Hello everyone! I am John (Teach) Wuestman and I am from Eastern North Carolina. I have always found the road to be a place of comfort and escape. I've been through a lot in my life, but the one constant has always been my joy for the adventure that the road brings. I have traveled through many countries and states and I have seen a lot, but no matter how many times I ride a road, I always find something I hadn't seen before. If I am not riding, I am thinking about riding or I am planning my next escape. Unfortunately, I have no time to do anything other then that due to my work schedule.
I am going to be riding for the non-profit that I am a part of here
in the Wilmington area, the Combat Veterans Motorcycle Association®
15-4. Being a Combat Veteran myself, I have so much admiration for the
camaraderie that comes with being a member of
this organization and community. After several years in the US Army
Infantry and serving in Georgia, Iraq, and Germany, I was left injured
beyond the ability to remain in the Infantry and chose to leave military
service. Not realizing the extent of my mental
and physical injuries, I went through many hardships after leaving
military service. Suffering from PTSD, I ended up alienating myself from
everyone I knew and loved and it in turn brought on unemployment,
homelessness, and attempts on my own life. Had it not
been for the members of the CVMA®, I wouldn't be here today. Although I
am still in tremendous amount of physical pain, I am still going to
complete this challenge for the other veterans in my area. There is
something we always say to every veteran we meet,
"Welcome home." To me, that is incredibly important because not everyone
made it home, and because every veteran wasn't always "Welcomed" home. I
hope that I may raise funds to continue to help and have a positive
impact on the veterans in our community, and
that we may continue to save more veterans who are suffering mentally
like I was. 
Over my years of riding, I had always heard of intense motorcycle
challenges but never the Hoka Hey Motorcycle Challenge. It wasn't until one of my brothers
asked me to participate in the 2020 challenge that I started to really
research it. I chose to apply not only for the
peace that the road brings me, but because of the mission of the Hoka
Hey to raise awareness for many social issues and to enrich not only
ourselves but also our community. I expect the challenge to be just
that, a challenge. I know to expect the unexpected,
and to adjust on the fly. I expect that my largest struggle will be
patience and completing the challenge in a timely and safe manner so
that I may return to work. Unfortunately, I haven't had the opportunity
to meet any challengers in person, or pick their
brains about their experiences during the challenges. Instead, I am
treating it like a would any other mission when I was in the military
and fully expecting the FUBAR moments.
In closing, I look forward to meeting all of you and hopefully becoming a part of the Hoka Hey community. 
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