Holiday Toy Run

We took part in the annual holiday toy run last Sunday. This was our first larger group ride that we've been part of since we got here. We love these escorted rides and this one was right up there with some of the great ones. It wasn't one of the longest but the weather and the friends made it perfect!!

The day started out a little chilly with temperatures in the high 40s when we left the house.

We met with friends John, Susan, John Jr. (or Jay), Darryl and Melina at our usual meeting place and headed down to Parker. When we got to the starting point we parked the bikes and went for a short walk up the street to Paul and Kerry's house for a great breakfast of eggs and biscuits with gravy. Thanx guys!!

Laura was able to join us today thanks to John and Susans son John. That's him on the right in the photo. Thanx so much John. She had a great time.

By the time we left and walked back down to the bikes the crowd had grown considerably and the temps had gotten up into the high 50s. Being from New Jersey this was beautiful riding weather as far as I was concerned although most of the other riders were still pretty well bundled up. After a few shots with Santa, it was almost noon and time to mount up and take a nice ride back to Lake Havasu where the toys would be collected and the festivities would take place.

 What a nice ride it was !! We still needed our leathers but I rode without gloves and it wasn't bad at all.
 The scenery from Parker to Lake Havasu is beautiful and quite a change from what we're used to. But I could ride around here all day long and never get tired of it. Saturday had been pretty cloudy but the skies were perfectly clear and blue the ride went great.

I don't know about the back of the group but in the front where we were riding everyone kept a good pace and there were no gaps or  breaks which makes for a very enjoyable ride. There were maybe a couple hundred ahead of us and I can't even imagine how many hundreds behind us but it all seemed to go extremely well and we had a ball.

 When we got to Chili Charlies the band was just getting ready to start and the place was filling up quickly so we grabbed a table and a couple of beers and settled in.

 Of course we saw the usual leather clad bikers and some unusual hats and outfits but we also found the biker pets. A very cute but sometimes aggresive little monkey was getting a lot of attention and you'll always find a biker poodle in the group, right ??

 When the crowd gets so big that you can't get to the drink or food tables and the potty line wait is 40 minutes, it's time to find somewhere else to get a bite. So that's Darryl and Melina up front on the left with John on the right. Followed by Susan on the left and John and Laura on the right as we took a short ride to a great little steakhouse across town.

 Not the greatest picture but some great people and great food. Who could ask for a nicer day? After the restaurant we all went back to Darry/Melinas for a drink and to check out their new pool and we really enjoyed every minute of this entire day!!

I just wanted to add for the friends back in New Jersey that might be reading this....We miss you guys terribly and miss taking these runs with you. Hopefully we'll be able to get together to ride again soon. Whether it be when you visit us out here or when we come back for a visit. In the meantime,
RIDE SAFE--RIDE FAR !!!