Featured The Last Of The Renegade Christmas Toy Runs? Hopefully Not!

Yesterday our Sunday ride group gathered to do what may be one of the last of the Renegade Toy Runs. Renegade Classics, a motorcycle gear fixture in Tucson for years, has put on this event for the past 12 years, thanks to (former) owner of Renegade, Alan. Recently Alan retired and, try as he might, he couldn't find a buyer. So it was a sad day for Tucson when Renegade closed its doors for the last time about a couple of months ago. But Alan decided to carry on and do "one last" toy run. We are all hoping like crazy that someone picks it up and continues the tradition next year...and beyond.



Our group was small this year at six riders / five bikes. But, as we always say, our group is small but mighty! Gettin' mighty old, is more like it. Well, all except for the couple riding two up. They come in at not quite 50 years old and--gasp!--35 years old. It's good to have some young blood around.

Steve found us a lovely shaded parking place when we arrived at the Desert Diamond Casino, the location of the event for as many years as they've had it. It's about a 45 minute ride to the south of where we meet up for gas. We met up at 9:30AM with the temperature right at 60ºF.

In the past for toy rides we've done, Steve and I usually get large stuffed animals and seat them on our passenger pillions so they get to go along for the ride. This year we simplified things and I got us two "books" that were really cool and included some magnets and a game board of the books' characters. And they fit nicely into my left saddlebag.



Every Christmas season I pull out our red and green Holly and Jolly hats. Well, no one told me that my Holly hat was perched back on my head which rendered it unreadable. So here's a picture of it on my countertop. I won't make that mistake again. We only wear them a few times a year in December after all!



While Steve was cruising the parking lot looking for the perfect parking spot, the rest of our gang parked in.....Motorcycle Parking. Well, we did get the shade.



This year Desert Diamond put up a nice photo op at the entrance. Nope, still can't read that Holly...



These are the two youngsters in the group now. Cassie went into the casino after lunch and proceeded to win $575! $$$



Mr. and Mrs. Santa with their Indian "sleigh"



We were among the first to arrive so had to wait even to get inside the building to deposit our toys under the tree. I wish I'd taken a photo much later because there were SOOOO many riders--and toys--this year! This was very early on in the donation process.



Without fail, the Thanksgiving dinner at the casino for the Toy Run is excellent every year. This year was no exception. Turkey and gravy, mashed potatoes, heirloom baby carrots, two types of salad (including a roasted apple salad that was outstanding), and dinner rolls. For dessert there were three pie choices--pumpkin, apple, and cherry. Cherry is my favorite though not particularly tradition at Thanksgiving.





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Once our plates were full we went into the ballroom and found a table for our group. There is always a local live band playing and this year's band, Onesall, was quite excellent, playing lots of classic rock and R&B.



That's Russell, Chas, Chris, Cassie, and Steve from left to right.



After filling our tummies with delicious food and our ears with delicious sounds from the band, we meandered out to the parking lot in front of the Desert Diamond Casino. There were now far more bikes in the lot than we we'd arrived. I always love meandering through a parking lot full of motorcycles and seeing how folks individualize their bikes. Plus there were some fun Christmas decorations in addition to moto mods.













Some decorate their dogs This little guy was so cute!



And this caught my attention and made me smile.



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I snapped this pic for you, @Iron! A friend of the owner of this bike said it had been in The Prowl, a really cool chopper show that I've reported on that's hosted in Bisbee, AZ each spring.



Russell, Chas, and Steve rode directly home on Interstate 19 after we all moseyed through all the bikes. Chris & Cassie and I decided the weather was too perfect to not tack on more miles so we headed south a bit then back home on a lovely two-lane backroad called South Mission Road. This was our route back to Tucson from the casino.



This was the temperature when I arrived back in the garage and my mileage on the day. It was a really fun event for a terrific cause. I'm keeping my fingers crossed that someone steps up to keep this Toy Run running for many more years!

 

You are so observant, @joe mc donald! The ride organizers put together a slide show with photos from the past 12 years that they play throughout the event. They've done that each year, and each year they add in the new photos from the present event.

 

Seems far fewer toy rides are happening here, too, @Markus. It’s really too bad.

 

@Bikerman, I absolutely love all these old photos! What a great event this was. I particularly love the photo of the little boy in his hospital bed in the parking lot with Santa and a lineup of riders to his side. Very, very heartwarming indeed. Thanks for sharing this from your archives.

Relatedly, in addition to fewer Christmas toy rides around where we live, there seem to be fewer charity and philanthropic rides as well. I used to "brag" to non-riders how generous and charitable we bikers are but I'm not seeing much evidence of that of late.