Bulldog Bingo Ride

Saturday we rode on the Bulldog Bingo Ride, all proceeds went to Montana Special Olympics.  This is the ride that the Undersheriff of Big Horn County worked hard on and put together.  He worked with our friend Colette Haun, who is the Marketing Director at Beartooth Harley.


The Undersheriff came up to my office several times for me to get the word out to our HOG Chapter way back in May.  We checked our calendar and we had nothing planned that day, so we said we would ride in it.


The Undersheriff told me that he has a bunch of prizes and not just t-shirts.  Two of the big prizes that was up for a raffle were a pistol and a rifle.  He had a bunch of other prizes too. 


Registration was at the Harley shop from 9:00 am-10:00 am.  There was going to be breakfast served, but we were on our own for meals. 


We left Hardin a bit early just before 8 and got to the Harley shop in plenty of time.  The group serving breakfast made their version of the McMuffin, ok it was really a mcmuffin and they are delicious.  The group doesn't charge for it, but takes donations.  They have served their breakfast for us on other rides as well.  They belong to our Chapter.  It was good.


I got us signed up, I was confused about the poster, it didn't really specify how the bingo was going to be run.  The poster said the blackout was $15, but you could play regular bingo for $5.  I was under the impression that on the regular bingo you would get one number at each stop.  Nope, a game of regular bingo was played at each stop for $5 each.  There were 5 stops in all.  I just played the blackout, as that was all the money that I brought.  Not too many rules but the main was that we had to be at the 4th stop in Billings before 4:00 pm.  The Undersheriff had arranged an escort from the 4th stop (which was in Billings Heights) to our final stop (Hudson's which was on Grand).


The raffle items were on display at the dealership, this was a raffle that you bought your tickets and put them in a basket for the item you wanted.  The one item that Gary really wanted was an autographed football by Kroy Biermann.  He plays for the Atlanta Falcons and he is a Hardin boy who Gary coached in high school.  He is Hardin's pride and joy.


We have never played bingo on a run before and didn't know what to expect, but it was a lot of fun.  With poker hands you know after the 3rd stop how well you are doing or not doing.  With bingo you can win at the very end.


The route was a simple one, just 75 miles.  We went from Billings to Hardin to Custer to Huntley then the last two stops were in Billings. Yep, we rode Billings to Hardin and back twice.


There were about 30 riders in all, we didn't ride the with main pack we were ahead of them.  Our friend Ron rode with us.  We took our leisure time getting from stop to stop.  At the stop in Custer the bar had a lunch special for the ride and he makes outstanding chili.  Our friend wanted to eat, so Gary had a bowl of chili and I took a couple bites.  I was still full from our breakfast at the dealership.


At the stop in Huntley we had to wait for the bingo numbers to arrive, so just had a drink then we made our way to the 4th stop in Billings.  Got our numbers and I was in trouble.  At each stop we got 10 numbers in all, 2 for each letter. I needed 11 numbers at the last two stops.  If no one got a blackout on the ride, then numbers would be drawn at the last stop until someone did.  By the time I got to the last stop, I only needed 5 numbers.  Our friend Ron went home after the 4th stop (he lives in the Heights) so he gave us his card to finish out. 


We rode to the last stop with the group, Gary doesn't like riding in parades and we weren't really comfortable riding with this group.  They are seasoned riders but they don't ride a lot in groups and it showed.  No clear rules on what to do at traffic lights and the law enforcement escorting us didn't stop traffic.  Needless to say we got separated into three groups by the lights.  Oh well.


I bought our raffle tickets we bought $10 worth and we put of the tickets for the autographed football.  Guess what we won, yep the football.  Not only did we get the football, we also got a Law Enforcement Torch Run t-shirt, a sheriff coffee mug and a Big Horn County Sheriff's patch all autographed by Kroy.  Kroy's wife Kim Zolciak also autographed the t-shirt and coffee mug.  She is a tv personality on some reality shows.  In fact the Hardin group did very well with raffle items.  Two Hardin guys won the guns and a bunch of other stuff.


We had a good time and would do this ride again next year.  The Undersheriff is already making plans but he is getting help this time by the Undersheriff from Yellowstone County. 


We ended up spending the night in Billings, our friend Colette and her husband had us stay with them.  Colette said it was ridiculous to ride back to Hardin again after the day.  They fed us supper and we had a good time visiting.