Christmas is For Kids Ride

Blackstone's 16th Annual Ride to Benefit the Attleboro Area Council For Children's "Christmas is For Kids."  Gary O. and Jackson:  Road Captains

I got to the North Attleboro Elks at a little after 9 yesterday morning to help set up tables and chairs for the meal after the ride.  Looking at my bike against the fall backdrop was another reminder that there won't be too many more rides after this one.  As much as I love doing this ride, it's bittersweet because it is always our last "big" ride of the season.

After getting set up at the Elks, we rode down to our sponsoring dealership, Precision Harley-Davidson, of Pawtucket, Rhode Island, to line up.

Santa arrives and greets members near the registration table.  To his right are Ed Blair, Krazy Karl, and his wife, Amy.

Krazy Karl is Wendy's "little" brother, and this is his ride, the 1950 Pan that belonged to their father. Karl has since changed a few things of course. It's hard to get a picture of this bike because every time he shows up on it, people just circle around it checking it out. I'm sure Big D will get some drool going over this!

                           
Funny story about this bike. A few years back Karl was up in Laconia, and of course it was raining like it almost always does every year up there. He had different pipes that had bigger, wider tips and still swept up the way you see them now. Some guy stops and stands behind the bike watching Karl trying to kick her over and Karl says, "I wouldn't stand there if I were you."
 

The guy looks at Karl and says, "Fuck you...I'll stand where I please."  Karl just smiles and says, "Ok, whatever," and kicks the bike over again.  When the bike started, a projectile line of black oil and water spew shot out of his pipes and covered the guy who was standing there.  According to Karl his face and shirt were soaked black and the guy was madder than a bobcat caught in a pissfire!  Oh, would I have LOVED to have been there to see that!

Santa at the head of the line up getting ready to go.  The lime green things you see are safety vests for all the Road Captains.  We start at the front of the ride because we have to block, and then we end up in the back.

From the Attleboro Sun-Chronicle.  Santa, aka Howard Bristow, leading the ride down South Main Street in Attleboro.  For the online article, click HERE.

The parking lot at the Elks after the ride.  I know it's hard to tell from the picture, but we had a total of 205 bikes for this run, and decent weather to boot.

Inside the Elks hall where riders enjoyed a hot pasta dinner with bread and salad for a donation of $10 or an unwrapped toy.  We collected 12 big bags full of toys and made a donation in the amount of $1,400.00 for the kids.

Santa greets riders as they head to the bar for a cold one.

Wendy and Jackson enjoying a few beers after lunch.

This guy's shirt says it all.  I know I put a lot up here about us down at the Boneyard horsing around, drinking, etc, but there's more to what we do than that.

I've been part of runs to benefit breast cancer, muscular dystrophy, disabled American veterans, and a host of other worthy causes in the 2+ years I've been riding with Blackstone.  But this ride is the most important one in my opinion because it helps local kids that have very little.  I know there may be a few jackasses out there waiting to fire "Yeah, well what about YOUR OWN kids," at me.  Some people seem to think because things didn't work out between my wife and I that I don't care about my kids, and that's crap.  I provide daycare for them every day so she can keep her job.  I help them with their homework.  I always hug them and remind them I love them and will always be there for them.  They will have a great Christmas this year.

But these kids we helped on this ride have very little or nothing, whether it's a divorce, low income, or who knows what.  The point is that on this day 205 bikers came together and did what they could to make sure that these kids have something to open on Christmas morning.

Susan and I were proud to be two of them.

"Always a Good Time With Blackstone"