I cannot believe it’s already December. The smooth summer and short fall has made November and December just sneak up on me! I’ve already got my favorite toy run under my wheels, so on to the next! That would be the Pomona Valley H.O.G./ABATE 19 Toy Run on Sunday, the first of December. There will be lots of music, tons of raffle prizes and a good time to be had by all. Find this fun day at the Ontario Elks Lodge at 4th & Mountain. As a special 25th anniversary present to the attendees, the price reverts to the old $5 entry, plus one new, unwrapped toy. As always, toys benefit the Ontario Santa Claus Inc. Because I worked on this ride for so many years, almost from its inauguration when I first started riding back in 1989, it holds a special place in my heart so I hope to meet you all out there… The following weekend on the 8th is the ABATE Local 1’s 26th annual Skid Row Toy Run. Starting at Glendale Harley and ending up at the Fred Jordan Mission in downtown L.A., it’s another very sweet ride because you get to see the kids accept your gifts from Santa! Meet up at Glendale H-D and enjoy your day!… And on Saturday, December 7 (yes, my birthday!), Frank Waldrop, along with a boatload of helpers, is throwing a party for all of us in the form of the Roque Center’s 8th annual Toy Run at 9842 13th St. in Garden Grove. KSU is 9:30 a.m., so be there and help out! Frank works his butt off all year long at a variety of events, culminating with this one in December. Cost is one new, unwrapped toy and 10 bucks, and you get lots of bang for that tenner! Live music (four different bands!) lunch and, of course, raffle prizes!… Congrats Cindy Gano on the great-grandbaby. He’s a cutie!… Howdy to Jeff “Rev Leroy” Wilson from ABC Auto Parts up in San Francisco. Been a while since we’ve chatted, my friend, so thought I’d send ya a shout out… Mark Dentice up in Crestline—hi ya too!… Merry Christmas to Ron and Jan Rightmer out in the frozen wastelands of Missouri… Hiya to Victor Lane and Tom up at Wrightwood Auto Repair—enjoy your California winter riding, my friends… Nice hearing from Felicia Morgan and Tory DuVarney about the 10th annual David Mann Chopperfest at the Ventura County Fairgrounds in Ventura. This year’s event will be Sunday, December 8, from 8:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m., general admission is $15, military with ID $10, and kids 12 and under are only 5 bucks. There will be hundreds of vendors, a huge all-encompassing bike show, live music and, of course, the David Mann Art Exhibit. Check out their website, www.chopperfestival.com, for the schedule and directions… Congrats to the Verack family on the purchase of Skip Fordyce Harley-Davidson in Riverside. Look for the name change to Riverside Harley-Davidson… Jeff Mercer, Don Singleton and Penny DeRoo all share their December birthdays with me; Valley V-Twin’s tech Colin Adamik’s birthday is the same day as mine. And also celebrating a birthday this month is Denise Goolsby, reporter for the Desert Sun newspaper—her award-winning articles on veterans are great! Chris Garcia, Lance Hamilton, David Hill and Luis Martinez are having December birthdays, and George and Halle’s daughter, Lexie Fetty, turns 24. Congrats on your new gig, honey—or should I say frozen honey—brrr! The CREW’s Kathy Concodine has a special day on December 8, Wes Brooks, December 13, and Carleen Cuevas on December 31. Happy birthday to all of you! And darn it, once again, I missed Richard Bush of the CREW’s birthday last month… Trike Mike Mesquite, hope this finds you on your way to recovery… Frank Waldrop tells me Kelli Jo “Calico Doe” Keeler went down on the first of November—hope everything is OK!… That’s it for this month! As always, use your scoot to go Christmas shopping; I’m telling you, it’s the only way! You can park most anywhere you want, you have less to carry around the malls, because you knew you had to shop “small.” Hope everyone has a safe and happy Christmas! See you all next month; in the meantime, enjoy your ride!
