Mid West Chapter's Dead Man's Hand Poker Run
by Thommo 29th August 2010
We woke to a wet morning in Gero after a fantastic day on Saturday and of courses the nerves had set in.
All this hard work and no-one will show up due to the weather. By 0830, several phones calls had come
in asking if the run was still on (we are hardcore here) so things started to settle down.
All the Perth crew that had stayed with me at my place headed down to Gull Tarcoola
at 0915 to be fuelled and set up to receive registrations before 0930 and it wasn’t long before a few bikes started rolling in. By 1000 there were roughly 30 people registered when one of our social members bought in some unexpected company (yep the boys in blue). As they drove slowly around checking out the bikes I went over to reassure them that we were not out to create trouble, just a little bit of fun.They went away seemingly happy.
As the start time approached there were 51 registrations, not too bad for a wet day. We headed off at 1040 along the Brand Highway before heading east to Mullewa. I set a steady pace of 110 to keep the pack together. But huey, the god of weather pissed on us about 30kms from Mullewa. We got to Mullewa a little early so I wandered inside to see Dimitri and Lin to get the pub opened. The Midwest crew showed a bit of entrepreneurial skills by selling raffle tickets to the riders before they even got inside. It was a great lunch, with the staff feeding all well before time to head to Mingenew. Thanks to all at the Railway in Mullewa. They also through in a heap more items for raffle prizes.
The gods still weren’t smiling at us as we headed to Mingenew. It was a misty rain with a few heavier patches just making it annoying. We had to take a bit more care on this 80km stretch as to road is narrow gutted and water drainage is not the best. It did stop raining about 15kms out. As we started down the last hill into Mingenew I noticed we had some special corner markers in fluoro yellow vests, yes the constabulary was here to meet us. They pulled us all over to conduct RBT, ID and licence checks. But being good old fashioned coppers they weren’t heavy on us at all. At the Commercial they even bought raffle tickets. The sarge was conned into drawing the raffle and guess what he won a bottle of Bundy and then donated it back. Lenny came to the fore here and guess what, he had every winning ticket in the raffle (I was suspicious of the ticket numbers being in pen though).The surprise 5th place prize of a five second zap with a taser (just joking) quietened him for a bit though.
As we left here to head to Dongara, our new friends waved us off and wished us all the best. This 55km stretch was perfect, no rain (sorry guys I will try harder for more next time). As we got to Dongara a few bikes peeled off for fuel whilst the rest went to the local watering hole. As I started setting up to draw the card the publican gave us a bottle of Chivas, carton of beer and other Jack Daniels merchandise. What a surprise.
Stevo, Philthi and Sam were flat out again selling raffle tickets to anyone that looked alive. We managed to get the barmaid to draw the raffle here. I think she got a bit of a shock when Phillipa made an appearance. The Dongara riders pulled out of the ride here but we still had 42 riders to head to Walkaway.
The last 40kms stretch was a leisurely ride with everyone looking forward to a sausage sizzle and quiet drink but I suspect they all really wanted to win the swag. The girls from the Eureka club had everything cooked for us here. With the last card being drawn here it was down to five people who could get the big prize. Three of a kind was going to be the best possible and wouldn’t you know it, flash won the bucks with three Kings. Well done. The drawing of the raffle took ages here as there were about 30 prizes to go off. Well done to Dale who got to take a brand new swag home.
Every one headed home from here after a quiet drink as no-one wanted to draw the crabs and get done for DUI. Patriots were last to leave Walkaway after a quick clean up.
On the way back to my place you wouldn’t know it but I ran out of fuel so I will be a bit poorer at the next meeting.
A great day was had by all and I would like to thank all that supported us on the day:
- Gull Tarcoola
- Ranger Outdoor, Geraldton
- Axis Autos, Geraldton
- Eureka Club, Geraldton
- Railway Hotel, Mullewa
- Commercial Hotel, Mingenew
- Dongara Hotel/Motel, Dongara
- Walkaway Tavern, Walkaway
- Brett from Sunset Butchers, Geraldton
- All riders that participated on a wet day
Thommo
VP Patriots Midwest
