1st Annual Shumate Fun Run
Today was the 1st annual Shumate Harley-Davidson Fun Run (formerly known as the Chicken Run). There was a fear that this day would have been rained out like it was 3 years ago. That particular ride was horrible. I think that with as much as it rained that day, we would have been better off in a motorboat than on a motorcycle. But in the spirit of living life we did it anyways, and chalked it up to a once in a lifetime event. Meaning, that I’ll likely never ride in that much rain again. Now, this all leads up to this year’s event. There had been solid rain for about a week prior to this event. In fact, the rain got so bad that we started having mudslides, and it even washed out a major roadway in NW Spokane. Imagine my great relief, when come Saturday night, the weather man continued to report that it would be mostly sunny, and in the mid-70’s for this ride. In all actuality, it really was a beautiful day.
We left Shumate around 10:00am (right on time), and the Spokane County Sheriff blocked off traffic so that several hundred motorcycles could get on to the road all at once. It is truly a wondrous thing to hear the rumblings of that many motorcycles all at once. Even more so to glance in a rearview mirror and see motorcycles riding 2×2 for what looks like a couple of miles behind you. The pack went down Argonne Rd out to Rockford, a tiny little town, then crossed over into Idaho on our way to Plummer (yet another speck of a town). From there, we went down along a 2-lane highway, surrounded by spring sunshine and farmlands. Unfortunately, no pictures of that; I kinda needed to use my hands to drive… Anyways, we ended up in St. Maries Idaho, swung around and headed back north to Harrison. This is another small town on the southern part of Lake Coeur d’Alene. After having some food (at least that is what they called it) from Longhorn BBQ, we traveled back up along Lake Coeur d’Alene. There is a beautiful, twisty road that mostly follows the shoreline. All told, it was about a 4-5 hour trip, and well worth the $10 that it cost for the run (including T-shirt and food). Sign me up for next year!
You can view photos of some of the bikes at this event here, and there is an additional write-up with more photos on my buddy Tone’s page.