Montana Wolfpak: Roaddogs Toy Run

Jake & Aletha Moran; Gary; Kitty & Dale Butterfield

What a busy weekend we had. Friday night we headed up to Billings for the parties. We stayed at our friends the Butterfields for the whole weekend.

Friday was the Roaddogs Holiday Jam at one of the bars in town, Bones. We go to this place for our HOG meetings and they do cater to bikers. There was a live band and dancing. This year the band was Zen and they play classic rock. Music from the late 70's to the 90's. Funny to think that the music we listened to when we were teens is now considered classic. To me classic rock is the music from the 50's & 60's. We got there early to get a big enough table and to save seats for our other friends who were coming to the party. We got a table right in front of the band so that we can see what is going on. We ate our dinner and waited for our friends to arrive. There were some already there when we got there, so our group had two tables with enough chairs with backs to sit comfortably. To get into the party you either paid a cover charge or you had to bring a toy, we opted to bring toys.

The Roaddogs also auction off alot of real nice stuff, this year the big stuff was a 50" HD tv and a grandfather clock like the one I have. Some of the other items were laptop computers, smaller flat screen tvs, digital cameras, leather coats and more nice stuff. There is also a silent auction at the same time, but nothing that I wanted. At one point Gary was trying to get the bar servers attention during the auction, so without thinking he raised his arm. I grabbed his arm and put it down, then informed him that he just placed a $130 bid on an item. Fortunately he was outbid in no time. Whew. All the money raised on Friday night is then spent on Saturday morning for the toys to deliver on Sunday. The paper reported that $23,000 was raised. We had a great time with our friends and dancing to good music. We left the bar at 12:30 and then stayed up and visited with our friends until 2:00 am.

We slept in a bit on Saturday morning, got up around 8:00 which for us is sleeping in. Also our friends were up and about and it would have been rude to be lazy. Saturday was our tae kwon do party, but all of that info will be in another post.

Sunday morning we packed up our clothes and loaded our truck up and then went down to the fire station to meet up with our friends and be in the Toy Run Parade. The Christian Motorcyle group hosts a breakfast for everyone, they serve biscuits and gravy at no charge, but we leave a donation for them. Got to visit with people and watch the bikers get their bikes ready for the parade. The side streets of Billings are horrible, not plowed and there are deep ruts and ice. It was cold about 20 degrees, cold enough but not below zero like last year. We drove the parade route in our truck. Everyone arrived at Rimrock Mall in one piece.

We managed to find a parking space and make our way into the mall to help unload the toys. I carried in one load then stayed inside and took photos. The goal every year is to bury the Salvation Army tree, which was done in no time.

Gary and our friend Kitty caught a family stealing a bike, a very large bag of toys and a large stuffed animal. I missed it but apparently Kitty saw them carrying this stuff and said that it didn't look right. All of the stuff should be going in and not going out. She turned around and Gary followed her and confronted the family. The items they were trying to walk out with were already delivered to the tree. The guy said that he though that this stuff was for anyone "poor" to take. Anyway, the toys were taken back and delivered to the tree. What kind of dirt bag would steal from the Salvation Army.

My photos of the weekend are posted on my Picasa site, but here are a couple from the parade.

The trucks loaded with toys.