2008 Big Texas Toy Run
We participated again this year despite the frigid cold temperatures. Something about doing this ride to get toys for kids that would not otherwise have them at Christmas is a great motivator.
We dressed in multiple layers and leathers to try to stay warm. They staged us right down the middle of Main Street in Grapevine, which allowed us to go to Wilhoites for a late breakfast/early lunch to get warm. What a crazy time that was! Bikers everywhere, and beer being consumed at 10:30am.
Left Grapevine about 1:00pm for the Arlington Convention Center. It was hard to tell whether we had 50,000 bikes like last year, but it looked pretty close when we got there. Our group was within the first 250 bikes out, so we got to park closer to the convention center this year. All the riders were courteous and rode safe, and we rareyly got above 40 mph with our police escort, so the ride was not too cold.
When we rode over I-30, we could see the parade of bikes coming from both Dallas and Ft. Worth that were converging with us. It was one heck of a site. My camera went stupid on Peggy, so unfortunately, we could not get any pictures.
We took our toys into the convention center, and sat down for a brief rest to let the rest of the bikes arrive. We could not leave until then, since the roads were occupied. Peggy noticed that on Fox News’ coverage of the event, I was captured in about 2 seconds of footage shot from the convention center. She has a great eye; I missed it. There were huge piles of toys and stuffed animals.
The ride home was really cold since we were riding at full highway speeds for about 1/2 of the way. When we got home, Peggy crawled under two blankets sipping hot chocolate to try to warm up. I left my 3 layers of clothes on most of the day. Despite all of this, it was worth it knowing the kids we would help to have a better Christmas. Pictures of the ride are here.
http://www.bertrwilliams.com/gallery/main.php?g2_itemId=4820
Merry Christmas.