By Eric Darrow

A little back ground music please…

This is the largest toy run in the world and it is for the benefit of The Joe DiMaggio Children’s Hospital. with toys and cash of nearly 25 million dollars from a one day event. The ride involves 250 police officers including one in a Lamborghini, four helicopters, 5 or 6 ladder trucks, 26 miles of clear no traffic highway, 30 thousand bikes and fans of the ride line the streets and the highways for 3 and a half hours. The first bike out was at half past nine. Last bike in was supposed to be around 12:30 pm but they were still rolling in at 2 pm.

The volunteer police shut down highways 95 and 595 allowing bikes to cruise at 90 mph with police as an escort. Unlike most escorted rides the majority of police sat on the side of the road so again there was no traffic to contend with and you could open it up as you liked.

Upon arrival at Markham Park you really had a great appreciation as to how many bike were involved as all you could see was a sea of machines. Entering the gate there were 4 tractor trailers to haul the toys, three of them had been loaded and gone before 5 pm.

The place was packed with three separate areas for food, libations and entertainment which didn’t stop. Headliners included the Blues Brothers, Brian Howe from Bad Company (dang he likes to hear himself talk) and CHARLIE DANIELS who rocks like he did when I first saw him in 78.

The weather was beautiful, Warm and Sunny.

You can see the lines of bikes in this area swell from two lines, each a half mile long to over twelve rows and that is just in staging area 3.
I would describe the final stop as Daytona’s Main Street on steroids!