So who all went on the toy run today? I hooked up with a couple of guys and made it to downtown Ft. Worth about 11:00am. Man, it was really packed down there. The bikes were three lanes deep with one lane left open for traffic to move down....which, of course, consisted primarily of motorcycles. That's if the road was even OPEN at all. ;-) We walked around and checked out the other bikes. One of the event coordinators informed us that they were estimating approximately 35,000 bikes this year, with most of them being out of Ft. Worth. Surprising because I would have thought Dallas would have had the most. Parade left about 1:00pm and it was pretty loud in downtown for a while. ;-) The cops did a great job of blocking off the highway exits, lanes, etc. in order to allow the horde of bikes to ride down the highway. I only got my bike into 3rd gear, once on the whole ride. It was slow, but it was really neat. What really impressed me, though, was all the people that had come out to the overpasses, bar ditches, etc. to watch and wave as the bikes went by. Some people had tailgate parties going on and I even saw quite a few American flags. Almost makes me think there is hope for humanity, yet. Once we got to Arlington, we pulled into one of the spots and walked around some more. 45 minutes later, bikes were STILL coming off the highway with no end in site, and we weren't exactly the first to arrive. There was tons of toys, and I'm sure they raised a good chunk of change (I paid $10.00 to ride). Nice to know that it will be going to a good cause. Also cool that I didn't see any fights, or bickering amongst all the people. It was definitely an experience. I'll have to do it again next year. --Fullstate
I never saw any accidents while I was riding. Hopefully, that was one of the only ones. BTW - was on the lookout for you, but didn't see ya. Gee....can't imagine why. BTW - does anyone have any good links for some pics? I was hoping to find some news coverage of the event with photos from the air. --Fullstate
I've done it several times, and this year was no different. I had forgot about this being the weekend for it. I saw a slew of bikes on Oates leaving Garland and into Mesquite when it dawned on me. I hooked up with a crew and rode in with them. The worst thing about it every year are the amount of "rookies" that get into a mix of other riders and end up causing problems. Most of them want to tell me how to ride and how unsafe I am. I guess with that many bikes, you have to have them in the crowd too...but as you said, it's for a good cause and I managed another year to stay away from them.
It must just be you Dallas-ites that have problems. ;-) Just kidding man. Glad you made it, sorry I didn't see you out there. I had my eye out, but there was just too many people. --Fullstate
i made it, sure was alot of nice bikes. i was in the last half parking lot in dallas, toward the last few rows. good SLOW ride out there, no dumb stunts that i saw. hi-tailed it to strokers afterwards, man, those beer girls are purty!! . stopped by kellers to -P , then headed to wylie. 100 mi r-trip. a good day for sure. joe
Sorry I didn't get to meet any of you at the run. My daughter really wanted to go with me Sunday, so I couldn't get by Strokers for beers. I found some coverage on the Dallas Morning News website here: http://www.dallasnews.com/localnews/stories/122203dnmettoyrun.ae992.html
