When they couldn’t meet the real Oprah, three local women headed to Madame Tussauds’, stuffed money in the wax Oprah’s hands and posed for pictures.

It was the kind of trip where you had to make the best of it.

Last week’s charity ride to New York City to raise money for foster kids, get in some girl time and meet Oprah Winfrey started with three of the 24 lady riders having their motorcycles stolen their first night in New York. The next day’s hoped-for meeting with the talk show diva fizzled.

Then the trailer bringing replacement bikes from L/A Harley-Davidson lost a wheel on the Turnpike.

The women waiting for bikes laughed and said forget it, “‘We just as soon rent a car.’ They turned around and brought them back,” said Linda Wagner, one of the ride organizers from Lewiston. “It was insane.”

Every time they hit a bump, she said the riders reminded themselves why they were out there: For the kids.

Early projections on how much they raised for the Adoptive and Foster Families of Maine were skewed by anticipated sales of her book, “The Alternate Survivor,” organizer Sue Pollard of Ogunquit said Wednesday. Her book relates her experience almost being picked for the popular reality show.

Until those book sales are made, about $15,000 will be given to Adoptive and Foster Families of Maine on Saturday.

Bette Hoxie, executive director of AFFM and the Kinship Program, said the programs help families on an emergency basis, like with heating oil, and with donated clothes and school supplies. She said the donation might allow her to hire an AmeriCorps or VISTA volunteer to help the small staff.

And the attention that the lady bikers brought to AFFM led to inquiries about adopting children. “That’s priceless,” Wagner said.

The highlight of the trip for her was a police escort down 34th Avenue, through the heart of Manhattan.

“People were stepping onto the street to high-five, take pictures, it was unbelievable,” she said.

Diane Clairmont of Hartford said her sister has been a foster parent for decades and adopted three children. Clairmont’s been the “balloon lady” at a foster Christmas party the past seven years.

“I’ve seen the changes in the lives of these children that my sister and her husband have taken in. They come in and they’re sometimes just a shell of themselves, and they leave and they’re just great kids and turned themselves around. It’s good to see, so this was a great cause,” she said.

The fundraising ride had originally been pitched as a trip to Chicago to see Oprah. Clairmont had been looking forward to that part.

“She’s taken herself from a pretty rough beginning, and look where she is now. She’s really an intriguing person to me,” Clairmont said.

But the Chicago idea was ultimately scrapped in favor of New York City, where Oprah was supposed to be visiting. They never ended up seeing the star, but while sightseeing in the city last Tuesday, Clairmont, Barbara McGill from Monmouth and Melanie Jandreau from Lewiston passed Madame Tussauds’ and came up with an idea.

“It was like, ‘Oh my god, I bet Oprah’s in there,'” Clairmont said, laughing.

“The attendant, she thought we were crazy. We were like, ‘We came in here just to see Oprah, you’ve got to take our picture!’ We’re all giving her our cameras – she took three different shots.”