Little Angels Pledge Run 5/16/99

Special thanks to Elgin HOG for holding a excellent fund raiser for a worthy cause!!!

A great day for a 100-mile ride with about 3000 bikes! On May 16th, 1999 Elgin HOG with Fisher Harley Davidson held the 12th annual Little Angels Pledge Run to benefit the Little Angels hospital in Elgin, IL. Little Angels A.R.C. is a 50-bed skilled pediatric long-term care facility located in Elgin, IL. All of the children are severely and profoundly disabled. Since 1988, this event has raised over $1.5 million dollars. The proceeds from this run have been reserved in a special account for the L.A. building fund. These funds will be used to finance a 17,000 S.F. addition. The un-official count quoted by a local newspaper for the 5/16/99 run was around 3,500 bikes. Wow!

Our Day started out at the Cracker Barrel in Elgin, IL where we met for Breakfast. First in the lot was "Ink-Man" Lee Sido and his totally tricked out drop dead gorgeous black custom 1500 Classic. Next we had Dave Nichols on his first WCVROC run followed by me (The Bulldog). Greg F. and his G/G Nomad with custom Native American artwork on his stock paint showed up next. Joe "Sarge" Barry, his wife Cindy and their riding buddy on a blue Buell, Ace, BlckChrome and Mustang Sally and Huge followed. Richard Pool came by for breakfast, but could not attend the ride due to his daughter's graduation ceremony from college. Guess he wanted to see where his $100,000.00 went. (Big Grin) In the parking lot we exchanged friendly banter with the local Shadow club (#12) that also met at the CB for breakfast. Of course the Vulcans attracted all of the attention. As usual, breakfast with the Windy City group was a blast. Bikes, C&L, future rides and of course past rides were discussed.

After breakfast, we revved up our engines and headed out for a quick gas stop and headed in formation to the Elgin Community College where the ride started and would end. At the event we met up with the Krugster and his brother-in-law Steve. Raffle tickets were purchased and more stories were swapped with the riders that we met at the staging area. Around 11am we headed for our scoots and began to head out for destination unknown. We had a map but never figured out who would be reading it and leading the pack. (Word of advice: never let the guy on a Buell lead) We headed out and started what would be around a 100-mile landmark ride. Didn't see too many landmarks, but the country we did see was exceptional. I've lived in this area for over 20 years and there were still roads and small towns I have not seen. We got off track once or twice, but with the WC crew, I was not worried. Even lost, we still have a great time. About half way through the ride we stopped for a beer / pee / gas break at a small gas station in Burlington, IL. This 4-pump station must have had about 50 bikes in the lot at all times. Well, this station also only had one uni-sex bathroom in the whole joint with a line 12 people deep when I got in it. I will never snicker at the long line at the women's bathrooms at any sporting events again. I will admit one thing, for all of the people that bathroom saw, it was very clean. After this break, we were back on the road for more winding roads and we even managed to not get lost. Sally was waving at everything in sight and even got a horse to wave back. I didn't ask what it waved ;-O At the end of the ride we stopped for a quick dose of liquid refreshment (the party was a no-alcohol zone) and we buzzed the Krugsters in-law's house where his mother-in-law came out with a bag of MGD's and sodas for our enjoyment. Krug's wife was not able to attend this ride; she was taking care of their 7-week-old son Josh. With my son Ethan being 15 months old now, I don't remember him ever being that small. After a quick visit with the Krugsters kids and lovely wife, off we rode to the party where we had BBQ and listened for the winner of the raffle (a couple of HD's and some money). We were impressed (not) by the guys who were trying to ring the bell at the stake-driver as many times in a minute as possible. I think the band was a ZZ Top clone, but still had a hard time recognizing the songs. After what was an enjoyable afternoon we parted company and headed for the four winds. Great weather and great company, let's do this again soon. Ride safe.