gear and headed for hot coffee and breakfast grindz.
   WE enjoyed talking story, mopping up breakfast then headed to the parking lot for a safety briefing and group picture.  We gave another HOG® welcome to guest riders Mike and Kim. They experienced our HOG® camaraderie two-weeks ago, enjoyed our Poker Run to raise funds for the Hawaii Foodbank last week and came back for more!   We also welcomed Blake back for his second week with Windward Oahu HOG for his first informal ride. Blake too got to experience our HOG® event last week, and rode with our sweep group picking up our poker stop volunteers and then rode into Domenico's. Blake's scoot is a brand new Street Bob.  We also welcomed back our newest associate HOG® member, Paul Bianchini.  Paul had to wait on shifter linkage parts last week but is back on the road.  Our members enjoy sharing their aloha HOG® spirit with our guest riders and new members.
   IF you follow our pictures - mahalo to Maria and Charlie - you can easily follow our Saturday HOG® adventure.  We left a wet and rain battered windward side and twisted our throttles, riding through Aikahi and Enchanted Lakes as the roads were drying out.  Maria caught some beautiful pictures of the foothills around Kailua. We rode through Waimanalo headed to Sandy Beach to meet up with one of our members, talk story along with another group photo opportunity.  We had left the cloudy skies and wet roads for sunshine! Some of us had to peel off our chaps while other members were peeling off their rain gear.
     WE then twisted some throttle up the pristine coastal cliffs past blowhole and down into Hawaii Kai where we stopped at the Chevron for gas. From there we headed towards Waialae Avenue to ride up Sierra Drive for some great views.  We had to turn early because Waialae Avenue had a block party going on and the streets were blocked off.  No problem, we rode around and heading up . . . more great riding pictures.  The skies were clear, the road dry, so we decided to ride Round Top.  We found out once we reached the top that this was a first time experience for four of our riders!
     WE headed down the long way around Round Top for Bob's BBQ, a mouth watering destination for a late lunch.  It was time to eat some local grindz and talk some more story.  Michael Suan needed to head off to a party; Charley and Maria also had a party to attend for neighbor just returning from Iraq. We said our Aloha's as they rode home.  We then headed for Alewa Heights, then back down to the Pali and up the old Pali Highway  with end of ride at the Pali Lookout.  We had great fun despite starting out in the rain.  We found sun, did our Windwardhog moto 'ride to eat and eat to ride' and had fun.
     SUNDAY will be a day of rest . . . after we clean our Harley's.  Have a safe week - twist more throttle and enjoy the ride while keeping the rubber side down, shiny side up.