Poker Run

I've never played poker or pretended to know the good hands or bad hands apart. But a worthy cause, the Children's Center for Hope and Healing, was holding a fundraiser and a Poker Run was the format they had decided upon so who was I to argue? It was for a good cause and gave me an excuse to be out on Rosie, so side stand up! While having participated in several organized bike rides, I had never been apart of a Poker Run, so teach an old dog a new trick.

My buddy, Steven was up for a ride. He sent me a text Friday night around 11pm to say he'd be here when I said we'd need to leave my house by 9am. This morning I saddled up and waited. At 9am, no Steven. I figured he'd seen the weather report calling for rain or decided to sleep in, or whatever and I knew to be at the starting point by 9:30am, I couldn't sit past 9am. So, I sent him a text and off I went. After checking in at the ride starting point, Steven came riding up. Seems he had missed his turn coming to my house and had ridden a bit out of his way before realizing and turning around. All is well that ends well...sorry buddy!



So, they handed out the ride maps, explained that we could ride whatever pace we wanted and it wasn't a pack ride, etc. Steven and I neither one had a tank bag or a good place to put a map we could look at while riding. I suggested we just follow a bike, namely a Triumph I saw that had the map taped to the tank with masking tape.

When everyone fired up and got ready to depart, Steven decided he'd would like for us to follow a Hondapotimus instead. I didn't argue and away we went. When the Honda turned on the interstate I thought it was odd as it wasn't on the map but figured he was making a loop of some sort to get to the ride route. We rode on and I was thinking "we are heading the complete opposite direction of whee we are supposed to be going." Finally we pulled over and the guy we were following explained he had decided not to ride the route. Some quick regrouping and I was put on point, and we beat a hsty retreat to reach the first stop on the map before the rest of the bikes left.

Unfortunately, traffic wasn't cooperative and by the time we reached stop one, everyone was gone. So we pressed on to stop two and there they all were making a group photo. Again, alls well that ends well...and heck, we got to see a giant concrete rabbit.

We could see rain approaching from the west and were keeping an eye on it both watching the sky and the weather channel on our cell phones. We didn't miss anything else or take any other scenic side trips.



The raffles were held, burgers were eaten and yes, a good time was had by all. We mounted up a bit before everything was completely concluded at the rain was moving in, and started our ride home.

Along about the Dawsonville Outlet Mall, the rain began falling. It wasn't hard but steady. I pulled into our garage, dismounted, and was pulling off my helmet when the bottom fell out. Good Timing!