I keep thinking that when I get older I’ll have more time for “projects.” But as it is, the project pile continues to grow, and time is fleeting? I just don’t know where it goes. I can’t believe it’s already December. I haven’t caught up from Sturgis yet! I haven’t written a Christmas card or even thought about presents.
I did reach out to all of my friends, who ride with the details of upcoming Toy Rides, but Southern California was finally getting it’s annual two weeks of rain, and nobody wanted to commit to riding. So, the SFV Hells Angels Toy Ride surfaced on December 6th, but all of my friends bailed out when it poured on December 5th. The next weekend hosted the Glendale Harley Toy Ride, and the tenuous weather looked the same. The prior day pissed rain, and everyone I knew backed out. I was having trouble finding the perfect skateboard for some unknown tot. I called the last girl on my list to tell her I was throwing in the towel.
“What?” She snapped. “No! You can’t! It’s for the kids, sista, rain or shine! Sure as shit, the kids are going to be there rain or shine! So we gotta ride, rain or shine!”
If those word erupted from any other friend, I might have decided NOT to go. It was gonna be wet, and cold, plus we were forced to scramble out of the sack at the crack of dawn, and ride downtown to Skid Row. It wasn't exactly a scenically beautiful ride, just surface streets to a sad part of town. Not to mention I had bills in that stack of “projects.” Instead of buying a skateboard, I could pay up, sucka.
But………..the person on the other line was Carlana, a new friend, who was one-year new to the riding scene. She had never experienced a Toy Ride, and she was super-jazzed about the idea. Remember your first Toy Run? I enjoyed Carlana. We have everything in common. We share a love of riding Harleys, and we lived our lives way out on the edge. We both love to travel, ski, scuba dive and sky dive. We both love wildlife, and nature, and getting out. As kids we were both gymnasts and cheerleaders and prided ourselves on being physically fit. Only one difference, Carlana has been a paraplegic for 23 years. She was in a car accident at 17. It left her legs paralyzed. One year ago, her incredible husband John, along with Glendale Harley-Davidson co-designed the trike of her dreams. She has been on fire riding with a passion even despite crashing the trike on her first time out, shattering her already fragile femur and tibia bones, among other injuries.
So, if my new girlfriend wanted to ride her new trike in the rain, to Skid Row, to take presents to kids who might not otherwise have any, then I was in. Not to mention, many of those kids don’t even have homes. Another factor played in the damp decision making process. My buddy Richard Wagner, over at Glendale Harley, produced this Toy Ride for 22 years. There are a lot of people out there who own motorcycles, but there's just a small group of diehards who have shared the same roads for two decades. Richard has been my friend for many, many years, and it’s important to support our long time friends, especially when the whole country is going thru hard and uncertain times.
I don’t know if it was luck, or divine intervention when the clouds above cleared and the sun smiled down upon the day. It was a great turnout for what could have been a dismal rainy day. The ride over was actually sunny and warm and the streets were lined with families waving from every corner we passed. It’s always interesting to see what people will turn out for the winter Toy Rides, and this one was no exception. As we pulled into the streets around the Fred Jordan Mission, you could see the line of children waiting, as it snake down the street for blocks, then disappeared around a corner. Every year I worry that there cannot possibly be enough toys, but then every year I am shocked as the bikers arrive and the mountain of toys is piled to the sky.
As I looked around the sea of Boozefighters, Vagos, Mongols, and Christian riders, my heart was warmed. There were no movie cameras here, no big magazines, just me from Bikernet.com. There were no naked girls on poles, no booze, no drugs, and no burnouts. There was no drama or disharmony. Just a bunch of cool guys bringing pink bicycles, transformers and Nerf toys to under privileged kids. Fred Jordan’s wife Willie got up on the podium and thanked everyone for their participation, but especially thanked the Boozefighters, Vagos and Mongols for their generous toys and support. There was no reason to be there other than sharing Christmas spirit and the way it feels to see those kids happy with their new toys.
As the stream of bikers arrived and heaped their toys on the tables, Carlana and I went over to talk to the kids waiting at the front of the seemingly endless line. There was a mother upfront with a large group of kids. She said they had been waiting in line since 5:00 p.m. the night before in the heavy rain. Her little girl, Rosa, asked if I could adopt her for the holidays, and I asked her what she meant. Her sister asked Carlana the same question, and Carlana was so touched that she hugged that little girl in her chair for the next five minutes. Their brother was the very first person in line, and he had his eye on a motorized scooter buried in the pile of toys.
But once they opened the gates and the kids ran in, chaos develops, and somehow someone else beat that little boy to the ONLY motorized scooter on the pile. I saw him leaving with the sad little skateboard that I had donated, and he howled as tears streamed down his face. And I thought my skateboard was so cool! I secretly got Rosa’s telephone number, and Carlana and I thought maybe at a later date we could see to it that a motorized scooter finds its way to that boy.
But plenty of kids were super happy, and it was great to watch their faces thru the maze of toys. For me it’s especially fun to watch the little girls receive their first bikes. I guess no one forgets their first bike, or trike, or Harley! It’s also always a hoot to stand and watch the exit where the security guard enforces the one toy per tot rule. There’s always a handful of kids who try to sneak an extra toy under their shirt, or even somewhere on mom's stroller!
Carlana got in on the fun of helping hand out toys with the other elves. Even when there were no kids left in line, Carlana wasn’t able to leave the event until she had personally said Merry Christmas or Feliz Navidad to every man, woman or child on the street. Watching her interact with the kids was truly inspirational. Watching her enthusiasm for everything she does is inspirational. Just the way she is able to maneuver herself from her chair to her own Harley and ride it wild and free, is nothing short of amazing.
Carlana told me she had never been to the Rock Store, so after the Toy Ride my boyfriend, Mark, and I took her for a ride in the Malibu Hills. It was late in the day, and the clouds were rolling back in, but we had a great time twisting along open roads all to ourselves. There were only a handful of other bikes out, so we sat inside the historic Rock Store, drinking hot chocolate and enjoying a late lunch. I left the house that morning worrying about all the crap on my list, and came home feeling so grateful for everything in my life, even the unfinished project pile and the unpaid bills!
Merry Christmas, spend it with friends.
–Bikernet Betsy
Check Bikernet Betsy's Alaskan adventure:Bears and Betsy.
