Charity Ride

Yesterday Gary and I rode on our HOG chapter charity ride. It was a poker run and all the proceeds went to support the Title I schools in Billings with school supplies for the students. Since we both can't participate in the MDA charity ride, we did this one.



It was a beautiful day weather wise for a ride. Just enough cloud cover to keep the heat out. Very comfortable for riding. We signed up and paid our $20 for the poker hands for the day at the dealership in Billings. We received our poker cards. They are kept in a sealed envelope with numbers all around it. At each stop you pick out a chip and they will punch the corresponding number. You will not know what your hand is until the very end.



Our first stop was at Sid's Place in Laurel. We had to take a detour because of road construction, but we caught up with a group so we all rode together. There were 11 of us in our group. Our second stop was at Two Bears Tavern in Fromberg. Never had the occasion to stop there, but it is a nice small town bar. Our third stop was Bearcreek Saloon in Bearcreek.



We decided to eat lunch as a group in Red Lodge at the Red Lodge Cafe. This turned out to be a huge mistake. They were pretty busy all day long but it took us over an hour to get our food after we ordered. We didn't get a very good waitress, she told us that large orders generally take longer. We weren't actually a large order, just a bunch of small orders. We were there for just under two hours. We stood in line to pay for over 15 minutes. This was after we were told that someone would be right with us. I was to the point were I was going to make my own change, when one of the waitresses came to take our money. Boy did she have an attitude. She was complaining the whole time about being busy and swamped and no extra help was on hand. I just took my change and left. Each stop had a two hour time limit, but the organizers had each start time in half hour intervals. For instance the first stop was open from 9:00-11:00, the second from 9:30-11:30 and so on. We had to be finished by 4:00 pm.



Because of the delay in Red Lodge, we missed the dealers at the next two stops, so we just went on into Billings at the last stop at the Squire Lounge. We were supposed to stop at the Lost Junction in Roberts, which we did stop but the dealer was gone, then we were supposed to stop at The Caboose in Laurel. The dealers at The Caboose waited there for riders, but nobody stopped. Got to the Squire Lounge and managed to get our cards completely punched. Gary and I both had nothing.



We bought tickets for the 50-50 raffle and they also raffled off some t-shirts, hats and shot glasses. I won another t-shirt. Gary said that they aren't going to let me play anymore. Since November I have won something off a raffle every month. I won some big ticket items too, like Denver Bronco tickets, $50 gift cards, $60 cash, not to mention t-shirts, hats and neck scarves.



The people who won the poker hands all donated their winnings back to the schools. In total our group raised $1200 in cash and a big box of school supplies for the Billings schools.