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State-by-State
Motorcycle
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ABATE of Arizona Chapter Report - Yavapai Our first run of the year, “The Spring Run to the Sun” on Saturday May 16th unexpectedly turned into an “old school run” at the last minute. The original plan, and a good one, was go south to Western Trails in Morristown. Arizona’s crazy weather pattern screwed everything up. The temp in Wickenburg and surrounding areas was 105 degrees the weekend before and was set to repeat for our scheduled spring run. A decision was made; we needed to rethink the plan. Not a good idea to risk putting our riders in jeopardy, not everyone deals well with the heat. Do we cancel the run or just change the location and head north? Don, our Run Coordinator, rightly so, said you can’t cancel an advertised run at the last minute. Officers decided to meet at I-Hop, the sign in post, Saturday morning and see how many show. We agreed that if at least five people besides us wanted to ride to Williams then the run was on. Lo and behold, eighteen people total signed up. The cooler temperature was fine with them so on the fly we mapped out new stops. The second stop would be Lucy’s in Chino Valley, next The Oasis in Ash Fork and then up to Williams and play it by ear to scope out a place to have lunch and finalize the poker run, next stop, Lucy’s and hope this doesn’t end up a bust. Lucy’s worked out well and you can betcha they were happy for our business. To show their appreciation they signed up as business members, “I Love Lucy”! What looked dismal back at I-Hop was beginning to look more promising now. We hung out at Lucy’s for a while then headed out to Ash Fork (nice ride, uneventful) and found our way to The Oasis. One of our crew fed some coin into the juke box (loaded with only country tunes of course) and we proceeded to draw cards and play a few hands of Texas Hold em’. We were whoopin’ it up when a couple, definitely not locals, hesitantly walked into the bar. In short order we got the scoop on them. The buzz was they were on vacation from France, spoke little English and were touring around on a rented motorcycle soaking up the local color, guess that’s what they thought we were. Rich, our Treasurer, decided he was going to ask the mademoiselle to dance. Interesting, he never dances with me, his wife. They danced to a couple of tunes and I noticed she was really enjoying herself, hmmm. Rest assured, I had an eagle eye on them the whole time. It seemed that the “let’s entertain the French people” was to continue; now the plan was a photo session in the parking lot with the bikes. After the photo shoot it was time to head out. We did the European style double cheek kiss goodbye, those French are a loveable lot, and got ready to ride out. Mademoiselle started jumping up and down yelling “Yeah American” (French accented)! I yelled back “Viva La France” (French accented) and off we went. That couple has a story to tell when they get back home. Biker ambassadors, how cool is that? This makeshift run was getting better with every stop; I hoped that Williams would be the perfect finale. Riding down main street in the historic district was like riding in a parade. People were shouting and waving from outside restaurants. What did they think, the “Wild Ones” have come to town to rape and pillage? Not a Marlon Brando among us. We needed a place to end the run and Cal had what proved to be an excellent suggestion. I’m not sure if I got the name right but it’s something like Old Town, a tourist trap, but quite charming, designed to replicate an old west town with a bar/restaurant, perfect. We pretty much had the whole place to ourselves, in fact, we had the whole little tourist town to ourselves. After everyone had lunch we announced the winners of the high and low hand. Wild but true, Rich won the high hand and I won the low hand, two choices, give it back to the chapter or award the prizes to the next two best hands. We chose the latter, good public relations. Vicky Locke won high hand and David Holland had the low hand. Vicky generously donated back half to the chapter and David bought a round for the house, good call, and one guy said he’d never been on a run when someone bought him a beverage. Guess he’s not done many runs. Another guy shared that this was the best run he’s ever been on, another one that doesn’t get out much. Our last hurrah was two extremely weird prizes, two anatomically correct (you get my drift) goofy stuffed critters, male and female dolls. We devised a quick card game so a guy and a gal could win the appropriate x-rated doll. Vicky Locke won the male and a very embarrassed guy won the little lady. The whole place roared with laughter watching Vicky inspect her prize. Crazy day, one last treat, invited for a personal tour of the John Wayne Museum housed in one of the buildings, amazing show of hospitality, we’ll definitely be coming back. As I was leaving the gift shop I eyed a silver and turquoise bracelet, asked the shopkeeper (who was also the tour guide) how much, he said Happy Birthday it’s yours, a gift. What an end to an amazing day. Lesson learned, change it up and it can turn into something incredible. Hey, maybe this is the best run I’ve ever been on. I need to get a life. We did our thing for May’s Motorcycle Safety and Awareness Month on May 22nd at The Farmer’s Market at Prescott College. Last year we hosted a huge event in Prescott Valley including motorcycle clubs, politicians, bike show with prizes and a lot of hoopla. This year we centered on the public, handing out t-shirts and talking about our organization. We were low key but more interactive with the non-biker crowd. It was awesome to see all these farmer’s market shoppers walking around with “Look out for Motorcycles” t-shirts, kids and guys (can’t believe I felt a need to clarify that!) I know our General Meetings have been off schedule the last few months; holidays have landed on our second Sundays, now we are back on track for July 12th @ 11:00am same location the Pinon Pines in Prescott. A quick reminder that The 7th Annual Steak Fry is Sunday July 5th, sign in at Billy Jacks 2555 Hwy 69 in Humboldt from 10:00am-11:00am. Entry fee is $20.00 and includes the steak dinner with all the fixin’s, the poker hand is free. There will be entertainment along with raffles, 50/50 and maybe some real cool auction items. FMI call: Ross 928-925-4204 or Don 928-308-0927. Now I’m finally done with this report, go celebrate, I sure the hell am! Until next time, |
