A surprise phone call resulted in the Unity Fire Department helping out a scavenger hunt style adventure.
Dan Lumley is a member of the Red Knights International Motorcycle Club, Alberta 5 Chapter, located in and around the Cold Lake and Bonnyville area of Alberta. The Red Knights are a worldwide club for Fire Department members and their families who are motorcycle enthusiasts.
Lumley says, “One of the things the club encourages is travel by motorcycle. There are travel patches a member can earn by visiting fire departments, however, to earn these patches, the biker must spell out 'Red Knights,' 'Fire House' or 'Grand Tour' by using the first letter of the department that is visited.”
“There is also a '12 stations' patch to be earned by visiting 12 different stations. One or more patches must be earned during one riding season.”
Lumley says another patch called “Alphabet” which can be earned over several years and is a real challenge as there are not many cities or towns that begin with letters “X” or “Z”!
The criteria to earn a patch is at each location, the Red Knight rider must get a photo of themselves, their bike and fire department that corresponds with the letter they are collecting. This verifies that the visit was indeed made.
When Lumley arrived in Unity, he contacted incoming Fire Chief, Dwaine Kopp, through the UFD Facebook page. Lumley noted to Kopp that the Unity Fire Station did not have the name Unity on the building so therefore asked if Kopp could pull out a truck briefly for his photo to complete his quest. Kopp, a motorcycle enthusiast himself, and who lives close to the station, was happy to accommodate this special request.
“Thus, my visit to Unity this past week to collect a “U”, again, not many towns that begin with “U”! Many thanks to Dwaine as he was very accommodating to help make my trip to Unity successful,” says Lumley.
For more information on the Red Knights Motorcycle Club, you can check out the website,
