This was the 3rd annual Republican fund raiser for Joni Ernst. In the past, Senator Tom Harkin always had his steak fry, and now Senator Ernst has her hog roast and bike ride. This was my third year in attendance, but first with the magazine. Joni arrived at Big Barn Harley Davidson in Des Moines and led a pack of 300 plus motorcycles to the event in Boone Iowa. Vice President Mike Pence was scheduled to speak this year. Saturday morning my alarm went off and I hit the snooze button. Mistakenly I shut it off. This of course put me behind my set schedule. I jumped on the bike for the 75 mile ride to Des Moines. I no more than got 10 miles down the road and figured out I had forgotten my camera. I turned around to retrieve it…now I was even further behind. Once on the Interstate and found there was a detour. Come on!! This day was not starting out very well. Finally I was on the road to Des Moines. My day was about to change for the better…way better. I pulled into Big Barn at 9:30. There wasn’t a very big crowd yet, perfect for me. Before I even got off my bike I was met by Meredith, the event coordinator for the dealership and was given my VIP pass and lead through the shop to a back parking lot where Joni and her entourage had parked their bikes. I parked beside Dan Moeller’s bike, the executive owner of Big Barn. I then found the media check in table and was given my press pass. Joni arrived on her bike with her family and friends. She talked and took pictures with everyone. She was very
friendly and people couldn’t help but like her. A bit later, Joni had a press question and answer session. This was a closed door meeting in the shop area of the dealership. With my press pass, I was in! Everyone started asking
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world event and Washington policy questions. I figured that I might as well ask one too, but what? How about a biker question? I spoke up and asked Joni that since Vice President Pence also rides a bike; did you invite him to ride today? She answered that he had been invited, but due to a family issue that morning he would be arriving later in Boone…we would have to wait and see just what the Secret Service would let him get away with. Before the ride left, Joni spoke to the crowd. She told everyone that 502 people had signed up for the ride at $20-perrider and 100% of that money was going to Hope for the Warriors Foundation which supports post 9/11 service members, veterans, and their families. It was finally time to mount up. A State Patrol car was first, followed by a pick-up truck with reporters in the back. Joni was the first bike with a total of 6 bikes in her group. Dan from Big Barn was next with me in premium placement right behind him. The pack of bikes was three miles long as we rode places that I have never been. We rode over the Saylorville Dam, around the lake, up and back over the “Mile Long Bridge “. After that, we wound through Polk City and Madrid enroute to Boone. It was an absolutely beautiful route. Local police cars blocked all the intersections for us along the way. We rode 49 miles total, never once getting into 5th gear. As we pulled into the Boone Expo grounds, there were great big American flags behind the stage with a 30 foot Iowa flag in the middle. A giant American flag hung on a grain bin beside the stage. We rode a path between the stage and a fence with a crowd of 1,000 people standing and cheering. I felt a lump in my throat and a tear in my eye. At that moment I felt very proud to be an American and proud to be a Biker. After a few speakers, here he came. Behind the stage a few hundred yards, sat five black SUVs of Secret Service and four bikes. They pulled around…the SUVs fell back and the bikes pulled up in front of the stage. Joni Ernst, Mike Pence, and Dan from Big Barn were among the riders. It was a very powerful, great day. But I can’t help but wonder how close I could have been to being on that bike behind Pence. See you on down the road, Ben Simpson.
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