It’s been a whirlwind couple of days on the tour so far, but extremely rewarding as usual. The alarm went off at 5am and a group of dreary-eyed, shivering former footballers turned up to Harley-Heaven in Alexandria by 6am. We did our live cross to The Today Show, checked out our sparkling new Harley-Davidsons and the Hogs For The Homeless tour was on the road for the fourth time.
We struggled through the pollution of Sydney’s M5 airport tunnel, but we knew the fresh air and country smells were coming. Heading past Penrith and into the mountains, we felt the weight of the city lift off our shoulders and pressed on to Oberon for our first coaching clinic. The smiles and laughter of more than 300 kids made the early start worth it and we continued our mission to give every kid we see a footy; pulling the footy shorts back on and kicking the ball around always gives you a zap of energy before you get back on the road for another three or four hours.
We took the long route to Mudgee along some beautiful country roads and through some more awesome weather. Another 200 kids welcomed us into Mudgee before we held our evening function and raised another $6,500 for Father Chris Riley’s Youth Off The Streets. That was it for Day One and we got some well-earned rest at the beautiful Soldiers Motel Mudgee – or at least we would have, if Hogs newcomer Steve ‘Blocker’ Roach’s didn’t manage to keep the whole building up with his snoring.
The next day saw us ride into Forbes for a sheep auction, which was another crazy country experience. We managed to raise $11,500 through that alone before running out to another clinic, keeping us well on track to reaching our goal of $100,000 to combat youth homelessness.
Overall, it’s been an amazing ride so far; Blocker has been a welcome addition to the team (until it’s bedtime), everyone’s been happy to have us visit and our Harleys have felt like recliners the whole way along. It couldn’t have been possible without the hard work of the Hogs team and the support of our sponsors, but there’s plenty more riding to be done. Next up on the trip is Cootamundra, Junee and Wagga Wagga – a huge leg of the journey to towns famous for their NSW rugby league legends.
To support the Hogs For the Homeless tour efforts to raise money for Youth off the Streets, click here.
