April Fools Ride

On Sunday, we rode in the April Fools Ride with our HOG Chapter. The weather was beautiful on Saturday, so we stayed home and got alot of work done around the house. Gary took care of the yard while Jennifer and I took care of the inside. We got done so that we could go on the ride. Had wonderful weather on Saturday, nice and sunny up in the high 70's and no wind.

 Sunday morning arrived and it was a little cooler. The morning started off without any wind until it was time for us to head to Billings. We had to be at the dealership by 1:00 pm, so we left Hardin around 11:30 am and had awful wind between Hardin and Billings. I told Gary that I thought we lived in Hardin and not Harlowton. The wind is always blowing in Harlowton. At least it wasn't cold. Every once in a while a gust will come up and whip our heads around.

Arrived in Billings and gassed up the bike. On this kind of ride we don't know where we are going. All we knew is that it was about 100 miles. At the end of the ride we get a meal that the chapter pays for. There were 30 bikes in all and about 50 people. A good turnout despite the wind. It was good to see all our friends and make new friends. A surprise to me was that a woman who is from Hardin and has worked in the courthouse was there with her boyfriend. They are new to HOG and I introduced them to people. One of my duties being an officer.

 It was announced that this was probably the first time that the April Fools Ride fell on April Fools Day. This year the theme was an Easter egg hunt. We had to find 8 pieces of a puzzle to figure out where our ending would be. We broke up into 8 groups and then we had to meet to put the puzzle together. It was decided that we would meet at the Muzzleloader Restaurant. This would be a bathroom break and a drink break if needed. The dealership wasn't open this time.

The 8 stops were Molt, Rockvale, Fromberg, Roberts, Acton, Broadview, Worden & Shepard. Our group went to two stops Molt & Rockvale. We had 6 bikes in our group we were the trike brigade. There was Pat Breckenridge, the Davis's, us and a new guy who rides a trike. Our friend Leroy and the woman from Hardin and her boyfriend. Pat led the way to Molt from Billings, then Gary led from Molt to Rockvale, then Marty led from Rockvale back to Billings.

We took the scenic routes to our places. From the dealership it was about a 60 mile round trip. We thought we would be one of the last groups to make it back but we were the 2nd group back. It didn't take long for everyone to get to the Muzzleloader, got the puzzle put together.

We ended up going to The Vig which is up in the Heights. The Vig is a bar/casino it was very nice. We could order anything off the menu, the chapter would pay for anything under $8.95. Gary and I had the special which was sloppy joes. They were very tasty. The chapter paid for any soft drink we had to buy our own adult beverages. I had a raspberry shock top. It wasn't bad. We only had one drink with our meal as we had to get back to Hardin.

We got home around 5:30. The clouds rolled in and it looked ugly out thought we would get wet. Just ran into a couple sprinkles, enough to spot the windshield. Had wind all day long.

It was a very nice day and a great start to the riding season. Looking forward to more.