23 November '05

ANOTHER FINE DAY RUNNING
WITH THE BEARS...

emailto: hun@bikerenews.com

1 9 bears holding on tight...

2 Chico and Brenda from RKMC VI

3 the crowd enjoying a great day

4 Elfs or is it Elves?

5 Fire Fighter Special makes a good Bear holder

6 On the phone

7 Our flag holder

8 Red Knights MC IV from the peninsula

9 Santa's sled puller and more elfs...

I got up bright and early on Sunday so I could go on the annual "Blue Knights Teddy Bear run". This run is for the benefit of the kids in the ward at Children's Hospital of the Kings Daughters, aka "CHKD". For those who may not know, the run is put on by the fine gents in the "Blue Knights" motorcycle club. They are all members or former members of State or Local Police. As a member of the "Red Knights", I could not let this one get missed.

The Red Knights MC IV plan was to group up at the Sears parking lot and ride in to JANAF en masse. "High pockets" was already there when I arrived, we stood around for a while and talked about important stuff. Just about the time we were starting to think that we were in the wrong spot, a dazzling Red Head on a Light Blue VROD came Zooming in. This was none other than the amazing Sarah. The VROD fits her well, just the right height, and she seems to be quite comfortable on it.

Soon, other bikes started arriving, Joe (party guy Joe) had his Harley back, the blue powder coat and the diamond cuts on the heads really make that engine stand out. The only one missing now is David "J", where is he? He has the flag pole. Hmmmm maybe we should check the other side of the mall, no, wait, here he comes. Alright, we are set; all we have to do is attach the flag to the pole and head for the starting point.

Hmmmm, the pole is a little short, but David tacks the flag on it, and we head for the exit and try to look neatly arranged. The final count was eleven as we rolled out of the parking lot and onto Virginia Beach blvd. Well, make that twelve; "Vini" caught us about half way to the shopping center.

Shopping center! What a crowd! Even at this early hour, the place is starting to fill up. There are bikes of every description and size, from the forty nine CC mini crotch rockets to the hundred cubic inch Harleys and multi cylinder monsters. We get parked, and fall in line to purchase Bears, and hopefully get a pin. They advertised pins for the first five hundred, but they tend to disappear at an amazing rate once the table opens up.

As I was standing patiently in line, I heard a familiar sound, and looked up just in time to see someone low side in the parking lot. He was not going very fast, and did not seem to be hurt, but the bike suffered some scrapes on the bags and engine guards. As it turned out, this gent had run into an oil slick in the parking lot. Looked to me as if someone had done an oil change and just let the old oil run out on the asphalt. There are no polite words for a person who would do something like that.

After a half hour of walking about, visiting, looking at bikes, etc. We decided to leave the lot and go find some food. Al's house of Eggs is just a short dash up the road, and a bunch of us went there to see if he could accommodate a small crowd. Turns out he could and fifteen happy bikers settled in for more conversation, some coffee, and a late breakfast.

We made out way back to JANAF around twelve, only an hour to go. More people watching, and bike inspections. I went over to check out Santa's new sled, or more accurately, sled puller, he has traded the old wing in for a spiffy trike, RED of course.

Promptly, or at least real close, to one o'clock the bikes started to rumble on out of the parking lot and down Virginia Beach blvd toward the hospital. As in past years, it was a fully escorted "Parade" type ride. The police leapfrogged their way along with the caravan, and set up road guards on each intersection. I am always more than a little concerned about this kind of ride. I did not see one this year, but in the past I have seen cagers that just could not stand to be held back, and forced their way through in spite of the uniforms telling them to wait.

Hospital in sight! What a treat! There were all kinds of happy folks clustered around to handle the removal tasks. Santa's helpers unloaded the bears, and I was off and running for the end site. I did not find the place right away, I went to the previous year's location, and found that it was someplace else. After some touring around through Portsmouth, we finally got to the Bingo parlor on Airline blvd. Yep, this must be the place; the lot was jammed with bikes.

Just a few highlights from the end site.

ff and owners of Chevy's for allowing us the use of their facilities. You guys and gals are the best!

• Largest club was Tidewater HOG with sixty two members in attendance. They also took the plaque for buying the most bears.
• North Carolina XV was the largest Blue Knight club
• Red Knights did get an "honorable mention" for having twenty nine persons signed up.
• The "Most Experienced" went to Guido Martelli, eighty one years folks! Now, he also got the award for distance traveled. He rode in from Wilmington Delaware, a little over three hundred miles one way.
• The youngest rider was two and a half.
• "DW" did a fine job of managing the fifty-fifty, the split was $325.00 and the winner kicked $100.00 back.
• They counted a little over five hundred and twenty bikes this year, eight hundred and thirty one folks in attendance.

All in all, I would call this one a huge success. I wish every year could be this good.

That's all for now folks, be careful out there, you never know what you might run across on the road, or in the parking lot.

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