TEAL on WHEELS
Where’d the idea come from?

I saw this teal and white bike at a Harley Davidson dealership in Augusta, Maine in the spring of 2018. I stopped there to find a bike for my husband. The salesman showed me this used 2016 Harley, teal and white, and I said, “There’s no way my husband would ride that bike. Just look at the colors.”

Nearly a year later, the bike was still there in the used bike section. Still for sale. Something about it this time spoke to me. It said, “Get me! Do something for ovarian cancer with me. I’m the right color…I’m TEAL!” I left the dealership, but couldn’t stop thinking about that bike. I went back several times within the next few weeks. I asked the manager about leasing the bike, renting the bike, offered to pay the depreciation for all the miles I would put on the bike, pay the insurance…he was only interested in selling the bike. So, I walked away again. I didn’t need to buy a second motorcycle—I had a perfectly good bike at home, unfortunately, it was the wrong color.

That bike still called out to me. At night I would lay awake thinking of how this bike and my cancer could become something bigger if they were together. Then it hit me…I’d ride across the country on a teal and white Harley Davidson spreading awareness about ovarian cancer. I’d get a teal leather jacket and teal chaps, and maybe even a teal helmet. Okay, okay, I agree…too much teal! But I wanted to stand out, to be noticed, and in doing so, I could spread my message of awareness everywhere I went.

I shared the idea with my husband, Charlie. He said, “You can’t buy another bike.” I already owned one Harley, a 2014 Maroon and Dark Brown Softail Deluxe. It’s a perfectly good bike and I love it, but it just wasn’t the right color for my mission.

I shared some pictures of the teal and white bike with some of my ovarian cancer friends from the Turning the Tide ovarian cancer retreat. They encouraged me to pursue my idea. They supported me. So, finally I was all in on the idea of riding solo across the country sharing my message of ovarian cancer awareness and the only way to do it was to buy the right bike. I didn’t buy the bike from the dealer in Augusta, Maine. As luck would have it, my husband’s barber told him about the same bike, same year, same colors, for sale about 25 miles from my home at a custom motorcycle shop. That bike had a lot less miles on it and was priced less, so I bought it.

Once I had the bike, everything else just took off from there. I began fundraising, doing public relations, modifying the bike for a cross country trip, getting myself mentally prepared to tackle something that was bigger than anything I had ever attempted before.

I packed 1,000 ovarian cancer symptom cards in my two saddlebags, neatly rubber-banded into packs of 25 cards, then placed inside gallon-sized ziplock bags. I hope to return to Maine from my ride across the country with no cards left.