The Iowa artist known for painting patriotic pictures on a boulder in Adair County has painted a much smaller and more mobile object to help raise funds for veterans. Iowa Lottery C-E-O Terry Rich announced Monday a motorcycle built in Spirit Lake and painted by Ray “Bubba” Sorenson will be raffled off in conjunction with a new Iowa Veterans Fund lottery ticket. “All the non-winning tickets can then be submitted for this special edition of the Victory motorcycle,” Rich says.

Ray Sorensen III (Left) and Iowa Lottery CEO Terry Rich unveil a motorcycle to be raffled-off.

The special veterans scratch-off tickets were created in 2008 and just over 14-million dollars from their sale has already gone into the Iowa Veterans Trust Fund. Rich says the tickets will still have their normal prizes, and if you can’t win one of them, you can have a second chance with the motorcycle. “You are able to go to www-I-A-Lottery-dot-com and actually register your ticket,” Rich explains. The Iowa Lottery will then set up a drawing of all the tickets that have been registered to draw for the winner of the motorcycle.

Sorenson has painted what’s known as “The Freedom Rock” for several years and says he wasn’t quite if he was the right artist for the motorcycle project. “I paint boulders and I’m a brush painter and I told them that this is going to be artwork that’s brush painted, there’s gonna be layers and you’re going to be able to see some of the brush strokes. And the more we talked about it, we thought that will make it unique,” Sorenson says. “This is my first time doing something like this. I think it turned out great and I hope you guys like it.” Sorenson kept with the patriotic theme on this project.

“My favorite colors are red, white and blue. One of my favorite animals is the eagle and so you might be able see a couple of those things on this,” Sorenson says. He says once the initial sketches for the design were completed it only took five days to paint the motorcycle. “When I took on the project I was done with the Freedom Rock tour for the summer and I wanted to completely concentrate on it, so I kind of locked myself in my studio for five days and completed the artwork,” Sorenson says.

Sorenson currently has an effort underway to create a Freedom Rock in all of Iowa’s 99 counties, but he’s not sure he’ll do any more motorcycle painting. “I don’t know, I think I might just keep this one as the unique one in Iowa — I don’t know,” Sorenson says. “I had fun doing it, but I think my specialty is on boulders.” You can see photos of the motorcycle at RadioIowa.com. TheIowa Lottery says the motorcycle is valued at around 31-thousand dollars.

The “Ride to Riches” tickets will be on sale through March 26, with the drawing for the motorcycle held sometime after that.

(Radio Iowa)

Here is the latest Iowa news from The Associated Press…

JOHNSTON, Iowa (AP) — The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers says the extreme cold has added ice to Saylorville Lake but also has created some instability. The corps says the cold has reduced inflows to the reservoir northwest of Des Moines, so the water level below the ice can drop up to 2 inches a day. Visitors should contact the Saylorville Lake Administration Office at 515-276-4656 for more information.

FORT DODGE, Iowa (AP) — The Iowa Department of Corrections says an inmate who escaped from a work-release facility in Fort Dodge has been apprehended in Minnesota. Department spokesman Fred Scaletta says 21-year-old Austin Runnells was taken into custody Sunday in Jackson County in southern Minnesota. Additional information was not released yesterday.

CHEROKEE, Iowa (AP) — A northwest Iowa hospital says it’s reviewing its security policy after a person committed suicide in one of its restrooms. Officials at Cherokee Regional Medical Center say the incident happened Sunday evening. Additional information has not been released. Cherokee Regional CEO John Comstock tells the Sioux City Journal that the person was not a patient and did not have contact with staff or other patients.

AMES, Iowa (AP) — Iowa State remains the only school in the country with undefeated men’s and women’s basketball teams. Each squad is 13-0 and off to the best start in school history. Coach Fred Hoiberg’s men’s team is ranked ninth heading into today’s home game with Number 7 Baylor.