HOG-Hosted Poker Ride for M.D.- located in linked text.
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Sunday, September 2nd, 2001.
The Kingston H.O.G. chapter and MotoSport Plus hosted this great event. We met up with the Sun Riders at 9:00 a.m., met their members at Tim Horton's and before long Martin, Sue, Chris, Colin and I were off to Motosport Plus to join in the event.
For anyone who doesn't know what a poker run or poker ride is, it's simple. You ride to designated places and collect a playing card. After you've attended 5 stops and have gathered your 5 playing cards, you head out to a final place where your poker hand is registered. The best poker hand wins! Well, we all suck at poker and some say if it were strip poker we'd been playing - we'd all be stark naked! Here is a synopsis of our day:
Motosport Plus: We started off here by registering and slappin' down a hard $20.00 for our registration and chance to win a Fat Boy Harley Davidson (a bike some of us agreed we'd trade in a heartbeat for the Honda VTX !). hehe The H.D. was estimated at a value of 30 G ! We gabbed for a bit and joined the Sunriders' group. The weather was a motorcyclist's dream! - An absolutely beautiful day. We headed for Joyceville Husky.
Joyceville Husky: Here we joined the line and waited patiently the first cards of our poker hands. Bleh! Chris and Colin shyly pose here for a picture. Sue and Martin scoop up their cards and we head to the Smuggler's Inn in Ivy Lee Village on our second stop.
Smuggler's Inn: Here some other participants have arrived. The parking lot quickly fills with bikes of all types. As you can see it's a beautiful day! There were people of all ages on this ride which completely enriched the experience. Chris and I pose for a pic as Colin plays photographer. This Inn is a primo spot - one of Ontario's many beautiful marinas. I looked around here and briefly considered the benefits of having sold my boat. It was a very brief consideration. Nothing beats motorcycling and when it's with such a great group as this, it's no wonder. So, we're off to Buds on the Bay in Brockville.
Buds On The Bay - Brockville: This place was rockin'! Although we waited just an hour past eternity for our food, it was worth it. We chatted, Al Dodd fed a local bird, posed for a pic with his daughter Jen and before boredom could set in we analyzed the contents of my Joe Rocket jacket pocket. (Part II) Colin's steady hand captured the moment. The donut was part of my emergency stash from Tim Horton's stop in the morning. Although it was still edible, I passed on the opportunity if for no other reason than the others at our table were starving. I just couldn't bring myself to devour an extra dose of carbs in front of their drooling faces. We finally ate and headed out to Battersea to collect our card at the Creek..
Creek's Landing: Colin at The Creek. Jen gets her card. Unfortunately two riders hit the ditch after colliding on Jones Falls Road in the twisties. The last I heard they were taken to hospital in stable condition. Before long were were on the road again to get our next card at Wycott's.
WYCOTT'S: (Formerly "Frosty Muggins" in Harrowsmith.) This was a quickie stop for our card. We then headed to the Shriners' Club on Princess Street (Kingston West) where we gathered for the draws, refreshments and sick jokes. Okay, okay, I'm the sick joke guy but...we had one helluva good time! We didn't win the Harley (whew!) but we raised over $40,000.00 for M.D. ! Whoohoo! There were over 100 prizes handed out in addition to all the fun. Ehem......Al won tickets to the Grand Theatre which he tried to sell to us. Seeing how important a night out to the Grand was to Al... we graciously declined.
Some motorcycles in attendance. Pic1. Pic2.
Thanks to the H.O.G. (Kingston), Motosport Plus, Sunriders and particularly Al Dodd who invited us. Although his Adventurer is a bit (Okay, a lot) slower than my Thunderbird, it's still a Triumph so ... I can live with that. Martin, Sue, Chris and Colin's presence was the icing on the cake. It was good to meet Dianne and Derek too! At the end of the day I had only a moment or two of horror. It was the repeated scene of poor Jen gripping onto Al for her life as he rumbled along with the pack. It reminded me of a scene in the movie "Apocalypse Now". "The horror" [echo and fade]. (J.K.)
Kevin
P.S. Click here for the sound of a Harley leaving at the end of the day. (1.1 MB - allow download time)
P.P.S. Click here for a funny ad for Harley Davidson. Kudos to Sue and Martin!
