a good cause.....

Today was the Harley Owners' Group (HOG) toy drive for Redy's Children's Hospital here in San Diego. There were 3 other chapters who joined us at the end of the day to present toys to the hospital and the kids.

The morning started with a cold ride to the dealership to meet up before heading over to Wal*Mart. I don't have cold weather gear, but a thermal and sweatshirt along with a neck scarf worked fine while on the freeway. My hands got a little cold, so I may need a better "winter" glove. Once we got tot eh dealership, it was off to Wal*Mart. This was my first group ride of any kind, but it went fine. At Wal*Mart we had $1580 collected to buy toys, with Wal*Mart matching us to make the total $3160. Then out of the blue, a new member who nobody knew, matched our original $1580, so with Wal*Mart's match, we actually had $6320 to spend on toys. And, boy did we spend. We actually went over, and had to put some "big ticket" items back, but we ended up loading 4 vehicles with toys. Morgan's Pathfinder was one of those cars, as she and Cassie met us at the Wal*Mart.

Then it was off to the hospital. Because I am new to group riding, I need and want to stay in the back of the pack. Of course when we got on the 805, a car wedged between me and riders in front of me, splitting us in two. That happens all the time, but I did not want it to happen on my first ride. I and the rest of the guys behind me eventually caught up, and we all arrived at the hospital together.

Morgan said it was a great sight to see all of us in line as we were on the ramp getting onto the freeway. She said it was also very loud, as we started up and left the Wal*Mart. I know we got more than a few strange looks when we all pulled into the parking lot at 8:30 in the morning.

Well, at the hospital, the sight was even more spectacular, as you had 4 chapters and about 200 bikes all in one area. Then we unloaded toys and proceeded to hand them to the kids. They were all so thankful to us. Quite a few were in wheelchairs with masks covering their faces, or IV tubes being wheeled along side of them.

It was a real nice day, and I'm glad Morgan and Cassie were there to see it with me.

As for pictures, I have none at this point because we were told that the hospital told us on our chapter photographer was to take any pictures, and anyone else doing so would lose their disk or camera. I am sure that was for medical/privacy reasons. When our chapter gets any up on the website, I will try to post some here.

Off to relax, and then we are going to visit a new church this evening. With the regular Pastor away for a couple of weeks, we are going to visit another church close by that a mother at Cassie's swim practice mentioned to me.

Until the next time.....