We started the ride at Fort Worth Harley and rode parade style to Decatur. It was an amazingly beautiful day with temps reaching 80 by early afternoon. Even the ride to the dealership was warm at 10am. The nice weather brought out a lot of riders that probably would not have considered coming out otherwise. I didnt count but by the amount of bikes it looked to be about 80 chapter members.
Upon arrival in Decatur we either payed the $10 or presented a toy for the entry fee. The meetup was at Decatur Intermediate School parking lot and it was jammed full of bikes. MC's, RC's, RG's, Independants, and individuals from all over North Texas and Oklahoma were there to support the toy run. I had a great time wandering around taking pics and looking at all the bikes and bike decorations. Some people tied toys onto their bikes, others had decorated their bikes with ornaments and garland. Every where you looked was color and cheer. Santa hats were prominent, elf outfits were plentiful, and even the occasional reindeer horns could be seen sticking up above the crowd.
Once again, I didnt count, and couldnt count the number of bikes present but it was a great turnout. Well over 1000 I would presume. Once the procession began it took over 15 minutes for me to get out of the parking lot. There was a police escort for the entire ride and they blocked intersections for us to have safe travel. The streets in both Decatur and Bridgeport were lined with people that had parked to watch the parade. Even on Hwy 380 people were parked to wave and watch the bikes. Some riders had candy that they would throw as they rode by to groups of kids. It was funny to watch the kids scramble to get the treats and wave to the bikers in thanks. A couple of times when the road condition was just right you would crest a hill and see the string of bikes as far ahead as the eye could see. Visibility was perfect which gave a great view of the parade over the landscape.
The route took us through old downtown Bridgeport and many of the bikers were revving their engines as show for the onlookers. Our Chapter parked together just outside of the park where the ride ended. There was Chili for all the participants and it was at this time we gave our donated toys. Our Chapter didnt stay for any of the events that had been planned, instead choosing to go to a local restaurant to get together and eat. We went to Yesterday's which was a 50's, 60's diner. The atmosphere was great and lively with eye candy everywhere. It was however VERY busy due to the toy run and it seemed that the staff was overrun. They were having a hard time keeping up and some of our group received our drinks but never got our food. All was well though, I was one that didnt get my order but I understand how difficult it can be on the staff with a sudden onslaught of hungry bikers.
I left a bit early from the main group and headed home alone since it was getting late and I was hungry. I couldnt wind down from the excitement of the day so I spent a couple hours going through the pictures and choosing the ones I wanted to use for the blog. The slideshow worked so well on the last post I decided to do that again. This time though I played around with some of the photos and did some graphic editing on a few of them instead of just having snapped digital shots displayed. I am hoping it will give an interesting and different feel throughout the slideshow.
Enjoy!
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