Motorcycle riders surprise Lincoln preschooler with birthday parade

What do you do when you’re quarantined at home with possible COVID-19 symptoms and your son is turning 3 in a few days? 

You get creative. 

Which is just what Railey Dinges did. The Bryan West Campus nurse got on Facebook and put out a call for anyone who could help. 

“This is a long shot,” she wrote, “but figured I’d try! Covid-19 and social distancing isn’t gonna ruin his 3rd birthday!”

Dinges knew how much her son, Layne Mcduffee, loves motorcycles. He was born into a motorcycle family. So she asked for as many people as possible that ride to meet at Russ’s Market at Coddington and West A streets Saturday for an informal parade past her house.

“That would be the best gift he could ask for,” she wrote. “And I would really appreciate anyone who participates!” 

The Women’s Freedom Riders stepped up to get things going, and other biker groups and family offered their help. 

Dinges marked the route from Russ’s to her Southwest 30th Street home with blue balloons and Saturday they came. More than 150 motorcycles and even more riders surprised Layne. 

One of the bikers brought him a gift: A black leather Harley Davidson vest. Others threw presents to him as they drove by.

Birthday boy Layne Mcduffee got a Harley Davidson vest from one of the riders who participated in his surprise motorcycle parade. COURTESY PHOTO

“He got, like, 40 Hot Wheels cars, patches for the vest, and now he won’t take the vest off,” Dinges said. “He was super excited.” 

Dinges said she was so grateful for those who gave her son the best birthday ride party he could have had. 

She was able to get back to work at Bryan West the next day, she said, because her two-week quarantine was completed. She wasn’t tested, she said, because she didn’t have respiratory symptoms, but she had a fever and body aches.

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Source: Lincoln Journal Star