Offshoreonly.com - Smoke On The Water raised $25k+ for Make-A-Wish

Hello Everyone,

I Just wanted to let you all know about the great time I had at the Smoke On The Water Poker Run that took place in Grand Haven last weekend.

For those of you who don't know about this event, it's a poker run that benifits the Make-A-Wish foundation of Michigan. This year SOTW gave Make-A-Wish over $25,000. This money was raised by an auction that was held on Friday night, the items were donated by sponsers, boaters and participants. This year there were two bikes purchased that were to be given away in a lottery form for two lucky kids from Make-A-Wish. People were asked to give donations, and for each donation a child's name was dropped into a jar. The bikes raised over $4000.

Friday was a great day and many Make-A-Wish families were given boat rides. I even saw one of the boys get a ride in the Dodge Viper, and I think that is what attracted all the women to him. I didn't have much time to sit down on Friday as I was busy taking pictures (18 rolls) all day and helped with checking wrist bands to enter the tent. They had an excellent pig roast dinner on Friday night, and later in the evening when the bar hopping started I was able to relax more. Of course this made it harder to get up Saturday morning.

Saturday started slow for me and I missed the eggs by about 15 people, but there were plenty of potatoes, rolls and enough coffee to revive me. I took picutres of the boats leaving the docks and then some guy said lets walk to the pier and watch them take off. This helped get oxygen back to the brain. Because of the fog on Lake Michigan, we were unable to see the boats clearly but we did hear a massive roar of thunder as the boats sped by us. I had to head into town to purchase more film (12 rolls) because I was almost out. Back at the tent the sky was blue but you could see the fog rolling into the channel when the wind would blow. This caused the second half of the run to be canceled. The Kilo run was also called off (by the Coast Guard) after only one boat attempted it. Haven't heard when they will attempt it again. The dinner on Saturday was out of this world. I ate plenty of shrimp scampi and beef, even snuck time for a couple of pieces of cheese cake that was to die for. The ceremony was fun and the pace was active. Then there was bar hopping again, we won't get into details but all had a good time.

I would like to thank Bob, Marc and the many people who work their tails off for this event. Without them this event would not be as spectacular as it is. It is the most organized event of this size I have ever seen.

I was surprised the number of people who remembered me from last year (maybe it was the group I was with then :D ). I met many new people this year and enjoyed taking many photos of them and their boats. I can hardly wait until next year as this event keeps getting bigger and better.

Peace.... Tom