TheBanyanTree: Bikes, Toys and Rain

[Russ Doden]

This past Sunday the local ABATE group had scheduled their annual Toys For
Tots ride to benefit the Marines Toys for Tots program.  Motorcycle groups
of all kinds tend to participate in this event every year.  The ride isn't
long, only about a 15 minute ride from the Tulsa county fairgrounds to
downtown Tulsa.  It isn't the length of the ride that draws people to
participate though, it is the reason behind the ride.

When the weather is good, we have had close to 10,000 bikes show up!  Yeah,
that's a lot.  This year though the weather pulled a very nasty trick on us
all.  All week long the weather had been beautiful with highs in the upper
60's to low 70's.  Awesome motorcycle riding weather - and a lot of people
were taking advantage of it.  The forecast for the weekend though . . . to
put it politely, sucked.  The closer to Sunday we got the uglier the
forecast got too.  By Wednesday I had decided to wimp out and took my Toys
for Tots toys to the nearest fire station to drop off as they are part of
the program too.

By Sunday I was so glad I did.  The rain had moved in late Saturday
afternoon.  By Sunday morning, some local areas were having flooding issues
(again).  Does that mean I stayed home?  Not at all.  One of the local ham
radio clubs volunteers to help with getting all the bikes lined up so when
it is time for Kick Stands Up, everyone call pull out in an orderly
fashion.  As a Ham Radio operator, this is one of the things I help with.
So, I had my hand held equipment all charged and ready to go.

We gathered at the fairgrounds about 9:30 to go over any last minute stuff,
and started to wait for people to show up.  There are several groups that
help support this effort, so all the groups were ready - and waiting, and
waiting.  It was raining, and it wasn't some nice warm rain either.  The
temps were in the upper 40's to low 50's with wind.  Ick.  I was so glad
that like so many others I had my motorcycle rain gear to dig out and use!
Only I made one mistake.  I forgot to grab gloves.  Damn.  After not too
long I told our coordinator I was going to take off for a bit to run over
to a nearby Target and get some gloves.  My hands were aching at that
point!

A short time later I was back with nice warm fingers.  I didn't have many
options for gloves, but did find some that fit that weren't all bulky.  I
hated to spend that kind of money, but I'll get a lot of use out of them so
it wasn't wasted money.

By noon we only had maybe 300 bikes there!  That is NOTHING.  We had a lot
of cars pulling up to hand the Marines in the back of the big truck they
had brought their toys.  I wasn't the only rider that wimped out for the
ride.

Finally about 1 the rain stopped!  YEA!  The wind was still blowing and it
was chill, but at least we weren't getting rain!  People started to come
show up in bunches after that and by 1:30 we were having people coming in
from all directions!  It got really fast and frantic for a while and by
2:00 when it was time for Kick Stands Up to start the run, we guesstimated
that there were close to 1500 riders - all with toys on the back of the
motorcycle.  One big full dress Harley had a pink little girls bicycle on
back of the bike!

When one sees all the motorcycles of all brands all joining together, you
can't help but smile.  You see everything from scooters, to go fast "crotch
rockets", to custom machines to rat bikes to full dress touring bikes (like
I ride) all together to do something for kids we will never see.  You can't
help but get a lump in your throat when you think about it.

Within 20 minutes the whole parking lot was empty and it was time to head
home, get warmed up and reflect on the day.  I'm already looking forward to
next year - and maybe it will actually be dry.

Russ
-- 
Enjoy Life By Living In Joy

Well Being Consultant
www.rldwbc.com