Toy run to children's hospital

[El Diablo]

I had the best time this past Saturday riding in the Wheels of Thunder Toy Ride to Lebonheur Children's research hospital.

We met at a local Kawasaki dealer, each bringing toys for the kids. There were over a hundred bikes. Before we left for the hospital, they held a raffle. I bought $5 worth of tickets (7 for 5) and was shocked when I actually won something. A $150 Fulmer M1 helmet. Yeah me.

At 11:45 it was kickstands up and we proceeded through the city (Memphis) in a long procession of 2 by. The organizers couldn't get an escort from the police department or county sheriffs (where were you deputy dog?) so they did it themselves. There were a few bikes that would race ahead to each stop light and stop traffic. We were rolling thunder down Summer avenue through all the red lights. I had a big grin on my face the whole time.

When we got downtown, there was a marathon going on with much of the streets blocked off for the runners. We are all stretched out in a 2 by line at one intersection. There was a cop there and he would give the go signal and a few bikes would race across and then he would hold up his hands and stop us. A few runners would pass and he would let a few more go. We regrouped a few blocks from the hospital.

When we rolled up to the hospital, the news cameras were there. Also, the kids that could be brought down to the lobby were there and one of our Motorcycles with Santa on the back drove right up to the doors and through them into the lobby. Santa got off and sat on a bench so the kids could come and tell him what they wanted for Xmas. We had another Santa that those kids did not see that when upstairs to the kids in ICU or otherwise didn't feel well enough to come downstairs. It was heart breaking and heart warming to see those kids with all kinds of monitors hooked to them. Made me think how lucky I am to have healthy kids.

It was a lot of fun and what a good cause. The only problem the little GZ had was keeping up when the group would start out from a stand still. I had to really get down on it to keep up with the initial surge. After that, cruising was at speeds of 30-50 mphs which was fine.