Phil Petersons Poker Run in Key West, FL

Key West, FL SEPT 21, 2013) I will use any excuse to ride to Key West.....and Phil Peterson's 41st Annual Poker Run fills that nicely. With that being said, it is only 226 miles from my front door to Duvall Street. I left at 7:00 am and only encountered 3-4 different momentary rain showers.
Arriving on Duvall Street at 11:30 am, most of the participants of the festivities were probably still in bed. Around 1PM the city started to wake up....loudly!

What I mean by loudly is this year the big thing was how loud your sound system was. 10 inch speakers mounted in the lower fairing pockets appeared to be the craze. Saddlebag speakers were next. One bike about four parking spaces down from where I was parked had my bike vibrating and it wasn't even running. Once agan the color of the year goes to bright orange, almost out numbering the black Road Kings, and speaking of colors, there was only one 'painted' lady that I saw this year...some things are best left unseen....

One of the highlights for me this year was the Bike Show, put on by the Big Bike Riders Childrens Foundation. As of this writing, the number of bikes entered is unknown, but they did stretch for a long city block, from Caroline Street to Greene Street. From a stock 1919 military Harley to a 39 Ford flathead to a lot of bright colorful bikes, there was quite a variety for the peoples choice awards. There was a monetary charge for each vote, and with those, the funds collected for entry, and poker run entry fee, The Diabetes Research Institute and the Key West Rotary Club will once again benefit from this Poker Run and Bike show.
First place this year went to Eddie Alburquerque of Unique Custom Cycles in Miami, Fl.
Best of Show went to my friends at After Hours Bikes of Fort Lauderdale, FL.
The entire list of all the winners was unavailable at the time of this writing, so congratulations to all the winners. In my eyes, everone that entered is a winner! Thank you for helping out the charities that benefit from this.

A camera usually draws attention at these events and it did not fail me this year. One couple, Andre and Luda, asked to have me in a picture with Luda, turns out they are from the Ukraine, were visiting Cuba, and came here to just to witness this event. They said they had never seen anything like it.....hehe, hang around a little longer! Another lady asked if she could take my photo on my bike, I agreed, but with some after thought, why would anyone, except maybe one of those capital letter agencies want my photo?

Overall, It was a good year, I left Duvall Street about 9:30 PM and was home in my comfy bed by 1:45 AM. A little note to the 'police escorts', please do not get in the left left lane and ride six miles per hour over the speed limit, it hampers my attitude on the rolling chapel. Nuff said......'n' out.
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