"Everyone has had one of those days......"

Everyone has had one of those days....when you're driving down the freeway and suddenly everything comes to a screeching halt...."Errrr"-- go the brakes, smoke filling the air and black streaks crossing the lanes. "What the hell happened!?", is the first thing going through my mind. I notice about half a dozen bikers stopping along with us. We all pull our helmets off and shut down the bikes. It looks like we'll be here for a while.

The annual "bikers rally"--officially known as the Shriner's Children's Hospital Charity Ride has just commenced. Every year in May, the Shriner's foundation holds a charity ride for any and all bikers to attend. Starting with a registration, which awesomely ALL proceeds go to the kids, the bikers receive a bandanna and raffle ticket for fun, food and door prizes once the end destination is reached, and we mount up and prepare for a fun-filled, peaceful and charitable jont up through the canyon. With some words of hope, love and gratitude from all the Shriner's members and a few kids that ventured out to see all the "ruff and tuff looking" bikers, a slow, low rumble begins to sound as one by one the bikes come to life. As we ease out onto the road, escorted by the local police, the 'parade procession' starts onto the freeway for the first checkpoint, Kimball Junction, with 900+ bikers headed up towards Parleys Canyon.

Along the freeway between Parleys and Kimball, we see many bikers trying to show-off by weaving in and out of traffic, speeding ahead to be the first to the checkpoint. Then it happens.....everything and everybody came to a screeching halt! I could hear the screech and smell the smoke of brakes around me, and see the black streaks from tires peppering the road. There is an accident up ahead and we are blocked by cars, semis and hundreds of fellow bikers. We all shut the bikes off and pull off our helmets to see if we can determine who is involved and how bad the damage is. After a quick head count of those in our group, we notice someone is missing. We cant see him behind and the accident blockade was covering a span of about 3/4 of a mile. "Oh $#!%!!!" The fear starts to take form while we silently pray he made it to safety.

Minutes go by, feeling like hours, as we talk with anyone that saw what happened. Suddenly we see our friend walking along the shoulder through the blockade, without a scratch. The heavy burden of fear and worry is gone. Thank goodness!! He quickly informs us all that he is safe and parked up ahead just shy of the off-ramp for Kimball Junction. He had happened to check behind and noticed we weren't with him. He stopped to wait for us to catch up and soon realized we were farther back than he thought. He decided to walk back and check on us, given he had the same thoughts running through his mind as well. He tells us that as he was high-tailing it back to us he was picking up any and all info he could get from other on-lookers about what they saw to fill us all in.

Seeing only two bikes, he couldn't recognize, and a car, the pieces started fitting together. The crash consisted of two bikers who had apparently been speeding and weaving in and out of traffic along the way up Parleys Canyon.  One had clipped either the back end of his buddy or a car, causing it to flip and cause the pile up. Lifeflight was called in to transport one biker in critical condition, while the other two drivers were waiting for an ambulance.  Things started to be cleaned off the road and the roar of bikes sounded again.  We were on our way.

Funny, what was planned out for a half day ride to our destination, turned out to be a full day.  We finally reached our destination until around 4:00pm.  The original route was planned to ride from Wrights Motorsports on 3900 South and State Street at 10:00am.  From there, up I-80 and Parleys to Kimball Junction.  Then east into East Canyon and dropping out into Morgan.  And finally, west down HWY 89 to merge with I-15 South bound and arrive at West Bountiful Park around 1:30-2:00 pm. The raffle and door prizes, along with a BBQ lunch were to be waiting for us at the park for fun and rest before we all headed home.  We spent about two hours waiting on the freeway.  By the time we made it to the park, we were all tired, and anxiously awaiting the R&R at the park before venturing home, rolling in around 6:00pm.

All in all this ride turned out well, despite the obvious stupidity of some riders.  We always ride in the rear now so we don't have any hesitation and worry about getting up in the cluster. My husband and I enjoy riding every chance we get and now include as many charity rides we can manage each year, rain or shine.  Not only for the enjoyment of the ride, which is a peaceful feeling taking the canyon roads, winding in and out of small towns and backroads, having that sense of no cares or worries.  These rides are also doing a great service to our community. For example, this one for Shriner's, a toy ride for Primary Children's Hospital, one out to Wendover for MDA and many more that either are for your own personal enjoyment and for a charity benefit. I can't put into words the feelings I get when we are mounting up for a ride and see all the onlookers, waiving us on in support, knowing we are ALL doing this small act of service in fun, kinda emotional. :)