I came back home from the 46th Annual Yuma Prison Run early this evening after a weekend of fun hanging out with friends.

The Yuma Prison Run is a popular rally among the motorcycle clubs in Southern California, Southern Nevada and Arizona. It's organized by the Norwalk Motorcycle Club and benefits a host of children's charities, mainly dealing with burn victims.

The name Yuma Prison Run come from the parade of motorcycles that runs from the Yuma County Fairgrounds to the old Territorial Prison in downtown Yuma. Some 3,000 to 4,000 bikes were expected to participate in the parade. I rode in it last year, but didn't do it this year. I'd guess that about 25% of the total people registered for the Yuma Prison Run actually rode in the parade. The other 75% partied on.

Friday evening a storm blew in. Some people said that winds blew as much as 70mph. Dust and debris flew everywhere, some rain fell, and some tents collapsed. But Saturday was beautiful, with temps in the mid-80s and bright blue sunshine.

I didn't watch any of the biker games nor the acrobatics of the Victor McLaglen Motor Corps like I did last year.

I did, however, spend some time in the downtown area of Yuma. Lutes Casino is a cool place to hang out in. It was supposedly a casino in its early days, but now is a bar and grill. There wasn't much shopping taking place downtown this weekend, but it was filled with bars and bikes.

Saturday night the fairgrounds was filled to capacity as the band played, bikers danced, and the Norwalk Motorcycle Club announced its tally of money raised for charity.

The ride back to California along Interstate 8 was exceptionally pleasant, considering that stretch of road between Yuma and Ocotillo is known for strong gusts of blowing sand. After arriving home, I slept until I wrote this.

See all of my photos here...
http://www.flickr.com/photos/..../72157600112360352/

Labels: Arizona Motorcycle Rallies, Ride Reports, Yuma Prison Run

Even though the event was officially over the night before, most of us waited for Sunday morning to head home.

All in all, everyone had fun. Those who wanted to drink all day and night got to do that, while those who wanted to ride around the area got to do that as well. I think the Weenie Bite and the Victor McLaglen Motor Corps were the two events that caught the most attention.

Some of the folks in our group left early in the morning, while the rest of us opted to sleep in.

The day was actually was quite colder than Saturday and Friday, and quite windy. Heading west on I-8, we were fighting against the wind all the way to the San Diego County line. When we jumped on the I-8, I was going to lead the group at a conservative 75mph, with slightly less than half-a-tank. I figured I could fill up in El Centro. But the head wind dropped my gas mileage down so bad that I had to slow it down to 70mph, and finally down to 65mph, because I honestly thought I was going to run out of gas before I got there.

In El Centro, I managed to put 5.2 gallons of gas into what I thought was a 5.0 gallon gas tank on the Harley Ultra.

The skies were clear over Imperial County, but you could see storm clouds over the mountains by the San Diego county line.

Our group took I-8 west to County Road S2, and headed up to Highway 78. We followed the 78 into Julian for lunch, where it was a lot colder. We took the 78 down to Santa Ysabel, and then to Highway 79 into Temecula, and the I-15 back home to Menifee.

Labels: Arizona Motorcycle Rallies, Yuma Prison Run

Today was actually the "main day" of the event. We started out with breakfast at the local JB's.

We got back to the fairgrounds to find the Slow Race well underway, and won by a guy riding a Harley Springer.

Next up was the Weenie Bite contest, probably the favorite event of the day. Plenty of gals were competing to take the biggest bite out of a hanging weenie dipped in mustard. Many of the girls couldn't even get a bite of it, while some others had obviously been doing their homework.

My favorite event of the day was the acrobatics of the Victor McLaglen Motor Corps. This is a team of riders who ride vintage Harleys and put on same amazing displays of balance and coordination. I was impressed with the guys standing on top of the handle bars and gas tanks while doing donuts and figure eights. At one point they got nine guys riding on one Harley. Who needs an SUV?

The local Harley dealership, Bobby's Territorial H-D, was getting lots of business. They actually had their own benefit ride that day. They were selling their own line of Yuma Prison Run 2006 t-shirts, which were better looking than the official event t-shirts. They had couple racks of t-shirts in the middle of the floor, and it looked like a mass of bodies feasting over a K-Mart Blue Light Special.

Rumor has it that Convicted Clothing, the company I wrote about last week that sells clothes with artwork done by prisoners currently doing time, had a run in with the Peckerwoods MC. I haven't confirmed this with Convicted Clothing, but they're selling shirts with an artful drawing of the word "Peckerwoods", and I guess some members of the motorcycle club of the same name wasn't happy. Nonetheless, I saw lots of people wearing products from Convicted Clothing, though not with the "Peckerwoods" design, but others.

A guy from the Vagos MC won the 50/50 raffle, about $660.00, and promptly donated $200.00 of it back to the children's charity benefitting from the Yuma Prison Run event. Way to go!

The actual run to the Yuma Territorial Prison was uneventful. There was a large procession of bikes that ran slowly from the fairgrounds to the prison. I don't think I was able to get my Harley Ultra past third gear, that's how slow it went. But then again, it was supposed to be more like a parade than a ride. But as a parade, it was kind of a "dud". Not too many people out to watch us go by.

Once we all got to the prison, most riders didn't bother staying and turned right back to the fairgrounds. It was too hot of a day to mull around the prison, and the prison didn't have anything set up for the riders in the way of drinks, food, or entertainment. It was getting too hot for my wife, so we opted to head out and find some air conditioning.

The winds were really blowing after the sun went down. Some tents and canopies blew down in the fairgrounds. It started getting cold around 10:00pm, down into the 50s, and it looked as if most folks wanted to get into their tents or to their hotel rooms.

I posted several photos on Flickr, including some great shots of the Weenie Bite and the Victor McLaglen Motor Corps. Take a look.

Labels: Arizona Motorcycle Rallies, Yuma Prison Run

We finally rolled into Yuma around 6:00pm Friday for the Yuma Prison Run. My wife and I rode the Ultra.

We left Temecula, CA around 12:00pm with two other riders, Doc and Mary. We took highway 79 south to Warner Springs, then headed east on the S2 to Interstate 8, into Yuma.

What a great ride!

The temperature was perfect for riding, and skies were clear. It got a little warm, but as long as we were riding, it felt great.

While riding on I-8, Doc waved me up and seemed to ask me if we ought to stop in El Centro for gas. I nodded yes. However, when we got into El Centro, he didn't pull off, and just kept going down the freeway. I guess I interpreted his question wrong; it's hard to hear what someone is saying when you're riding bikes. The rest of us followed him on, thinking we'd find another gas station.

But there were no other gas stations!

As the needle on my gas gauge hover over the "E", I decided to slow it down to 70mph and try to milk the fuel for as long as I could stretch it out. We had another 30 miles to go to the next gas. That would put me at 190 miles total riding on the Ultra, with the wife on the back, and with bags and tour pak completely full. I wasn't sure I was going to make it.

Apparently, Mary didn't make it. She was riding behind me, and when I looked in my rear view mirror, she was gone. I knew if I stopped and turned around I'd be stranding myself, so I kept going. Doc slowed down enough to ask me where Mary was, and I said I didn't know. He figured it out, and sped up to find the next gas station to get a gas can and fill up, and go back for her.

Eventually, it all worked out. Doc got Mary some extra gas. I was able to make it to the gas station at 192 miles on the odometer. My wife and I waited for them to arrive at the gas station, and then we just laughed about it.

With all that aside, we were glad to get into Yuma before dark.

So how do things look at the Yuma Fairgrounds?

Well, lots of people and lots of bikes. Almost all Harleys. Honda Goldwings seem to make up the larger contingency of metric bikes. Just about all the vendors are selling clothes, leathers, pins, and patches. No bike parts.

Lots of MC clubs here, lots of Christian bike clubs, lots of three-piece patch clubs. I saw quite a few HA "hang-arounds" and prospects. In fact, I'd say there are more people here associated with a club, then there are non-clubbers.

Food and beer here is CHEAP! I bought a double burger, large coke, and potato chips, for $5.00. A can of Budweiser is $1.50. They'll sell you a plastic bag filled with ice and six cans of beer for $8.00.

Lots of people dancing out by the concert stage. Lots of drunks flopping about by the band area too.

There are plenty of tents erected at the fairgrounds, but it's not really a big "tent city" here. We saw lots more bikes parked in front of motels and hotels. I wouldn't blame them, the local military here have been flying their helicopters, AWACS and C-130s over the fairgrounds almost every 10 minutes. Pretty damn noisy!

Around 10:30pm, some more folks from our riding club showed up. They left late, and I guess it was really cold riding along the I-8 in the evening. Good thing we decided to ride during the day; much more fun that way.

Tomorrow (actually today, Saturday) is the parade of bikes rolling from the fairgrounds to the prison. I'll tell you all about it, then.

Read About Day 2, The Main Event.

Read About Day 3, Ride Back Home.

Photos of the Event posted here.

Labels: Arizona Motorcycle Rallies, Yuma Prison Run