COEUR d'ALENE - Some kids think Santa rides a hog.

He doesn't, but Tom Taylor does, and when Taylor is dressed like St. Nick that can be good enough.

"You see these little kids just dance," Taylor said, outside Lawrence's Motorcycle Shop on Government Way, where he would lead hundreds of motorcyclists Saturday to Walmart for the annual Toys for Tots toy drive. "Even some of the adults are like kids, waving at you."

The run, sponsored by the ABATE of North Idaho Kootenai Chapter biker club for around 15 years, is all about the children, collecting thousands of presents for needy families just in time for the Holidays.

Because even the tough and rough can have a soft spot.

"I just wanted to do it," said 'Loner,' who only wanted to use his riding name, and had returned to the event after an absence of several years. "I'm sober now and I wanted to do something good. I wanted to give back."

And doing good things helps motorcyclists chip away at that stereotype from a different era, he said, when they were associated with drugs, fights, riots and the Hells Angels.

"It does a lot of good," he said. "It helps get away from that."

After rolling out of Lawrence's at 11 a.m., and making a few pit stops along the way, more than 100 riders met up at Walmart to start buying toys to give to underprivileged families.

The big-box retailer had the gifts waiting at the front of the store, and $20 to $25 could get the riders quite a bounty for the buck.

Once again, the Pappy Boyington Detachment of the Marine Corps League is behind the gift giving too, with Marines at the store to help load the soon-to-be presents up.

They'll be given out from Dec. 3-19 at 2129 N. Main Street in Riverstone.

The goal is 20,000 presents, said Ernie Crocker, who helps with the run each year.

Before arriving at Walmart, motorcyclists began showing up at the motorcycle shop an hour before the ride, dropping off presents early and they met old friends.

"This is special, this is fun," said Susan Riess, who began riding 40 years ago when her soon-to-be husband got her hooked. "It's a reunion every year. There are people from everywhere."

The fundraising continued at The Grail restaurant off Seltice Way, where a raffle and auction aimed to raise thousands of dollars more to buy up more gifts as the program begins to run out near the end of the giveaway. Each year, more than 1,000 families receive gifts.

But before all that, there was the collection of leather-clad bikers, soft-hearts under those vests, who lined up, let the exhaust rip, then took off, unified, on their mission.

"It's funny," said Mike Milligan, Toys for Tots coordinator with the Pappy Boyington Detachment #966, Marine Corps League, as he watched the bikers mingle before heading out. "You think it's a disorganized mess, but then at 11 a.m., 'boom,' they all stream out of here."