Toy Runs

Toy Run 2018

 It was 26 degrees when I left my house, the high was 36 degrees, it was cold but worth it just seeing the kids faces at Children's Hospital.

Toy Run 2019

 This year was a little warmer. It was 36 degrees when I left my house and a high 0f 54 degrees. Again, it was a lot of fun for all.

Toy Run 2020

 Thanks to Covid-19, the run was cancelled, although we dropped the toys off at the dealerships and Children's Hospital still got the toys.

 A little background, I have always been the hard ass, no helmet for me (except the states that have helmet laws), no rain gear, you dry off fairly quickly in the wind, you get it, a minimalist. 

 I decided to split my road trip up, normally I combine the Sturgis Rally with the road trip, I always take a month off work for this, I get plenty of vacation time to take a month for the road trip and a week off for Sturgis, though I can only take no more than a month at a time. I decided to do the road trip in June. 

 My home base is in Denver Colorado. I was riding to upstate New York so I went East on I70, it was hot, especially through Kansas, long distances of open road and sunshine, not really a lot to see on this stretch of road. Yep, by the time I got through Kansas I had a pretty good sunburn on my face, then to St Louis, it took me a few days to get here, I wasn't in a hurry. This is where the weather flipped from sunny and hot to cold and wet. You were in it or heard about it on the news, torrential rain, it was just that, rain everyday, all day and cool temperatures, I was miserable.

 I was just into Ohio, I stopped to top off my tank, it was just getting dark. Before I hit the road I unhooked my left foot and transferred to my chair to get a drink. my right foot was still locked in. When I got back in the saddle I forgot to lock my left foot back in, as I started to head down the on ramp to the freeway my left foot fell off the peg. I pulled over, got it locked in and moved on, being wet and cold I found a hotel for the night. When I stripped off the wet clothes, I saw the burn on my left leg where my leg had rested on the primary case when my foot fell off the peg. It was a bad burn, I just knew from the looks of it it had to hurt like hell, I was glad I couldn't feel it, at the same time a lesson well learned. 

 To make a long story short and repeating the same thing on the weather, I got about 30 miles East of Cleveland and decided I had enough, after checking the weather, it was going to be in the low 50's and rain for the rest of the week where I was going, I decided to head back on I80. I made it to the eastside of Chicago, I had been having problems with the oil since I got the bike and now it was getting bad. I got a hotel and looked up Harley dealers, I was close to Lakeshore Harley Davidson. I ran the bike there and was informed the whole bottom end needed to be replaced. It turned out that the stock oil pump couldn't keep up with the motor and the oil was just cooking in the engine. It should have had a high output oil pump from the beginning, why Harley didn't make this known is beyond me, and as it took 2 years to get it so I could ride it the warranty was expired. Lakeshore Harley was fantastic and worked with me on my finances and got me back on the road a week later. Everyone at Lakeshore were friendly and made me feel very welcome. The bike has run great since. I made the rest of the trip home and chalked that road trip as the Road trip in hell. I look back at it now and laugh but it was not a fun road trip at the time. As a side note, while the bike was in the shop, I decided being the hard ass was going to change, I bought a full faced helmet and rain gear while I was there.

I combined Sturgis and my road trip this year, starting at Sturgis. It was hot out, going through Wyoming on 85, there isn't much there and a long stretch of road of nothing. there is a rest area with shade in the middle of nowhere, I pulled in and there were some really great people there giving away cold water and snacks to the bikers traveling through. Turns out they do this every year, they even bless your bike. 

 I got to Sturgis, stayed at Bear Butte Creek Campground again. I should mention here that I took my 2 man mountain tent this year instead of my dome tent. Here is a lesson for those in wheelchairs, I can't fit in the 2 man tent in my chair so I have to get out of the chair, crawl into the tent and pull the chair in after. With the dome tent I can go into the tent in my chair, there is a lot more room, a much better choice. Lesson well learned. 

 So this year I met up with a brother I haven't seen in like 28 years, Terry. We got to do some riding, along with my brother Mike who lives in Rapid City, I see him every year. Its the one time we can all get together since we have all moved to different parts of the country. Another brother I only get to see at Sturgis, Dan, we don't get much riding together as he works there, but it's still great getting to catch up on what we have been doing for the past year. That's what makes these rallies great, the people you haven't seen are there and then the new people you meet you develop new friendships, all having this one thing in common.

 So again, you put the miles on seeing a lot of history, Deadwood, the Badlands, Mount Rushmore, too many to list with a great bunch of people. You get all the perks, plenty of bands, races, just a great time for all.

 With 6 days at Sturgis it was time to move on, I was off to Minneapolis, its funny, the way things work out sometimes, I had pulled off on an exit to check my load on the back of the bike, there was nothing there, I pulled up behind another bike on the off ramp, asked them if they were ok, they were just taking a break, the guys wife came up and told me I had just made her day. Turns out she worked with people in wheelchairs and seeing my bike and what I had done to be able to ride again gave her something to give encouragement to those she works with. What are the chances of getting off an exit and meeting someone like that? 

 So I made it to Minneapolis, looked up some brothers and sisters there, went for a ride with Rob, Steve and Christina, family from my previous marriage, again those I only get to see once a year and the reason I go there. You really don't know how much you really miss people until you get back together with them after a long time. We rode up to St Cloud where I got to meet up with another friend, Amy, everyone I knew when I lived there years and years ago. 

I was now on my way east, destination Upstate NY to my mom's house. I had a couple of stops to make to visit with other friends, on the way. First stop was Lake City Minnesota to see Joe, It had been a couple of years since I had seen him, spent about half a day there before moving on. The weather was nice, great scenery and all in all a great ride to Chicago where I stopped to say hi to everyone at Lakeshore Harley. I was staying off the toll roads and took Highway 30, I guess I was blessed on this trip (remember the bike blessing in Wyoming) as this route took me right through the middle of Chicago at 11 pm, The streets were actually empty and only a few cars, I think it had something to do with Covid-19 restrictions. People had told me not to go that way as it was a bad part of town especially at that time of night, again, since when did I ever listen to others and I wanted to run straight through to Indiana before getting a hotel. That road is not taken care of, it was a rough ride, and I believe when I hit the Illinois/Indiana state line I hit a pothole that even at 35 miles an hour put the bike airborne. Ouch! As I got into Indiana I was ready to find a hotel for the night, it was after midnight, I found a place and settled in for the night. 

 I should mention here that when checking into a hotel and getting an accessible room you should always look at the room first. The ADA laws are pretty vague about what accessible is, I have found rooms that don't have hand held showers, bath benches, the beds are really high, this is the case in most hotel rooms so there isn't much you can do about it, I have ended up on the floor a few times. I always let them know what changes they need to make.

I made my way to Upstate New York to the small town I grew up in, yea, one red light in the center of town. It's beautiful country, dairy farms, rolling hills, tall trees, the only thing you need to really watch for are deer. I hit a rainstorm about 40 miles from my mother's house and it poured all the way there, I was soaked when I arrived, I didn't put my rain gear on, since the majority of the trip so far was great weather I didn't let it bother me, just a part of road trips, you take the good with the bad. I stayed there for almost a week visiting my mom and siblings, it was a good time, I see them once a year, the reason for my road trips out there.

The trip back I planned on going to the bottom end of Missouri, I wanted to visit Fritz and Meghan, I hadn't seen them in a few years, since they left Colorado. It's also a beautiful ride, fantastic country to see. I made it with no mishaps, spent the night at their house, then finished my ride back to Colorado. All in all, this road trip was well worth it.