We are back from a nine-day trip to Sturgis and the Black Hills! I’ll be adding day-by-day ride reports and lots of photos over the next couple of weeks, so stay tuned! Here’s the quickie recap, though, in case you’re curious how we allotted our time:

 Days 1 & 2: Leisurely ride to Sturgis (actually Belle Fourche) from Des Moines, with overnight stop in Mitchell, SD
    Ride Report     Photo Gallery
Day 3: Spent in Sturgis, walking around and gawking
    Ride Report     Photo Gallery
Day 4: Scenic Trip to Mt. Rushmore, Iron Mtn. Road and Needles Highway
    Ride Report     Photo Gallery
Day 5: Scenic trip to Devil’s Tower
    Ride Report     Photo Gallery
Day 6: Scenic trip to Deadwood via Spearfish Canyon & Roughlock Falls
    Ride Report     Photo Gallery
Day 7: Back to Sturgis for the Rat’s Hole Custom Bike Show
    Ride Report     Photo Gallery
Days 8 & 9: Leisurely ride home
    Ride ReportWhat a totally awesome and beautiful trip! And I rode it - 2,075 miles - on a frick’n SPORTSTER!!

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We are trying to put on some miles in preparation for the two-day ride to Sturgis, so today we took off to the west with the added goal of taking some pictures of Albert the Bull. Albert is a 30-foot-tall, 45-ton sculpture of a Hereford bull, erected in Audobon, Iowa in 1964 to acknowledge the impact of the beef/cattle industry on the local economy. He’s something of an Iowa landmark and an excellent biker destination. The weather was outstanding for late July - it was 80 degrees and sunny, with bright blue sky and scattered clouds. (The whole week prior, it had been in the upper 90’s and humid - so this was a welcome break!)

We took off from home heading west out of Des Moines on old Highway 6, which we took all the way through Adel and Redfield, picking up Highway 44 (the Western Skies Scenic Byway) at Panora. We hit some road construction  between Redfield and Panora, but I have to say, Redfield has got to be one of Iowa’s prettiest small towns and the landscape along 44 is just impossibly lovely - lush green fields, immaculate farmyards, century-plus-old homesteads, all perfectly green from recent rains.

We stopped for a water break in Guthrie Center along Highway 44, and a very friendly gal at the gas pumps asked us where we were headed. When we said we were going to take pictures with Albert the Bull, she told us that her dad had been one of the men who had done the original plaster work (actually concrete troweling) on the sculpture - so Albert was a special point of pride for her, and she still lived in Audobon.

We finished up with Highway 44 at Hamlin, then turned North where we found Albert just four miles up the road in the middle of Audobon City Park. You can’t help but smile when he comes into view from the road, and of course there’s a little information kiosk where you can learn all about how and when he was made. (Here is more info about Albert online!) The park is lovely, and includes a well-maintained campground and playground.

After snapping several pictures, including one of Albert’s rather impressive testicles, we headed on into Audobon proper where we had a late lunch at the Chatterbox Café. This little spot on the west side of Division Street was just what we were looking for - a mom ‘n pop place to eat and visit. The food was very good, the service was especially friendly, and we had a leisurely meal before heading back for home.

Because of the rather iffy stretch of road construction we’d encountered between Redfield and Panora, we decided to take an alternate route home so we headed south out of Audobon on Highway 71, down to 83 and then east to Anita. Stopped to top off gas, and headed up to I-80 east back to Des Moines. This was about a 70-mile stretch of one of the nation’s busiest Interstates, but all went well. (We will be taking this same Interstate out of Des Moines as we head to Sturgis.)

We had left Des Moines around 11:30 a.m., and got home just about 5:45 p.m. It was a perfect day riding - good weather, good friends, no mishaps - and a photo op with a giant concrete bull!

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I had a truly awesome day riding, Saturday July 15 - possibly the best day ever for me on the bike.

Last Wednesday night at our local HOG chapter meeting, I noticed a flyer on the bulletin board that just said, “All Women’s Ride” - gave a starting time and place, and a couple phone numbers to call for info. This was just the kind of thing I had wanted to do last year, but never got around to doing it - organizing a women’s ride. So I decided I would participate, although I was a little nervous about joining a group I‘d never met before.

I called two of my girlfriends, Susan (Coyote) and Shirley, to let them know about it and that I was going, and they both expressed interest. We rode in separately to the starting point and we were all warmly greeted by the gals who had already gathered. I was afraid it was going to be a group of women who already knew each other, and that I would feel like an outsider… but I’m glad to report that wasn’t the case. The two organizers knew each other, and maybe two of the other women thre, but the rest were like me - just checking it out because they’d read the flyer.

My first notion that it was going to be a “sisterhood” kind of day was when our organizer, Theresa, said she wanted to take a group picture so we need to pull the bikes in closer together in front of the building. Most of us had given ourselves a plenty-wide berth to get turned around in the parking lot, so there was lots of room between bikes, and they were spread out too wide to get them allinto the picture. So, each person would in turn get on her bike and move it closer to the center of the group, and a couple other gals would step in andhelp push it backwards up the little incline. Once parked, she’d get off her bike and go help someone else get situated - it took only about five minutes to organize 20 bikes into a nice group photo.

The plan was to just ride a hundred-mile loop, making a few bar stops along the way. It was extremely hot, upper 90’s, with clear blue skies but semi-hazy with the heat. Our first leg was about 50 miles. I’ll admit it was pretty damn cool to be riding in that column - we got into staggered formation like it was a given, used hand signals when needed to keep the group apprised of road hazards and upcoming turns, and generally just rode together like we’d been doing it for years.

The firststop was a small-town bar where a few locals were spending their Saturday afternoon… the bartender was good to us, understanding when we just ordered water (and happily accepting our generous tips!) and letting us take over the place for a half-hour or so. Another sign of instant sisterhood occurred here. My friend Shirley, who debated not coming because she is sometimes prone to heat exhaustion, was overcome by the heat shortly after we got insidethe bar. She kind of collapsed onto the cool cement floor, where I and a few of the other riders provided damp towels and encouragement. Theresa, who had been riding two-up with a girlfriend from Florida, told me that her friend was a licensed rider and would be happy to ride Shirley’s bike for her ifneed be, meaning Shirley could have her spot on the back of T’s bike. I just thought this - and all the concern theyshowed for her - was incredibly kind, given that we’d all just met an hour ago! After fifteen minutes or so she was feeling (and looking) much better, and in another fifteen she insisted she wasready to go on. In all the stop lasted about 40 minutes.

Refreshed with water and sport-drinks, we were then off again to the next stop, and then the next and finally the last. Short stops just long enough to drink a bottled water then back on the bikes. At the last stop, T had arranged for her mother and sister to bring homemade enchiladas which we all enjoyed tremendously.

It was truly a day of the sort of “instant bonding” one could only hope for - a group of very different women from all walks of life, who all shared a passion to ride, just out enjoying the Iowa byways and riding as a group like we‘d been doing it forever. I know we were quite the sight to see, a column of bikes all ridden by women - had I been passing our group in a car I would have certainly been astounded… “Hey lookit all the bikes - hey, they’re ALL WOMEN!” And frankly, that made me feel just a little bit special!

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Just a short jaunt today to try out the new Mustang solo seat… have you ever noticed that when you ride or drive on a brand new street in your hometown that it just feels really weird, like you aren’t even in the same city? There has been so much development and expansion here in Des Moines these past few years, and there’s a new road that runs along the south end of our downtown area - not just a resurfaced road, but an entirely new road that never existed until just this past year. It’s 3 lanes wide in each direction, with lots of attractive landscaping on both sides - built BIG for anticipated traffic, although today (a Sunday AND a holiday) there was no one else - and it just feels really strange! Anyway, awesome short ride, love my new seat! Hoping to rack up many more miles this year!

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Just finished up with the ABATE of Iowa Dist. 4 Toys for Tots Run, 2005. It was a great day - about 58 degrees, partly cloudy butpartly sunny too… Steve says he thinks there were fewer bikes this year, but I’d still estimate about 1,500-2,000 bikes, every bike donating at least one toy to the USMC Toys for Tots program, and many bikes donating multiple toys. (The lead bike was towing atrailer made to look like Santa’s sleigh, packed with toys!) 

We did hear reports of two “incidents” this year - one person apparently lost it taking a curve and wiped out, not seriously injured, so that’s such a relief. I hate to hear about this kind of stuff. And one person dropped their bike in the parking lot of the destination point, trying to maneuver. As large as this event always is, I’m frankly surprised there are not more of these types of things happening. I’m glad my fellow riders are okay! <p>

HERE is the photo album with all the pics.

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I knew when I got out of bed on Sat. August 6th it was going to be a perfect day - the kind with a bright blue sky and
sunshine, no clouds, mid-80’s for temps. Decided we were going to ride to Pella, Iowa, a picturesque community about 40 miles southeast of here with distinctively Dutch heritage and the tallest working windmill in the U.S. Got the family out of bed (lazy bums!) and announced our plans… a few grumblings, but hey, if I don’t push ‘em they would just as soon sleep til noon. No sense wasting such a perfect day!

The ride down Hwy 163 to Pella was uneventful (though I missed a turn-off to a more scenic route, being unfamiliar
with the area), and very enjoyable. Once in Pella we saw the klokkenspiel (giant clock in a Dutch-style clock tower, with animated figures that come out and move around when it chimes) and also stopped in the Historical Village. This is a small touristy-type venue that offers a tour of the Windmill, plus a “village” of the types of shops and buildings that would be found in an 1850’s Dutch town. Unfortunately, we were travelling on the cheap so decided not to pay the $20 it would’ve cost for the family to actually take the guided tours. Kinda wish we had spent the $$ now, as I’m sure it would’ve been really neat to see the whole thing. As it was, we got to watch the windmill at work, and studied a very nicely-done (free) timeline of Pella history.

We had lunch at a little diner called the Windmill Cafe, then back on the bikes and travelled the short way down to Lake Red Rock and Knoxville. While en route we passed Cordova State Park, home to the tallest observation tower in the Midwest. This thing is an interesting structure: it used to be a water tower serving the state parks in the area, but when they all hooked up to the rural water system the tower was no longer needed. In 1995 they decommissioned it, and in 1998 they built a spiral stairway around the outside of it and an observation deck at the top. The deck is 106 feet, and 170 steps, off the ground.

Stef and I decided to make the climb - she’s afraid of heights and I’m not in the best physical shape for this sort of thing (two days later and my thighs are still burning!), but we both made it and discovered that the view of the surrounding Des Moines River Valley is breathtaking. On this clear day you could see several miles in every direction, and we spent about 20 minutes enjoying the vista.

The only bad part of the day was that at one point on the road, I started to feel these little needle-sticks on my shoulder… then down near my waist (okay my “spare tire”, which is not so much flab as it is a protective overhang for my nether-region)… and then more back up on my shoulder. It was painful, and driving me NUTS, as the sticks were hitting me every few seconds. I decided that a bee must have got into my shirt, and I had to pull the bike over because there’s not much patting and shoo-ing one can do while going down the road. Pulled my shirt out of my jeans and Steve said something flew out - but only one something, so he said it had to have been a wasp because of the multiple stings. Anyway, got it out of there and put myself back together; now I’ve got about six sting marks that are itching like CRAZY.

In all we put 120 miles on the bikes - I am fast-approaching the 2,000-mile mark for the season.

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East Village Bike Night July 29 - Seems like there’s a “bike night” most every night of the week somewhere around here at a diner, bar or bowling alley. The “original” bike night takes place at Porky’s Barbecue on Thursday nights, and now there’s another one down the street from Porky’s on the same night so you can travel back and forth between the two.

Others have sprung up all over town, and last summer, a group that organizes and promotes events in downtown Des Moines hosted a one-night-only event called “Bikers in the City.” We attended, and thought it was a lot of fun. Well this year, for a variety of reasons, they didn’t do that event - but a group of business owners in a downtown area called the East Village took it over and WOW, did they do it right! East Village Easy Riders Night was held July 29, with closed-off streets for bike parking, outdoor vendors (food and merchandise - lots of each!), free live music in the street, and an excellent street-party atmosphere.

I’d guess there were 700-800 bikes - I’m not a good judge, so not sure, but it was A LOT… and it was a nice evening weather-wise, too. We rode in early, joined up with friends Garry & Shirley, and just walked around looking at bikes and enjoying the music. So, congrats to the East Village - they’ve been rehabbing, rebuilding and restoring this older section of downtown Des Moines for the last couple years and I know the business owners were wanting to draw a good crowd down there to show off what’s been happening - well, I’d say they succeeded with “bike night”, and I for one hope they do it again next year!

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Wow, what an awesome weekend!! I just completed my first “real bike trip” riding my own! My plan was to meet up with some of the gals in my online “biker sisterhood,” then we were all going to go on a ride together around southern MN. A friend of mine here at work, who also rides her own, asked if she might go with me as far as Clear Lake, where her parents live, so this became our first ride together, the first overnight trip for both of us, and the longest trip to date for both of us.

We had several people from the online group scheduled to meet us in Albert Lea. We weren’t sure what the weather was going to do - we knew it was going to be hot, but not sure what we would do if it poured rain as some were predicting.

Susan, my work buddy, (who rides an ‘03 pearl white Sportster 883) eventually decided to forego the visit to her parents and ride with me on up to Albert Lea. We left Des Moines at 7:30 Saturday morning. It was warm, but humid, so the air was moist and once we got moving it was pretty enjoyable. We rode north up Highway 69, which was absolutely beautiful - the fields are full, and all looks really healthy and green. We traveled 88 miles before our first stop, which was in Belmond. We topped off the gas tanks, drank some water, and then from Belmond we rode straight into Albert Lea, arriving at 11:30 a.m. We navigated through town up to Bergdale Harley Davidson where we bought some souvenir t-shirts, then headed over to the truck stop to meet the other folks.

As it turned out, only one of the other gals could make it down to meet us - the others all got pummeled with a major thunderstorm in the Twin Cities/Minnetonka area. But Lynn arrived and the three of us had lunch and then headed out for our planned ride with her in the lead… we went east out of Albert Lea on Hwy 46, picked up 90, then 63 south at Spring Valley… found a convenience store off 63 and took a long break… then back onto 63 south down to Hwy 56, a designated scenic byway. We travelled on 56 back to the northwest, through Le Roy, Tapaoi, and ending at Rose Creek, which is a few miles south of where 56 meets up again with 90. It was about a 100 mile loop, mostly east and south of Austin, MN.

We gassed up at a little mom-and-pop gas station in Rose Creek run by this older couple, who were pretty interested in the three biker chicks! Then Lynn took off towards home about 5 p.m. and Susan and I took a round-about way back to Clear Lake where we had booked a room to stay overnight. We had decided to avoid I-90 on the way back, so instead we took 218 south into Iowa, passed through St. Ansgar and Osage, then picked up Hwy 9 and went through Manly, Fertile, and finally arriving in Clear Lake about 7 p.m. We totaled about 325 miles for the day.

The hotel was decent, and the manager let us park our bikes right outside the office window so they and the security folks could keep an eye on them for us. We had supper at Perkins, then back to the hotel to sleep. (In bed by 9:30?? What happened to those wild biker chicks?? LOL) 

We were up early, packed, checked out, and were warming up the bikes by 7:30 Sunday morning; south down Highway 69 we stopped again at Belmond for a potty break, then again at Jewel for gas and to watch a train go by (not much choice in that one… LOL) then one more stop outside of Ankeny (close to home) to say good-bye… again a beautiful ride because it was early and still somewhat cool with the wind. My mileage was 460 for the entire trip; Susan had another 15 or so on top of that because she had to ride up to my house for the start and then home at the end. 

It was a beautiful, trouble-free weekend and I can’t WAIT to plan something else!!

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Had a great weekend here, it was extra-long – I had taken three days off from work with my DD going away to summer camp on Sunday, and told the DH: we are goin’ ridin’!! Friday night we all went down to a “bike night” in a small-town just south of here; we rode with our friends Garry and Shirley… well over 700 bikes “on the square” in Indianola!! Beautiful evening, great ride both directions. On Monday with Stef at camp we set out to ride from Des Moines to approximately Unionville, MO – actually a tiny town called Livonia – where Steve’s folks live. It is a lovely ride mostly down Highway 5, and we know it well because we’ve done it so many times in the cage. So the landmarks seem to fly by pretty quickly – it’s about 100 miles door-to-door, but we had to gas up and also took a lunch break along the way so it took us about 3 hours to do what’s normally a 2-hour car trip. It was a nice ride down, but we were hot and tired when we got there; we visited a bit with the folks and they encouraged us to take a short nap, which we did, so we felt a whole lot better after that!

My MIL gave me the garden tour of their little converted one-room schoolhouse home, then they took us for a late-afternoon snack up the road at an antique-and-general-store place. After that we headed home and rode it straight through – just as we pulled off the interstate, with about 3 miles to go to home, the wind picked up and the temp dropped about 15 degrees. It was gonna rain, and raid HARD!! We pushed through to home with nary a drop, BUT with 40- and 50-mph wind gusts!! Boy my poor little Sporty was drifting all over the road – even Steve said his Heritage Softail was getting whipped around!! Made it home in the nick of time.

Tuesday was a bust for riding because Steve wanted me to go to the auto auction with him (he’s a car dealer), so we did that – it was an eye-opener, that’s for sure, but man is it tiring! (Who’d think that standing on concrete for four hours, with FIVE auctioneers blaring across five lanes of cars rolling through the sale… would tucker me out! LOL)

On Wednesday I had planned for us to visit either the Wilton Candy Kitchen in Wilton, Iowa (original 1920’s soda fountain and candy store) or the Boone and Scenic Valley Railroad in Boone, Iowa. We chose Boone because it’s closer, and Steve was still a little sunburned from Monday. (Everyone at the auction commented on his WHITE forehead and RED face… we explained to everyone that his do-rag was the cause of the mid-forehead “split.”) Had a nice but hot ride to Boone about 45 miles north of here… hung around the Railroad museum and took a ride on the “Fraser Line” – a daily passenger/sight-seeing excursion that travels along the Des Moines River and goes over a 150-foot-high trestle bridge… it was beautiful and we decided that we’d have to come back at some point to take Stef on the train, and then come back yet again to ride the Dinner or Dessert train in the evening. It was an uneventful and easy ride home. <p>

I was glad for the opportunity to take a couple of “destination” rides (as opposed to the generic “riding around” I normally do on weekends), and I’m all the more determined now to do some sort of longer bike trip yet this season… I need saddlebags and a backrest though for sure! <p>

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Boy, the weather here has been strange! It had really been pretty chilly up til the last couple of weeks; we had a late-season frost/freeze in mid-May and because it had been damp and cold prior to that, I am way behind on my garden for the year. Trying to balance gardening with riding the bike… neither one getting much attention! It has finally warmed up in the past couple weeks; we went on a large-group memorial ride on May 21; about 400 bikes took a short jaunt across town to the memorial gardens at our state capitol. Very nice event, perfect weather, no bad luck to report (yay – I’m keeping the shiny side up!)… Very much like the Toy Run last fall, and a nice memorial program. One of the “visiting dignitaries” was the guy who paints an annual memorial mural on a large rock situated on one of our Iowa highways, Ray “Bubba” Sorensen. I work for our Chamber of Commerce so I’d actually researched this a little before, but heard lots of comments from the bikers that somehow they thought Ray was an older guy – he’s actually a young adult just out of college. Here’s his website and a preview of the rock: http://bubbazartwork.com/.  

Took another nice ride on Memorial Day itself – the DH, DD and I set out with no particular destination in mind except “lunch,” and we ended up in the town of Boone about 50 miles from here. Took a scenic way up, had lunch there, and took a scenic route home through a lovely state park called The Ledges. Whoever said Iowa is flat hasn’t seen this place.

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Been buzzing around a little, mostly down to visit Garry and Shirley… Garry’s been converting his HD Night Train into a Heritage Softail, and he’s building a Yamaha chopper; and, Shirley is learning to ride and just bought a used Yamaha 250 Virago – it’s a great-looking bike and lightweight; she hasn’t ridden her own for maybe 40 years, so she’s starting from scratch to learn to ride. Another short hop is over to Porky’s BBQ for Thursday “bike night” and Saturday or Sunday morning breakfast. No big adventures on the bike yet this year, although I did have a flat tire in the garage the other day (grrr - $$)… I think we need to plan a day- or weekend-trip. As far as mods, I tried an easy-clutch-type product and it didn’t fit very well on my bike, have decided I don’t need it anyway as I’ve gotten used to the clutch tension already. Buckhorn bars arrived andgot installed a few weeks ago - they are AWESOME! This was an HD kit that came with the cables and all… changed the look of the bike and boy do they fit me a lot better!

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March 6 - First Ride of 2005!
What a gift of a day! FINALLY able to ride, we took a ride down to visit friends about 10 miles south… minor incident for Steve trying to get on the interstate.

March 19-20
First rides on the Sportster! Parking lot practice on Saturday (temps in low 40’s, only out half an hour)… and a short road ride on Sunday (temps in high 40’s - only about 10 miles’ worth). Awesome bike, DAMN it’s neat to be a chick on a bike! 

March 27
Took another ten miler Saturday, very short but still pretty cold - only 45 degrees!! Much better on Sunday - in the 50’s, we rode back to our friends’ place just south of here (Carlisle, Iowa) to show off the Sporty and to do a “hole saw mod” on its exhaust. It’s good and loud now, for 3 minutes’ work and NO cost! WOOHOO, my first mod! Need some riding position adjustment as my windshield is cutting my line of sight in half… Clutch cable was lubed so it’s easier to pull in now, but still needs an EZ-Clutch as it’s really hard to hold it in at stoplights. Buckhorn bars have been ordered - more mods to come!

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First ride of the year, March 6! It’s been almost four months to the day since I last rode my bike, and even though it was windy, yesterday was too good to pass up. We took a short ride down to visit friends about 15 miles away, then took a long way home. Very nice ride, very nice to be back on the bike again!

We did have a slight adventure, which leads me to want to rant a little. WHAT IS IT with cars and trucks who will not take their foot off the freakin’ gas pedal for even one second to allow you onto the interstate?? What exactly is that about? Is it so important to be FIRST that you would purposely risk another human being’s life? I was leading as we entered the Interstate. My husband was a few seconds behind me. I had plenty of room to merge, but there was a complete me-first asshole coming up who a). would not change to the left lane or let up off the gas to give Steve room to merge and b). in fact accelerated so hard  behind Steve that you could see smoke billowing out behind the vehicle so he could… what? Force Steve off the road?

I’m curious – if this guy was so angry at the thought that a motorcycle might end up in front of him on the interstate, why didn’t he just change lanes and zoom around us, even flip us off?  And – if he had in fact succeeded in forcing Steve off the road and into the ditch, would he have stopped to help? Or would he have happily continued on, knowing that he had successfully put himself first once again and believing that the guy deserved to die because he was on a motorcycle?

I know I am preaching to the choir here, but I’ll say it anyway: SHARE THE ROAD. If you can safely change lanes to allow another vehicle to merge from the on-ramp into traffic, please do so. If you have to lift your foot off the gas for a second to give the merging vehicle a little breathing room, please do so. And DON’T gas up to prevent another vehicle from merging ahead of you. And, when you’re on your bike, look outfor the jerks who don’t practice common safety and courtesy. In your car or on your bike, it’s more important that everyone make it home alive than it is to always be first.

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I distinctly remember sitting in my car at an intersection about 10 years ago, trying to get to Sunday Dinner at my Grandma’s house. We were held up because a column of motorcycles was being allowed, with Police escort, to proceed through a major stoplight intersection en masse. As the thunder rolled and the light changed from red to green many times over, I noticed that the column of bikes stretched quite a ways down the road – and I noticed that each of these big, burly, bearded “hardcore bikers” sported a brightly-colored box or large teddy bear strapped to their bike.

I didn’t know the reason at that moment, but the image of those tough guys and their teddy bears made me smile – and made me wait a little more patiently than I might have, suspecting as I did that something I didn’t fully understand was going on. When I got to my Grandma’s I mentioned the bikes to my sister, who informed me that the motorcycle group was called ABATE (A Brotherhood Aimed Toward Education) and the ride was a benefit for the United States Marine Corps’ Toys for Tots organization. I had just seen my first Toy Run.

On October 10, I got to experience the Toy Run from inside the column – and not as a passenger, but as a rider. Although I’ve been riding my own bike for three seasons now, this was the first large-group ride I’ve been on. I can assure you that getting my first glimpse of the sheer strength of our column gave me chills – we were over two thousand bikes, and at one point our column stretched the entire 10.2-mile distance of the Toy Run route: the first wave was arriving at the destination as the last wave was leaving the State Capitol where we had gathered.

The biggest challenge as a rider was getting out of the big parking lot at the gathering point – it seemed like all 2,000 of us were trying to leave at once. I found that if you just staked out your spot and held your ground, everyone else was doing the same and so the whole group just kind of moved as one. Once we were out on the street, things spread out a little – we rode two bikes wide in a single lane of the four-lane street – but you still traveled closer than normal to the bikes around you, so paying full attention (and often riding in only 2nd or 3rd gear) was a must. The police escort was there to block every intersection so we could proceed as an uninterrupted group. I’m certain that some of the folks in those cars were ticked off, but hey – one hour out of one Sunday a year isn’t asking too much, is it?

I’ve posted a few photos in my Webshots album, but believe me: they don’t capture the thrill of being part of something so large, so loud and so big-hearted. If you have a chance to ride in a local Toy Run, please do – you’ll be helping the Marines reach nearly 7 million needy children nationwide who don’t always experience the magic of toys at Christmas. And, if you don’t have a local Toy Run, consider contacting Toys for Tots to get one started. You’ll find you’ve got a lot of soft-hearted bikers right in your own community!

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