Johanna's Ride the Boot

Our interest in motorcycles started even before we were married. We’d see couples riding and we’d look at each other and say,”That’s us some day”. It took about 25 years but now it is us. Johanna never admitted to us how cool she thought it was, we heard from her friends she confided in. We weren’t allowed to go where she worked in our leathers, we were warned not to show up at Salon Fredrick’s in them when we met her for lunch just a couple weeks before the accident. She met us at Klondyke Jakes instead. When she worked at Northern Reflections in Marystown, she’d accept a ride home on the bike but never to work. The helmet played havoc with her hair, she couldn’t have that. Not since she was about twelve years old actually. Wearing a helmet was always a rule when she’d ride her bike. Wasn’t an issue when she was little. Then her hair became a huge part of her life. Her new bike sat in the garage, same rule applied No helmet, no bike.

Her decision was easy, her new bike is still new and sitting in our basement. She never rode it again.

Parents are doing things daily for their children. It’s no different after they leave this world, the need to continue to do things for them. Thats how we got through the first year. Building Johanna’s Day Spa for kids, setting up the Johanna Noseworthy Memorial Award at the college, and planning a memorial ride that would benefit people for many years. The Heritage Riders Motorcycle Association was already in the makings. The Burin Peninsula could use some encouragement for tourism. It all made sense. An annual Johanna’s Memorial Ride The Boot.

In August 2005 a small group of local bikers got together for a Sunday afternoon ride, driving around the boot and stopping in Garnish at our house. In front of our shed exactly, directly in front of the piece of land that was fast becoming a park. A few home made hamburgers on the BBQ and some pop and with a donation tin next to the napkins, we raised over $500 in one afternoon.

The first official annual Johanna’s Memorial Ride The Boot was held the last weekend in August 2006. There were about 40 bikes with $3200.00 raised. The funds for the inaugural ride were used to put a washroom in Johanna’s Day Spa for Kids. We are learning and growing.

Now with 6 rides behind us, the ride is growing. This year,2012, we are almost ready to host ride #7. Camp Delight will receive the beneift of the ride again this year. We will be leaving the Hotel Marystown promptly at noon, with stops in Grand bank and Lawn, finishing at Smugglers Cove in Burin.

We are so proud and thankful that the members of The Heritage Riders Motorcycle Association , and our fellow bikers, has allowed and given us the opportunity to create and have such a legacy for our daughter Johanna and at the same time benefit a charity.