Son called - there was a benefit ride for some kids that needed Christmas and he was leaving in 45 minutes, if I wanted to go - he said "get a move on".
I got dressed as best I could for cold weather and headed out to crank the bike. It's not fond of the cold so it took awhile to get it started, but it eventually did and off we went.
(His bike cranked right up but he rides more than I do)
We headed to North for about 45 minutes and met up with 2 more riders before continuing to a meet-up destination with lots of other people that were out to support the kids in the cold.
We arrived and parked the bikes and get some coffee!!
After about 45 minutes of sign up, coffee, greeting friends and familiar faces and watching more bikes roll in, it was time to get ready for the ride.
This ride had a police escort to block off the highway and all side streets so that we were the only people on the road until we reached the kids.
This is the "road guard" that park their bikes to block entrance ramps on the highway till we all get by. They bunched up to get directions, hand signal meanings and general information.
It's really a sight when as far as you can see is a double row of motorcycles going down the road and cars being held at bay for 5 miles of us to get past the entrance ramp where they wait.
Even Santa came out to ride with us.
He was sent to the front of the line so he'd be just behind the police bikes as we rode.
We weren't far behind Santa.
That red and black bike in the lower right is Son's.
I'm sitting on mine to make the picture.
There were some well loved bikes and some that hadn't been around so long.
This is a kick-start Harley.
Well ridden, as you can see.
Here's the rest of us - behind Santa and all the way around the building lined up 4 bikes across.
All bundled up and ready to hit the road.
50 degrees and drizzling rain at 70 mph is pretty chilly.
You can see the pavement is wet around the bikes and dry under them. The rain started before we every pulled out.
I haven't figured out how to drive a motorcycle and make pictures, so here we are at the destination that has the kids. They were all standing at the fence with signs and waves for us. They hollered and whistled and some made hand signs for us to rev the engines for them.
Everybody loves the sound of rolling thunder it seems.
After following a line of bikes into the destination we parked our bikes and got off to make pictures. There was still a long line of riders coming in to park.
Here's part of the crowd in the room. (maybe 1/4)
I heard an announcer say there were 281 bikes in the ride. At least half the bikes had 2 people.
There were cookies of all kinds set up on tables scattered around the outer walls and huge pots of hot chocolate and coffee. When our fingers thawed out enough to flex a little, we all helped ourselves to some cookies and a hot drink to warm us and waited for Santa to ride his bike into the room and hand out all the gifts.
The kids were thrilled!!!
This last picture wasn't intended to be a picture of BUTTS!! (Or no butts as the case may be.) There's a little dog in there. He followed the owner around everywhere and never wandered off or got lost from the owner. A tiny little black and white dog.
See that leather jacket on the floor behind the dog??
That little dog stayed right there and guarded that jacket the whole time it was on the floor!
Of course, the owner was right there in front of the dog.
See the foot pointing this way? That's the owner of the dog, and the jacket.
When they got ready to leave, the dog had a leather jacket of his own to put on to protect him from the rain. This was one of the cutest things of the whole day.
We stayed about an hour and a half then wandered off to the "after party" where others were already partaking of spirits and loud music!! About 50 bikes had beat us there and it was raining pretty hard so I didn't stay out in it to get pictures.
Ever seen a biker bar?
Then you know what it looks like !! :-)
We stayed at the after party about the same amount of time. They had BBQ sandwiches, potato salad and beans all ready and waiting to feed us. Seemed everywhere we went people were trying to feed us!
The company was good, the music loud, old friends I haven't seen in awhile were there.
It was awesome.
So many people all crowded elbow to elbow. Some wearing 'colors' and some not. Well, most were wearing- but not all the same colors. There were many different groups there, all doing the same thing - supporting some kids so they could have Christmas. Showing Christmas spirit and giving gifts to children that wouldn't have it if not for these bikers.
5 of us headed out for home, in the rain. It rained on us all day.
It was getting colder and colder as the day drew to a close, but we rode it without stopping.
Even though we had to pour the rain out of our boots when we reached the house and had doubts that our frozen fingers would ever have feeling in them again - it was a wonderful day.
I'd do it again in a heartbeat.
Rain, cold, wind and all.
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