Bike Run

The Caring for Carleigh benefit bike run was Saturday in Findlay. Registration was from 11am-1pm at the Whiskey Venue. I had never been to Whiskey Venue but I had been there when it used to be Brandy's back in my college days. It's quite a nice place! We had about 30 bikes register for the run. We were expecting more but with the weather the way it was we weren't surprised. Before we left I thanked everyone for coming out and explained what the run was for. Then we all got on our bikes and headed out!

Our first stop was at Dave's Hideaway in Findlay. No sooner had we went in the bar then the rain starting pouring down. Are you kidding me? It was raining when the radar showed no signs of it. We stayed there for about a hour and decided to take off when the rain let up. We lost some riders at this point. Everyone who had rain gear suited up. Anthony and I did not have rain gear but it wasn't as bad as I had anticipated. My pants got wet on the ends from water splashing up but that's about it.

The next stop was Clark's Bar & Grill in Mt. Blanchard. My brother-in-law Todd got us and Anthony's parents some rain suits and we put them on at this stop. Mine was absolutely huge. They didn't have smalls so I had to suffer with a medium. It looked way funny on me. I had the pants pulled all the way up to my boobs and it still looked like I was carrying a load. I snacked on some Ballreich's and water. (If you are unfamiliar with what Ballreich's are then I am sorry for you. They are the most wonderful chips in the world and made in NW Ohio!)

We went to the R-Bar in Carey next. It was still rainy outside at this point. A lot of people got food at this stop. I got some breaded mushrooms. When we came out of R-Bar the weather was totally different! It was warmer and it had stopped raining and was almost dried up and the sun was starting to peak through. Wish it would've been like that at the beginning!

We headed over to Sonny Jack's in New Riegel and then made a stop at The Stable in Arcadia. We raffled off some tshirts at The Stable from Thiel's Wheels in Upper Sandusky. Then we left and headed over to Taylorpalooza where the Rock-n-Roll Outlaws played. The bon fire there was unbelievably HUGE. We did a 50/50 drawing there and raffled off some other tshirts. We made almost $200 off the 50/50 as the person who won generously gave the money he won back to us. It was so very nice!! The run itself we raised almost $400. (And the happy hour a few weeks ago made around $350.)

First stop at Dave's Hideaway before it started raining.

Anthony and me at Dave's Hideaway in Findlay.

At R-Bar in Carey.

At R-Bar.

Being silly at R-Bar.

On the open road...

The run after it got nice (thank goodness!).

We might be holding another bike run in the fall. Danny, the owner of Whiskey Venue, talked to me at Dave's Hideaway about having some type of fundraiser for neural tube defects in the area and to help raise awareness. He said there's nothing like that in the area and it would be good to have one. Danny has spina bifida but you would never know it. He was telling me he his 3rd surgery not too long ago. So I think he might partner with us again if we do hold some type of fundraiser. I imagine our beneficiary would be the Center for Human Genetics at Duke to go to their Neural Tube Defect Research Fund. All the details will need to be worked out. But I think that would be really awesome for this to turn into an annual event-something great to do in Carleigh's memory.