Rent-to-own News - ColorTyme bikers trek across U.S. for franchisee retreat

ColorTyme Time Travelers.

While many chose to endure air travel to Jackson Hole, Wyo., for ColorTyme’s 2009 Summer Meeting, a valiant group of franchise owners and corporate employees trekked across the country by motorcycle.

The group named the Tyme Travelers, included Larry Hill, Mark Shealy, Nellie Rosete, Mark Shaw, Ted Schlaack, Tom Neyhart, Lisa Neyhart and Roger Timmons.

Starting on June 13, the group left the ColorTyme headquarters in Plano for Jackson Hole. Over several days, the ride took them through the dusty West Texas landscape, the rolling plains of New Mexico, the incredible Rocky Mountains of Colorado, Utah’s unique terrain and then finally through Wyoming’s diverse countryside.

“There were so many different extremes along the ride,” said Mark Shealy, franchise consultant for ColorTyme.  “I loved it. Later, as I started thinking about it, I would describe it as hours of tedious boredom interrupted by moments of sheer terror.  We were in the flat lands of New Mexico and the ‘twisties’ of the Colorado Rocky Mountains.”

The group arrived in Jackson Hole on June 16, just as planned.  The next day, ColorTyme’s Summer Meeting kicked-off and it was time for some work and relaxation.

“We all really watched out for each other and took frequent breaks,” Shealy explained.  “It sleeted on us one day, a lot of storms, really strong cross winds, but it was the experience of a lifetime.  I’m glad I did it and I would do it again in a heartbeat.”

Once the meeting concluded and the attendees headed home, a few members of the Tyme Travelers had planned to make the return ride back to Texas.  Early Sunday morning, June 21, the group left Jackson Hole for Plano. The return trip followed a similar route; the experiences were new but the comradeship familiar.

“We were real fortunate to experience it all safely,” Shealy said.  “We had a prayer circle every morning before we started on the road.  So I think somebody upstairs was watching out for us.”
 

mevans@rtoqh.org