Kyle Petty Charity Ride: Off and riding across country

KANSAS CITY, Kan. -- All Kyle Petty saw was the black sticker. His mind told him to search for something else, but when he looked in the mirror of his motorcycle, the oval black sticker was all that stared back at him.

Its been that way for nearly every person on the 15th annual Kyle Petty Charity Ride. Right next to the rides official sticker on each motorcycle is the black oval with one word: CLICK.

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• Victory Junction Gang Camp
• Video: Breaking more ground

Click Baldwin is on this ride, the other riders just cant see him.

Click died last July following a motorcycle accident in Montana when he was headed to the 68th annual Sturgis Rally. He owned the Carolina Harley-Davidson dealership in Gastonia, N.C., was widely known for his award-winning custom bikes, and was the man to see among the NASCAR community regarding motorcycles. He was also a staunch support of the Victory Junction Gang Camp.

Kyle asked Click to join him on the first motorcycle ride across America because, as Kyle puts it, he was one of just a few people he knew who could work on motorcycles. But Click was more than just a mechanic for the ride.

There was nobody never has been and never will be like Click Baldwin, said NASCAR journalist Al Pearce, who had ridden with Click on every Kyle Petty Charity Ride before this one. He had a way of walking into a room and taking over. He didnt have to say a word. He just walked into a room and all of a sudden the atmosphere changed.

Like during the early rides, when rain drenched the group on many occasions. Theyd pull into a fuel stop complaining of being soaking wet, but then Click would pull in. Hey, isnt this great! I love it! hed say.

Or like when he brought his wife, Diane, and daughter, Chelsea, on the second ride Chelsea was 4. Mother and daughter havent missed one since.

When it came time to gather this year for the ride, every rider who has done this journey in the past saddled up with a heavy heart and without one of their friends. At least without him physically.

This painting of Adam Petty will welcome everyone to the Victory Junction Gang Camp in Kansas City.

I said it the first morning and we talked about it hes here. Hes here with us. Hes here in the memories that each one of us have in our hearts of what he did and what he meant to this ride. And hell be here every year until we no longer ride this ride. Hell always be a part of this ride, Petty said. I cant tell you how many times in the last couple of days Ive looked up and waited for him to come up in the mirror, or see him at a gas stop. Ive looked for him all week long. So hes here.

This years ride was for Click. Every bike in the mile-long procession is armed with a black oval sticker with CLICK on it. Some have shirts. Some have patches. Some have helmet decals.

Click was a dear friend of mine, said Robert D. Raiford, a 15-year rider. He was the one that got me to go on that first one. Thats mainly the reason I came on this one. Like Kyle said Monday night, you just feel like Clicks going to come alongside and take a picture of you or something like that. Quite a guy.

Added longtime friend Morri Irvin, who has been on 13 of the 15 rides: Everybody that ever met him, they never met a better friend. Thats why everybody wants to honor him so much with it. He loved everybody on this ride, too, just as much as they loved him. Its really a hard ride simply because hes not here and you just miss him so much. Everybody does.

On Tuesday, Kenny Crosswhite gave the morning devotional before the group left Steamboat Springs, Colo. It was nine years to the day that Adam Petty died. As Kenny spoke, Kyle Petty stood just inside the parking garage where 100 or so motorcycles awaited the days route. Kenny also spoke of Click, and how this ride in particular is in memory of him.

On Wednesday, the first year without Click on the ride and a day after the anniversary of Adams death, the Kyle Petty Charity Ride rolled into a rural part of Kansas City, Kan., down a narrow drive and into a dusty, gravel lot. There, Kyle and a handful of others broke ground on what will become the second Victory Junction Gang Camp for chronically ill children. A local artist completed a painting of Adam, which was auctioned. The winning bid: $10,500. The money went to the camp. The painting was then donated back to the Pettys, and Pattie Petty made it clear: the painting would be the centerpiece to welcome kids to Kansas Citys Victory Junction Gang Camp.

The two days leading up to the groundbreaking ceremony were emotional. The ride is emotional Kyle turned around during one leg of the trip in Colorado because a local man on the side of the road stood waving cash in his hand to donate to the camp.

This ride is not about motorcycles. And despite the NASCAR connection, this ride goes far greater into the depths of rural America than racing cars could ever do touching hearts, and ultimately through the camp, changing lives.

Its about people. Bill Robbins, whos on his first ride along with his brother, Matt, and father, Eddie. The Cathys, who make this journey an annual family vacation. Ron Rater, whos willing to take a first-year participant under his wing on the road, and Alton Plyler whos willing to throw stuffed Chick-fil-a cows to any boy, girl and adult the ride passes, no matter if he has to stay at a gas station a few extra minutes. The Seminole Tribe of Florida, that has eight members make the ride each year, including the tribes leader, Max. Gil and Dorinda Pritt, who make sacrifices to ensure others can experience why they choose to ride. The Pettys, who lost a son but gave hope to others.

And Click.

An hour after ground was broken in Kansas City, the riders were at their hotel for the night. Threatening skies finally unloaded a downpour of rain that began soaking the streets. From Stevenson, Wash., all the way to Kansas City half the distance of the rides total tour -- not one drop of rain fell from the sky, and yet how fitting that rains came after a second camp was made official. Its like Click was saying, Hey, isnt this great! I love it!

We could not have ever done this ride without him being a part of it, Kyle said of his old friend. As long as one of us out of this group is still here to ride, hell be here with us.

More: Follow Kyle on Twitter throughout his ride. Click here to follow along. (Continued)