Monday, June 04, 2018

Two parades in one day.

Two parades in one day. 
Last weekend we put over 30 miles on our tallbikes. 
It was something we are well suited for as we love riding our bikes and navigating to distant places. 
We were on the Kidical Mass bike ride parade at Gateway Green dirtbike park and then did a show/balloons. 


That evening we were in the Starlight parade stunt riding. 



Our parade jobs were escorting a New Orleans group. 
A riverboat float, several dancers and a brass band. 
Olive and Dingo are classic Portland Oregon personalities but Ptown has had a great relationship with the Big Easy for a long time. We fit right in.
Our job was to be sheepdogs. 
Olive and Dingo take a side of the road each, surge forward and then criss-cross in front of the float. 









We ride fast and hard so the crowds on both sides of the road gasp and feel the excitement. Lots of "Oooohhh"s and "AAaaaah"s. 
Then the routine went that we would ride along the sides of our group keeping them together, filling out space between them and separating them from the marching bands before and after us. There ya go, tallbike sheep-dogs ruffruff.
We did it over and over. It was a lot of stunt riding and a lot of fun. 



The announcers had no reason to mention our names but the crowds did. 
It was exhilarating to hear so many people screaming our names with glee at block after block.
 People reacted to us like they were seeing old friends, many of them were. That was touching. We loved watching each other being impressive and we thought about the great people who donated a bunch of hard earned moolah to outfit our lights and gear to help us look sharp.
 Thank you Friends, we can't do it without you. 
At the end we celebrated eachother and watched the marching bands arrive at the end and pile into school buslandia. 





The Mardi Gras  folks gave us lots of love and invited us back to sheepdog for them next year. 
After saying goodbye to our new friends, we turned the lights off, got on our bikes and quietly rode home holding hands and planning our next day's shenanigans...being a 12 year olds parents.

http://oliveanddingo.com/

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