Lysa Napolitano, Call Coordinator ~ Century 21 Sundance

To help RE/MAX Property Centre raise money for Rose Roberts, one of their Realtors®, who is currently undergoing chemo in her fight against breast cancer.

I met "Team Rose" at the Volusia Home Builders Association Saturday Morning bright and early to get set up for a Poker Run.

By "Team Rose" I mean pretty much anyone from RE/MAX Property Centre that wasn't out showing property on Saturday and AC Coluccio from Professional Title's Port Orange Office.

Sue Morrison was in charge of getting things ready and she had bagels, donuts & coffee awaiting our bikers. The bagels needed to be cut, tickets to be tended too and we had young volunteers visiting who were ready to handle the job!

Big Lots had donated cases of Campbell's Chicken Noodle and Tomato Soups with special Breast Cancer packaging and Sue used those for the center pieces on the tables...

About 10AM our riders began to pull in ready to go..

Once at the Home Builders Association the riders were greeted by Christy Cagle from Bank of America & Ann Dalton, RE/MAX Associate who signed them up and directed them to the coffee, bagels, donuts, the prize table and raffle tickets along with 50/50 tickets ..

About 11AM some friends of mine showed up, the Palm Coast Red Knights. This is the third run in the last 6 months I've worked with them on and am proud to be able to call them friends. They are a group of active or retired firefighters that love to ride.

From the Home Builders Association the riders headed north to Hooligans, then to Hijackers in Flagler County, then south to Hanky Panky's in Ormond By The Sea and from there to the stop I was working, the Main Street Station, formally owned by Bill France the founder of NASCAR. After they left me they went to the Wing House, then back to the HBA.

The Chrome Angels, who rode out from Orlando also met me at Main Street Station. I had already met Becky, but had yet to meet Jessi, AKA Sundancer, their President. We had exchanged a couple emails last year when I did a post for their Pink Ribbons For Life ride.

My biggest thrill of the day was introducing Jessi to Joe Vece, the President of the Palm Coast Red Knights. I think you'll be reading about them riding together in the months to come

Neither Jessi or Joe have ever met Rose, yet here they were riding in a poker run for her. That's what it is all about, isn't it?

Once back at the Home Builders Association a free BBQ put on by Tom O'Quinn from Allstate Insurance, O'Quinn Agency and the raffles...

Radio Bob was there to spin music and call the raffle numbers. If you look real hard, you can see him in the corner of the top photo.

Three Chrome Angels that rode out from Orlando. What a great group of ladies!

Rock Hartley standing with Sundancer who is the President of the Chrome Angels.

We had a total of 91 folks sign up for the event and it raised $2,500 for Rose!

The poker run was actually the 4th event that Rose's friends put on to help raise money for her.

The grand total from all 4 events is just shy of $10,000 to help Rose.

I know Rose will be forever grateful to all the strangers that have come together to help her when she needed it most.

I felt proud to meet all the wonderful people on Saturday that worked so hard to put this together. I also felt proud to be a part of this event too. (Yes, I bought my 50/50 tickets and raffle tickets, even won a couple shirts!)

There is no better feeling in the world then doing just a little something extra for someone else.

If you would like to donate, please visit Helpushelprose.com. They have some beautiful Breast Cancer themed bracelets for purchase, with the proceeds going to Rose.

Hopefully one day we won't have to do these poker runs and benefits anymore...

Until that day you can bet there will be a few from the Biker Community & Real Estate Community pitching in to help.

It isn't often my 9-5 life and my weekend life blend in together, in fact this will be the first time ever and I will be hanging out in the Real Estate World while wearing my Leathers!

We are getting together to help this beautiful woman pictured to the left.

Her name is Rose Roberts, a licensed Florida Real Estate Agent who hangs her license with RE/MAX Property Centre of Ormond Beach.

Rose was diagnosed with Breast Cancer earlier this year. She went in for a lumpectomy, but ended up having a complete mastectomy.

Like many Real Estate agents, Rose does not have health insurance to cover the surgery, chemo and every day bills. Rose is a very successful agent, however one just doesn't jump right back into work after having a surgery like the one she's had. There is a lot of healing involved.

I didn't hear about this through my office. I got an email in February from someone I had never met who was referred to me by the editor of Florida Bikers Digest asking for my help. I explained that I was getting ready for Bike Week and then the St. Jude event, as soon as that was done I would assist in any way I could.

The first thing I did was ask around about Rose. Everyone gushed about her, telling me what a special person Rose is. I wondered why no one had told me about this sooner. They had a huge garage sale to raise money for her and were working two other possible events.

A week after receiving the email I was at the Broken Spoke hoping to preregister some riders for our Bikes and Blues for St. Jude event when I ran into a Chrome Angel. The Chrome Angels are a group of woman who raise money specifically to help woman with cancer. I mentioned to her about Rose, she told me that she would talk to the C.A. President and have her contact me, if not I was to contact her. Come to find out Rose was already on their agenda of women who needed assistance with bills.

To give you an idea of Rose's bills could be, Karen George did a post where she included the cost of her chemo on 9/26/2007. She mentions that chemo treatments range between $5,000 and $20,000 per treatment.

Enter the Bikers! A lot of members of the Daytona Board of Realtors®, folks in the mortgage business and new home sales ride so what better way to raise money in our area then a Poker Run for Rose?

Sign Up At:

The Home Builders Association,

33520 W. ISB, Daytona Beach

Registration begins at 9AM @ $15 Poker Hand

First Bike Out 10:30am • Last Bike In 4pm

50/50 • Raffle • Free Food • MusicBest Hand Grand Prize $500

2nd Place $250 • 3rd Place $100

1st Stop: Houligans, Destination Daytona US1, Ormond Beach

2nd Stop: High Jackers, SR100, Palm Coast, (by the Flagler Airport)

3rd Stop: Hanky Panky's, 1088 Ocean Shore, Ormond Beach

4th Stop: Main Street Station, 316 Main Street, Daytona Beach

5th Stop: Wing House, on ISB, Daytona Beach

Back to Home Builders Association FOR A FREE BBQ

Sponsored by Allstate Insurance, O'Quinn Agency

For Questions Please contact Sue Morrison, 386 290-6737

If you can't attend the Poker Run, there are other ways you can donate, (but you're going to miss a good time and some good food!).

The first way is buy visiting Helpushelprose.com. There is a Paypal account set up on the home page, or you can go to Fundraiser page and purchase a pink ribbon bracelet.

The other way you can help Rose is buy sending your donations to:

“Rose Roberts Fund” Floridian Bank, 1696 N Clyde Morris Blvd., Daytona Beach, FL 32117

But, wouldn't you rather come out on a beautiful Saturday afternoon and play while helping a fellow Real Estate agent? Yeah, that's what I thought! I'll see you there on May 10th!

The Mickey Jones 2008 Bikes & Blues for St Jude Children's Research Hospital events last weekend were a huge success!

We don't have a finally tally of the event totals yet, but I can tell you that we passed last years amount of $37,500!

We could not have done this without the help of our all of the sponsors that stepped up to the plate to make our events as successful as they were and I would like to give them each a little recognition.

Where better to that then right here on Active Rain and Localism?

In no particular order, here are some very special people and companies from Volusia & Flagler Counties and even beyond that I am very proud to be associated with:

Cancun Lagoon Bar & Grill Ocean Waters LLC Grand Seas Resorts Daytona Pennysaver

Azinger Golf The Iron Horse Saloon WHTQ 96.5 FM Backstage Pass Mullinax Ford-Mercury

DSPNTV.COM WHOG 95.7 FM Frank & Tracy Hot Action Sportswear Bubba Gump

Legion Riders Post 270 The Red Knights The Christian Motorcycle Association

Ed Williams & Florida Coca-Cola Bottling Co. Florida Bikers Digest Magazine

WNDB 1150 AM WELE 1380 AM Kevin Bowler & Rene Kennedy of Daytona Beverage

Iron Dave Adams Marvin Miller & Miller Real Estate Thunder Roads Magazine

Full Throttle Magazine Cuervo Black The Blizzard 97.7 FM Blue Chip U. S. A.

Robin Hangers Car Shop On The Fringe Leather

Office Depot in Ormond Beach Safe Ship in Ormond Beach Hawkeye Signs

And last but least!

The City Of Ormond Beach,

Mayor Fred Costello

and The Ormond Beach Police Department

Thanks so much to all of you for your involvement in the 2008 Bikes & Blues With Mickey Jones and

The Mickey Jones Golf Classic.

You helped us make it a success for the third year in a row!

In the video that Mickey put together for this years event he ends it by saying..

"Together We Can Make A Difference"

I am posting this to let you and our sponsors know that

"Together We Made A Difference"

Thank You from Gypsy and the 2008 Bikes and Blues Committee!

Bubba Baker is an artist in many ways...

He did his first tattoo in 1976 but he didn't really get into that art until 1982. He bought himself a motor home and started hitting bike events and such around the country tattooing on the road. That quickly grew old for him though and he came back home to Florida.

Bubba once told me if he had to do one more Harley Davidson shield he was going to go nuts. It got to the point where he could do a shield without a stencil he had done so many.

Bubba had an urge to work in film behind the camera and went to film school, graduating in 1989. Instead of being behind the lens though, Bubba ended up in front of it working with people such as Charlize Theron in the Academy Award winning film Monster, Jim Carrey in Ace Ventura, Pet Detective and Will Smith and Martin Lawrence in Bad Boys 2. Of course there is Running Cool about two bikers riding across country. He also made small screen appearances in shows like Walker Texas Ranger, In The Heat of The Night and Renegade.

Bubba is now doing a local T.V. show opposite Gonzo, Crazy Dave & Wide Open Brain called Real American Biker TV which can been seen on Bright House channel 21 in the Orlando area. (Hopefully we will be able to see in Volusia County real soon) Photo Courtesy of REAL AMERICAN BIKER TV

In 1994 he opened Bubba Baker's TATTOO THIS! at Flea World in Sanford, FL. His studio is the longest standing studio at Flea World, and the first studio to ever have a live web cam, although some would like to argue that with him.

One day this huge man walked by, about 6ft 7in and 460lbs, sporting a tattoo on his arm. Bubba yelled at him, "Hey man, I can fix that tatoo for you!" The big man very slowly turned around, (Bubba said he got a tad nervous about that point) looked at Bubba and just said "Really, how much?" Turns out the big guy was WWF Wrestler Big John Tenta, AKA Earthquake/The Shark/Avalanche and Golga.

Bubba and Big John became fast friends until Big John lost his fight to bladder cancer in June of 2006. Bubba has remained good friends with Big John's son who still lives in the area.

While visiting with Bubba on Saturday, Big John's son showed up with his father-in-law Bill to get a new tattoo. Bill gave me permission to photograph the process of getting inked by Bubba.

Bill had decided on a Patriotic Bald Eagle tattoo on his forearm.

The outline..

Adding the blue to the flag.

Now the red in the flag, the yellow and orange to the eagles beak & talons.

The finished product!

If you want to get a portrait done, Bubba asks that you bring the photo of the portrait in to him a week in advance so he can get the portrait ready for the tattoo process. He also asks for a $50.00 deposit from you at that time.

Portraits begin at $250.00 a head depending on the size of the tattoo and where you will be putting it.

All other tattoos vary in price but Bubba will be more then happy to quote you one if you stop by and see him.

I met Bubba thru Bikes and Blues with Mickey Jones for St. Jude Children's Research Hospital last April. He has been a part of Bikes and Blues since its inception and donates gift certificates for our auction at our bike event with the proceeds going to St. Jude.

Come on out on April 5th for our Bikes & Blues event, meet Bubba at the Iron Horse, and now that you've seen his work, bid on his gift certificates and help the kids of St. Jude! (We will have a gal there wearing some of his work too)

Bubba's images and logos © 2008 Bubba Productions/TATTOO THIS! and used with his permission.

Friday, March 7th arrived bright and beautiful ~ however we were under a tornado watch at 7AM and we had a strong weather front due to move through sometime in the afternoon. Our guests had gone back out the night before, we weren't going to wake them up, we'd let them play on their schedule.

Our original plan was to go to a Motorcycle Swamp Meetat the Daytona Flea Market. As the morning wore on and we watched the front approach, we decided to keep it close to home. Our guests needed Iron Horse shirts so we'd run over there and see how things went.

I checked the radar and the storms seemed a good two hours away as we left the house, well no sooner did we park our bikes at the Iron Horse then the heavens open up with lightning tearing across the sky... Here ~ see for yourself!

Oh, the Iron Horse has a Burn Out Pit right next to where we parked and of course someone had to try it. (Its better to ruin ones tires in the rain) You can't see the bike in the photo but you can see the smoke he causes and boy did it stink!

We don't mind riding in the rain, but we don't want to stand around in it!

Lots of folks dancing!

And yes, the Ice Cream Man From Hell was there..

This was the first time I had actually seen him at the Iron Horse even tho he is there every year.

After we finished our beer we decided to head back to our little local bar.. and wouldn't you know it?

Here came the rain again, only this time it didn't want to let up. We finally decided to make a run for it, it was just down the road. No big deal. My girlfriend the bartender laughed when she saw the first drowned rat (me) walk in the door so I gave her a nice big wet hug :) We had so much fun that afternoon, and here are some of the photos I took there...

Notice the TV is showing a warning for Volusia County? That was just good timing on my part, I couldn't see the TV from where I was sitting. I believe it was for a Tornado Watch or it could have been a severe Tstorm Warning. I was actually trying to zoom in on the TV to see what part of Florida they were showing on the radar...

Little Bit ~ The Babe Magnet!

This is me (GASP!) with one of our house-guests from New Jersey.

We were mistaken for sisters a couple times, so I asked the bartender to get a picture for us. We had never met before Bike Week, but I hope she comes back with our other friend! (and cooks some sauce!)

This was by far the most fun we had during Bike Week. Now, I can't show you a lot of the photos I took either. No one let the 2.5 inches of rain get to them, we just took it as 1 rainy day in the middle of a beautiful week.

Hope ya'll can come and join us next year!