The Hill Gang rolls into the Daughery Compound
Paul Hastings reporting from Spokane with the first of the daily updates on the 2001 Camp Daughery Rolling Rally
They came from the west and the east, the north and the south. Most share a love of two-wheeled vehicles and riding in the open air through the most beautiful parts of this great country.
But these riders, who started congregating yesterday in Spokane, WA., share another bond. They are members of the International Leadership Development “Hill Gang,” who for the next week have qualified for the 2001 Camp Daughery Rolling Rally.
And, more than anything, it’s the association which has attracted “The Bad Boys” on the fifth annual motorcycle ride. ILD also has sponsored most of the ride, including hotel rooms for four nights as well as some of the food.
Motorcycles, or “scooters” as Double Diamond Jack Daughery calls them, and Independent Business Owners arrived throughout the afternoon and evening from Nevada and Illinois, and from Oregon, California, Minnesota, Alaska and Washington following sendoffs in Portland/The Dalles and Seattle.
All are excited about the trip Daughery, the co-founder of ILD, and his driver David Larson (a Montana native) have planned. Two, two-day loops will take the Hill Gang from the Daughery Compound through northeastern and central Washington and through northern Idaho to Glacier National Pak and Missoula, MT., with a run through Idaho on the return trip to Spokane.
 As soon as the 19 “Bad Boys” arrived in Spokane, greetings were exchanged, congratulations to the three new qualifiers were given and friendships made and renewed. Much of the initial talk was about the excitement at the Portland and Seattle sendoffs.
In super charged atmospheres, the current enthusiastic momentum of the business carried over to the sendoff celebrations. Focus music blared from loudspeakers, pictures with upline and friends taken on and around the neatly polished motorcycles and wishes of safe travel exchanged.
At the Humphrey Grand Haven estate on Mercer Island, an estimated 150 family members, friends and IBOs gathered to wish the riders well, including eight who flew in from California. A total of 22 bikes and many cars followed the qualifiers until Snoqualmie Pass, when the nine riders and one chase vehicle continued on I-90 the nearly 300 miles to Spokane.
 As many as 40 people showed up at the two sendoffs in Oregon. The first originated in Portland, and then the Oregon Hill Gang riders met up with more in The Dalles. After a lunch, the three riders completed their 300-mile plus journey to the Daughery Compound.
After a feast served in the Daughery Boardroom, details of the trip were discussed and final preparations made for the Rolling Rally’s first ride today from Spokane to Blue Town, Republic, Tonasket, Twisp and Winthrop, WA., as “The Trip of a Lifetime” begins.
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