MANSFIELD– Adam Sandoval grew up dreaming of serving the country as a military man. After a recent divorce, he said he felt guilty for not fulfilling his dream, so he decided to help support veterans by doing one thing he loved to do: riding Harley-Davidson motorcycles to raise money for the Wounded Warriors Project.
Hale’s Harley-Davidson hosted Sandoval and his dog, Scooter, Friday afternoon as part of his nationwide tour. Sandoval has ridden his motorcycle for 19 straight months visiting each Harley-Davidson store in the continental United States. Hale’s is the 599th out of nearly 700 stores he has visited.
“I was married and lived a life of bigger, better, faster.” Sandoval said addressing an audience which had gathered around to listen to his tale. “The most important things to me was that when you pulled up next to me, my car was faster than yours. When you came over to my house, my TV was bigger than yours, and when you saw my pool, it was definitely longer than yours. That’s what I strived for everyday. There came a time shortly after divorce that I realized that stuff didn’t matter. I let it all go: the house, expensive cars, furniture, a pretty extensive art collection. I let it all go. I said, ‘I’ve got to regret living the way I have for a while.’
“I decided there’s more to life than just impressing my neighbors,” Sandoval continued. “I wanted to do something right. So I left on this trip.”
Since leaving on the trip, he and his canine partner have etched his name in the Guinness Book of World Records. His record for most miles in one country for one trip comes from driving coast to coast a total of nine times, Sandoval said. This is also the world’s longest charity ride. So far, Sandoval claims he has raised over $250,000 for the WWP. His media director, Julia Chiriboga said it is probably close to $300,000 raised.
“The cash itself is a drop in the bucket I hope,” Sandoval said of the money raised. “Because what I really hope is I give others the desire to want to help. It could be riding Harley-Davidsons, if that’s what your into. It could be playing the guitar on the corner of for a night and giving the money to Wounded Warrior Project. It don’t matter. Just hopefully I can inspire people to give back to the military.”
Lee Hale, owner of the bike shop, said he has been following Sandoval since he started on Facebook, and recognized he was riding for a good cause.
“Now he’s counting down. He’s only got about 100 (Harley-Davidson shops) left. That’s really cool. Harley-Davidson is American made, that’s one of the reasons why (it is popular among veterans) because it’s made in the United States,” Hale said. “The past couple years, we’ve been supporting the Wounded Warrior Project also, so this was a good match.”
