Diamond Lakes Opening

To view photo galleries, click on pictures below (different gallery with different pictures).

Opening Weekend of the Diamond Lakes Chapter of the Defenders LE MC

We started Friday night (12/04/09) with a few drinks at the Lake Hamilton Resort, followed by an awesome dinner at the Rocky Mountain Grill. We filled the back / bar room of the restaurant and had to get an extra table too. There were 33 people in attendance and were from National and 6 different chapters, including the Diamond Lakes Chapter. After dinner, we went back to the Lake Hamilton Resort for some more socializing in the lounge and a small meeting for the National Board members and Diamond Lakes Executive Board. On the way, Ice stopped to pick up Dealer's bike. Dealer had "drill" on Saturday and would not be able to attend the opening ride, so he was going to allow one of our visitors to ride his bike. As Ice was on the way to the Resort, someone made a left turn in front of him, causing Ice to lay the bike down and run into the side of the truck. Ice was taken by Ambulance to St. Joseph's ER. He was extremely lucky! He did not have any broken bones, only bruised ribs, muscles and feelings. The bike was a total loss and the meeting among board members got postponed. Ice’s Hospital room was filled with brothers and sisters from the Defenders. Ice said, "Between my injuries (or lack thereof) and the immediate support system of Defenders that arrived at the Hospital............ I know I was riding with the hand of God on me." He went on to say, "I love this club, this family. You have already shown me how we take care of our brotherhood." Ice was treated and released a few hours later. He is soar and hurting, but he’s still with us. On Saturday morning (12/05/09) we had an optional breakfast scheduled at the Whistle Stop, which was a buffet and is always great food. The opening ceremony was set to begin at 10AM, but we were running about 30 minutes late, due to Ice moving very slow and he had the vests in the trunk of his wife's car. He arrived and we got the ceremony underway. We were introduced to the National Board Members and chapter Presidents that were in attendance, got to see Chubbs model his sweatshirt and we received information that was planned for an executive board meeting Friday night after dinner. That meeting never happened due to Ice's wreck and everyone visiting him at the Hospital. During the member's "patching", our Diamond Lakes Chapter President, Flawless, spoke briefly and introduced all of the Diamond Lakes Chapter Executive Board Members with short introduction stories and then allowed every member to give a brief history on themselves, which included how they became involved with the Defenders MC. After each member had been "patched", the members that had associates then "patched" their associate member. We took some pictures and then took a short break while everyone got their leather gear on for the Diamond Lakes Chapter Opening Ride. The opening ride was in 40 degree weather, luckily the sun was shining. Our ride was approximately 35 miles until our first stop at the top of Hot Springs Mountain, at the Hot Springs Tower. We then went to Historic Downtown Hot Springs and checked out the shops for a short time before continuing the Lander's Harley Davidson of Hot Springs. We did have a member of the local 1% outlaw motorcycle club pass us on the way to Lander's and then we saw him again at Lander's. Needless to say, he did not spend a lot of time at the Harley shop. When we left there, some of us went to the Resort/Hotel to drop off bikes before the temperature dropped too much, others went directly to the FOP lodge, where we spent the remainder of the evening eating, drinking, socializing and standing around a large bon-fire. Dinner was pot luck, and we had some awesome food brought. The main course was a hog that the Long Shot Saloon smoked and prepared for us, excellent! While standing around the bon-fire, Dealer and his associate member, Pootie, were "patched", due to their being unable to attend the earlier ceremony. Dealer, whose father is the Lt. at Arms and the founding member of the Diamond Lakes Chapter, was able to "patch in" his own son. Granted that was after Dealer was teased a bit by Flawless. After a couple more hours at the FOP, some members (local and visiting) went back to the resort. They hung out in the lounge, shooting pool and having a great time. On Sunday morning (12/06/09) a few local members meet with members from National and other chapters at Jack's Pancakes for breakfast. Some of the other chapter members were unable to attend, because they had long, cold rides ahead of them and some ended their rides in rain, snow and sleet. Those of us that were there enjoyed a good buffet style breakfast with made to order omelets and pancakes. Our visiting members left from there to start their journeys home. A few of our members then had the task of clean-up at the FOP lodge. And even after such a great time we had, and how long we were there, it wasn't very dirty. We want to thank everyone for attending and we had a great time! Also, thank you for picking up after yourselves, we appreciate it.