{"id":943,"date":"2020-06-02T15:55:57","date_gmt":"2020-06-02T15:55:57","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.hiremaster.com\/trucking-news\/?p=943"},"modified":"2020-06-02T15:55:59","modified_gmt":"2020-06-02T15:55:59","slug":"record-ride","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.hiremaster.com\/trucking-news\/other-news\/2020\/06\/02\/record-ride\/943\/","title":{"rendered":"Record Ride"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
Big G Express driver’s Motorcycle Ride draws 148 bikes, raises $25,000 for St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital<\/em><\/h5>\n\n\n\n

By Al Muskewitz
<\/strong> 
It takes a lot to impress Tim Chelette. Suffice to say impressed doesn\u2019t even come close to describing the way he felt this past weekend.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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The Mufreesbroro, Tenn. trucker has organized the Big G Express Motorcycle Ride to benefit St. Jude Children\u2019s Research Hospital for five years now and this year\u2019s ride May 30 was the best ever.
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The ride drew 148 bikes and, with the addition of a late donation at the start of the week, raised $25,000 \u2013 both all-time records. He was hoping under the climate of the times to raise $10,000, but actually beat the old single-year record by more than that target amount, bringing in more than three-quarters of what they had raised in the first four years combined.
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\u201cI was really blown away by the amount of people who showed up and willing to give like they did,\u201d Chelette said. \u201cThis ride is getting bigger each year, but I think a lot of people were ready to get out and do some good about all the negative going on now. I really think people were ready to turn the page and do something positive.\u201d
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Last year\u2019s ride drew 85 bikes, so this year he hoped to hit 100. A volunteer counted the participants as they wheeled into the staging area at Big G Express\u2019 terminal in Mt. Juliet, Tenn., and no sooner had he hollered over that they\u2019d hit the century mark another 15 riders pulled into the yard. \u201cAnd they kept coming,\u201d Chelette said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Riders head out on the highway<\/strong>.<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

The ride has now raised a total of $56,000 for the hospital in five years. There\u2019s an anonymous $5,000 gift and a donation by Big G Express included in this year\u2019s total. The riders gave and an auction raised even more. A patriotic-themed quilt hand-sewn by Chelette\u2019s sister Dee Jeansonne was the big item, fetching $380. A handcrafted knife by Kentucky knifesmith Zachary Staples brought in $285, and a planter donated by Jack Daniel Distillery went for $250. Even a four-inch brown squirrel figurine Chelette picked up in a Lynchburg, Tenn., novelty shop went for $60, proving he\u2019ll auction off anything for a good cause.
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\u201cI\u2019m just glad to be a part of it,\u201d he said. \u201cI may be at the start of it, but it ends with the people who show up and donate and donate online.\u201d
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The route for the ride was the same as its been the previous two years, a 110-mile trek through the scenic backroads of Middle Tennessee, ending in Monteagle. Chelette is in no hurry to change it. That\u2019s part of its charm and success as well.
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\u201cI\u2019ve gotten so many compliments off this ride,\u201d he said. \u201cEverybody says we ride this once a year, I wouldn\u2019t change it a bit; I enjoy it so much I\u2019d leave it like it is.\u201d
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Al Muskewitz is Editor of Wright Media. He can be reached at\u00a0musky@wrightmediacorp.com<\/a><\/em>

Click here for more information, including driving jobs, on Big G Express<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Big G Express driver and event organizer Tim Chelette welcomes the record 148 riders to this year’s Big G Express Motorcycle Ride.<\/strong> <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Big G Express driver’s Motorcycle Ride draws 148 bikes, raises $25,000 for St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital By Al Muskewitz It takes a lot to impress Tim Chelette. Suffice to say impressed doesn\u2019t even come close…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":946,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[158,257,256],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.hiremaster.com\/trucking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/943"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.hiremaster.com\/trucking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.hiremaster.com\/trucking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hiremaster.com\/trucking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hiremaster.com\/trucking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=943"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/www.hiremaster.com\/trucking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/943\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":950,"href":"https:\/\/www.hiremaster.com\/trucking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/943\/revisions\/950"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hiremaster.com\/trucking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/946"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.hiremaster.com\/trucking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=943"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hiremaster.com\/trucking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=943"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hiremaster.com\/trucking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=943"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}