The Tattered Flag Run is not a large, organized run. It's a casual ride the chapter does twice a year as part of a Breakfast Ride in May and November. At each stop riders roll the dice. High score wins at the end of the day. To be eligible to win temporary possession of the trophy you must be a "coma" chapter member that has never won it before. If you already had the honor of winning you can still roll the dice for a sidepot. No one is excluded from playing for it.
Winner gets possesion of the righteous relic, the retired chapter flags, for 6 months. They also get to choose the starting location for the next run where it is surrendered back to the next winner. On the board that holds the flags are metal plaques with the winners' names permanently affixed. The winner will have to wait for their name plaque to be made and attached but their prize will be awarded to them within a week or so of the run.
A Breakfast Ride is simply a ride that anyone may attend that has its meeting time and place set and voted on at a business meeting. Sometimes the destination is set to coincide with other motorcycling events happening that same day. As the name implies, it starts at a place that serves breakfast, and from there the participants decide the direction it will take, unless other plans are made at a business meeting.
Each time the chapter sets a date for a ride it also declares whether the mileage accumulated will count toward the chapter's "In-the-Wind" program which now has its own page with all its rules posted too.
|
|
|
In spite of a gloomy weather forcast, the day could not have been nicer for our semi-annual Tattered Flag Run. We met at the Roy Bar and Grill where we ate breakfast and rolled the dice. Then 19 bikes and a truck headed south to the Junction Bar and Grill in Grand Mound. Next stop was the Roundup Cafe in McCleary followed by the Nisqually Pub and then on to the Haven in Parkland to conclude the days activities. The ride was excellent, mostly on two lane roads with light traffic. No mishaps and, thankfully, we didn't need to use Paul's truck for any mechanical problems.
When the points were tallied, Blender had won custody of the Righteous Relic for the next six months and Jay won the optional side pot. It would have been a great 115 mile run any time of year, but in November, during a brief lull between storms --- what a rare and wonderful treat!
Return to Top of PageLynn Kerle, Porker and LaDonna's daughter, won the May Tattered Flag and so she has picked The Roy Bar and Grill for the start of the next Tattered Flag Run on November 10th, 2007. I won the side pot of $28.
Return to Top of PageWe were expecting less than ideal weather conditions as well as possibly a number of people not getting the word on the postponement of the run from Saturday to Sunday. Under those circumstances the turn-out was quite good, 12 having shown up. We also signed up a new member, Paul, and renewed four others (LaDonna, Tracy, Pam Otto and Porch Monkey).
Porker suggested that we make the first stop in Roy, so they could switch from truck to bike, so we were off to the Old General Store. Here the confusion begins. We decided to make the L&M in Orting the second stop, and Lyle had to call Debby, who was on a side trip to get raffle tickets, to tell her where we were going to be. Seven motorcycles took off one way and for some reason or another, Pam and Jerry and Porch Monkey went another way in their cages. A few miles out of Roy, Mailman's usually reliable Road King spit out the drive belt like a piece of broccoli from Lyle's mouth. So Porker offers to return to Roy and swap from his bike back to his truck (hope he and LaDonna enjoyed the 10 miles they got to ride) while the rest of us waited by the roadside in the steadily increasing rain.
(Point to their faces to find out who they are.)
A quick stop at Mailman's to roll the dice and exchange his Road King with the broken belt for the "more reliable" shovelhead better known as "Big Red".
Paul, winner of the days "dice-off", is on the left. Lucky guy also took home the cash pot and he just joined up. See, good things happen to those who join ABATE.
By and by Porker arrives with the truck, but no ramp, so we push the Road King backwards up a bank (dirt hill, not financial institution), back the truck into the ditch, and we are thus able to roll the bike into the bed with little effort. All this has taken quite a bit of time and the rain isn't getting any lighter, so we change plans again. We'll go to the Haven for stop two, my house for stop three and to unload the bike and get Big Red (Shovelhead, not former secretary), and then proceed to the Right Spot for the finish.
So ... Lyle calls Debby at the L&M to notify the others to meet us at the Haven. For some reason he's holding the phone quite aways from his ear. Well, a half hour or so passes and no one has yet arrived, and we're wanting to get on with the program, so Lyle calls Debby again to tell them to go straight to the Right Spot, but she's no longer answering the phone. So we ask Anita at the Haven to re-direct anyone that shows up, and we're off to my house, do the off-load, get Big Red and then go to the Right Spot where the others were waiting patiently, except for Debby, who had gone home.
At the end of the day, everything had gone exactly as planned. Its just that the plan changed every 10 minutes or so. Adaptable bunch, ain't we? And I want to express my sincere appreciation for everyone's help and patience, and especially to Porker and LaDonna for giving up their ride in the rain to transport my temporarily dysfunctional Twin Cam.
Return to Top of PageThe May 2006 Tattered Flag Run started at Bob's Pier in Tacoma. 11 members left Bob's at 11:00 and headed to Elbe so we could catch up with EPCC (East Pierce County Chapter) in their "Mystery Run". We were 20 minutes late, so after some refreshments, on to Onalaska, EPCC's third stop. At this point we joined the Mystery Run and Tim Wilkins, who was already on their run, made his try for the Tattered Flag and the side pot of $2 per person. Then on to Tenino and The Landmark Tavern. The last stop was at the Kapowsin Tavern and Will Hansen won the Flag for the next 6 months. Congrats Will on the win! Mike Campbell split the $100 for 1st place on the Mystery Run, and boy did we clean up on the raffle. Way to go Tacoma Chapter! Lyle Coyle met up with us at Kapowsin and he made his donation to the pot, then his wife Debby won the $26 side pot. To top it all off, we logged a bunch of "In-the-Wind" miles.
May 1996: A happy group after a long day of rollin'.
Nov 1996: Doug Olsen accepts the flag from coordinator Marty Lee.