you bought this rear tire when?????

I just finished up another set of midnights friday morning at 7, stopped by to visit with new boss but got shortstopped by bigger boss, and gabbed a while, i lost interest in seeing other guy, was getting hungry, that is about the only thing that will keep me from talking, is hunger,
I exchanged pleasentries and left ,headed for the coffee shop to coffee and my for ever outstanding ham and egg breakfast burrito.
The table of knowlege was nearly packed when i got there, which may have been a good thing, I could do more listening, and less talking,get my breakfast burrito eaten,and learn something in the process.
Now you have to remember i had just gotten off, at 7 so my memory gets kinda fuzzy about breakfast time, this is going on 7:30,no coffee nor any breakfast burrito,so i may not remember who all was there, which may be a good thing.
as usual i get a phone call from my brother in denver , wanting to know what i had planned for the labor day weekend, and casually mentioned he was going to freedom, and the only freedom i know of, is freedom oklahoma, where the alabaster caverns are, this wouldnt be any big deal, but my brother lives in denver and the last place i figured he would be wanting to go would be freedom oklahoma, but as usual i was wrong again,cause that was exactly where he was headed.

Well the weekend for the ride came,and on friday it was cloudy and cool and wet, started out for Alva , Oklahoma after 4 in the afternoon,by the time i reached Shattuck Oklahoma, rain had ended , gas prices we down sharply, so i enjoyed cheaper gasoline prices on fuel that likely came from the Borger refinery,which is nearly in my back yard or the terminals at turpin oklahoma.
Arrived in Alva in time for supper and after finding a motel got some horizontal refreshment,finally found some breakfast on sunday morning in the form of Mc Donalds ,I could not believe there wasnt anyplace other that that to eat breakfast,and then I headed for Freedom Oklahoma to meet my brother's motorcycle group there
Met with my brother,s group at the cave and did the tour,was good ,maybe better than i remembered as a kid.Company was good,and fun,and tour was very enjoyable, after a short break,we decided lunch was in order,then left for Liberal Kansas where the group would spend the night and also eat again.
after we reached liberal we discovered that my nephew had lost a nother rear tire, in the tread again,We started looking for a Gwrra gold book so we could find some one to help us,good luck on a major holiday.We called the local Honda Dealer, that wont happen again, we got gripped out for calling and then they were really rude on top of that. I did have a very good chicken fried steak while we were there, my old buddy brian cound not believe i ate the whole thing by my self. the end to this story is almost unbelieveable, they took some Gorilla duct take and put it on the tire around the tread, and it worked fine, had to change it often, but they got bike home, they changed the tape around the tread 6 times, but they got it home

25 Years of Shift Work

I hate midnights, i am in the end of the second week of three on midnights, i suppose the overtime and double time kinda helps to dispell the ad nasuem of shift work,as you will remember surgery does me the same way midnights do,creates temporary memory lapse,to date i have lost in my house again keyfob remote and key for bike and bluetooth headset for phone, they are someplace simple, yet i cant find them,new one ready at the honda shop in amarillo,and i will get it tomorrow which for me is really today lol
Grandson came home with MAMA this evening as i was leaving to come to work tonight.He is a mess,I could hear him hollering at me even before the jeep quit rolling and he was out of his seat in the backseat of the jeep.
He told me if i wanted to stay home and play with him tonight , it would be ok I guess he was gonna call my boss and tell him i needed off to play with him this evening.I think i should have taken my grandson up on his offer, another day has come and gone and here I am again, slogging in the mud, changing tips,and keeping this thing inbetween the bar ditches.Same thing we been doing for over 25 years.This job used to be fun,the wheels make sure they take as much of that away from you as possible.We arent sure what happened to the last guy they found wondering around doing his job with a smile on his face and whistleing just because he enjoyed what he was doing, may have gotten caught in the last lay off.
Every time some one says he is gonna make my job easier,you better grab the lower part of your backsides,and hang on,cause it normally means they bringing some new form that will wind up being a weapon used against the working man,even though it was gonna make my job easier, seems we have a hard time anymore reconciling any incident that happens without having some one to blame or point a finger at, so much wasted energy,if that time was appropriately expended in the betterment of our process or some new training that wasnt the flavor of the month, that they hacked up and sent out,and we would get to put the puzzle together and see if there was anything usealbe,in some arcain way and for the guys at our IQ levels, which mine is some were around 4,and the reason I know that is my new boss has a bad habit of talking to us like we are in the third grade,doesnt believe in self directed work teams, wants to do away with it, and he will, he is a I and Me man,gonna take us to the new world class process,a military man that got rifted by the service,turned engineer,what a combination,put those guys in a paper bag and fold the top over twice and they are screwed, no way to get out.I have seen them come an go,we have had some good ones, one went right to the top, but he always pulled for us,kept us open when I am sure others wanted us gone.
Part of the new world order, takeing all the jobs over seas,we used to just have to feed them,now seems like the United States is expected to employ them too.The Statue can only hold so many on it shoulders,and it is getting crowded now, would be easier to just send them money , most dont like us to begin with and our way of live even less,but keep the green coming.we like that part lol.
Back at the salt mine one more night, still 4 days out from being done, seems like we been here a month, but then midnights always do.Oh I did find my bluetooth headset again, should have looked in the floor to begin with i guess, still havent found the bike key and fob yet, but i am sure after i pick the new ones up tomorrow in Amarillo ,the others will magically appear, which is normally my luck,i needed to remotes to keep up with for the bike anyway.now i shall have them.
All most three in the morning, seems like the time has a way of getting away when you get busy,but i like it that way,less time to think about some things ,when i take the truck over to get it fixed this afternoon, i m ay see if they can just rent me a motorcycle to take home,would probably be a hardly davidson,my neighborhood can stand some shakeing up, and that would to it, a die hard Honda man on a hardly,what is the neighbor hood comeing too lol
Overall , i slept over 7 hours today, still cant tell it,but after a while the feeling you been run over by a truck is pretty much constant on midnights, I have xm going and Leann and bill mack should be happy the royalties keep flowing in ,she can belt out a song , that is for sure, makes goose bumps on my back when she sings that song Bill Mack wrote, in a lot of ways she reminds me a lot of patsy cline, a shame she was called home so early in her life, she must have gotten done what her part of the plan was.

Deadwood and the GPS

In my last blog i alluede to a trip in the making to colorado and to parts further north.
I wanna tell ya it was a hoot,24 men gathered at a local resturant the morning of our departure, we had a good breakfast,verbal sparring and just some good natured devilment before we pulled the pin for parts north.This setting is in denver colorado, 24 guys ,invite only,3 days of belching and scratching, and hard riding, opened up a whole new world to me as a rider , and participant.
We recieved our riders instructions and then the 4 rookies were gotten together, filmed and fingerprinted,and mugshots taken.One of our last instructions told uswewould have to hold a skit that night at supper, aint we lucky.
And yours truly was a rookie on that ride,so i got to help with the skit,I dont do oracles so I don't do incantations or shake chicken bones, during these processes, Brian Graves ,my roomie and the club prez, came upwith the original thought that we base our skit on, Which we didtn completely put together till evening at the motel,before our steak was devoured,it was fun and even very funny , a parody take off from the morning events at the parkin lots,this was not meant to be hurtful or mean, just funny and most accepted that as it was.I was told i shoudnt give up my day job as acting was not my forte.
I learned a lot from these riders , young and and matured alike,everyone's riding skill levels and perception of what that is varies,but i would ride with them any where, because at the level we rode most of the time and speeds and the amounts of concentration and skill required was exciting.
My youngest brother led the cooker group as did the wing commander during the 3 day period, and thumper and his group running laterally with us , at a slower pace,did their own thing too, it was a lot of fun,no incidences occured,although my nephew had to stay in Deadwood till monday morning, as he had a problem with his tire , which has since been resolved.He rode behind me ,most of one full day, polishing my rear fender and tag lights.I was working up a sweat to keep up,I dont think i ever saw brett hit the brakes once ,just smooth as silk all day long.

The 1800 still continues to amaze me,the power band onthose machines is unbelieveable, you want to have it pointed the way you really want to be going,when you wack the throttle,cause you aint gonna believe the mind bending performance,this machine has builtinto it.when you really get aggresive it just growls and says , just bring it on bubba, it will s how you a thing of two
That b ike will run in excess of 100 miles an hour all day long never whimpering or any bad mannerisms,just squats and gets it like a speeding bullet, and the harder you twist the handle grip,the more it begs to just get out and let the goodtimes roll. It pulls as hard at 128 as it does at 30, like gang busters. Try wipeing that stupid smile off my face.

You gave how much for that Trike

Well lots of things have changed since i was last here, One son has lost a very good friend to a motorycle tragedy, and in the out set of that gave up riding, I know he loves it as i do, but he has a young family to worry about, It is his choice, as it was to ride, I hope some time he can return to it, cause he got that love of riding from me, i know and have seen how much he enjoys it.
His Mother bought a trike, and made her annual pilgrimage to new mexico and colorado, with not incidences, more than i can say for the harley trike of a friend of hers, they had a multitude of problems, and ran for three days once they got to new mexico, i think they finally did get every thing resolved about the time it was time to come home.
Wife didnt have aproblem till she got home, we rode with youngest son all day saturday, and then rode back to amarillo to eat with his family inlaws, good folks and fun to be around, walked out of resturant and cranked bikes , she had lost some lights on front and tail lights on back, had brake lights only
after a phone call of two, i activated the brake light system, so we could have lights and started for home
I worked on that thing for all of sunday, and part of monday till work then on tu esday, found absolutely nothing , wiring and switches checked out, lights would work on park i discovered, but not on ignition .
i started hunting thru posts from trike riders, to see if any one had experienced the same thing, and sure enough, i found some, that had , and were willing to share their experiences, helped me immensily, i pulled the seat back off trike on tuesday morning and pulled fuse and relay box out of hiding place, and started changing out relays, and guess what, they came right on, and found bottom of original relay was burned, so i called my local honda dealer, they had one and put it back for me, i retieved it the next day and in stalled it, numbers had changed from 95, but still worked, and i put it back to gether patted my self on the back and went to work.
Next undertaking on trike was new headlights, first i ran type and kind down on internet, that too is a closely guarded secret for some reason, i found some H4's at my friendly Oreiley's parts store and priced right too, Wally world would have been cheaper, but if you dont have them, you can give them away, and still be introuble
Procedure for changing bulbs was found on internet finally and is acually quiet simple, and considerable easier from changing them on my old 85 aspencade, takes a few minutes to get head light out and replace the bulbs and be back together, surprised me, haven't seen them at night, it h ad a orginal 45 watt bulb, i put two 60's in, should make a difference, So having that behind me, i again patted my self on the back and went to work
C ingular had sent me a letter stating that they were gonna turn my phone off, i was costing them too much money, so, i paid for my plan a nation wide one, with free roaming and longdistance, but believing it would happen, i went to sprint and signed with them, i like their network, is acutally very quiet, i h avent h ad a problem with them, but cingular in their infinite wisdom did not turn off my cell service, just put a notice on my cell phone screen that when i roam it says not in network, so, who cares, i have nation wide roaming and longdistance and about 7000 roll over minutes needing to be used lmao
When i rode to liberal on a pgr ride not long ago, i found that they dont have or i couldnt get sprint service there, although my son in law was using his as i recall, and his is sprint, hmmmmmmm, oh well, i cranked up the cingular one and used it, all was well, we got our mission rode and back home, inspite of cell service lol
We had a really good week of R&D work at the plant this week, making changes and doing all sorts of configurations to test a new feedstock, nice folks there doing the testing, we had a blast, only had two guys per shift, was busy but was good tired when we got h ome at night.
Grandson stayed a couple of nights and that boy always has something going on, you can hear the gears grinding, he is like a hoover, he doesnt miss a thing, at 4 he can swim, some thing at 61, i still cant do, i am very proud of him, dives in 12' of water, and swims to the side ladder by him self,
I recieved a call from my ride captain for the pgr for this area last night, they are doing a flag ride special mission monday, I want to be a part of that , we dont always get to ride normal missions with them, so i make the ones i can, boss has said he will come in early so i can leave early monday m orning, a gesture i could nt pass up, he is ex military, and is willing to help.
Will be a very long day, and i have to work monday night, but cant be much worse, that being on midnights for two months
u just stay awake for what ever time you can stand it, then crash, i always do.
Well the PGR ride didtn exactly come off the way we expected, but it did come off, I went home and slept till 1:30 monday afternoon then got a phone call and we were off to the races, found wife and we let town and headed for shamrock fuel , which i didnt have enough to start with,but that is my fault.
The ride was fun and a very special undertaking,I wouldnt have missed it for anything,I got back to work tuesday morning at 2,was a long night but we made it and was worth every minute of time we spent on it
I was asked this last week to remove my self from my premises, but I respectfully declined,leaving the oppurtunity for the other half to vacate, which was what was said , if i didnt she would,till i declined,and it has been really quiet ever since.We are working another set of midnights this week,days next week then right back to good old midnights the week after,if you are not careful, you can wind up on midnights the whole summer.

I did go off this last weekend on three day ride and spent some time by my self, it was fun and a well needed rest.I did how ever windup in Fort Worth as my Son sold his motorcycle and I had to sign part of the newforms that i had failed to do , when i sent himthe title.
I had hoped to do some visiting while inthe dallas area, but was not to be,was sent home bag and baggage see ya later.I left fort worth at 9 pm got home at 5 AM went inand slept till ten thirty then got up and spent the day by my self, which is not at all unusual now.
I have a trip comeing up that starts in colorado, goes to and thru wyoming and south dakota, all guys , invite only, first liar won't have a chance.Will be gone a week,and I am ready,should be a very good week.

Chuck and Miss Baby

i am not sure if any one here is familiar with one of my child hood heroes, but he is worth a mention, especially if you like a good laugh , and loved the deep south sense of humor, he was known as Brother Dave Gardner, a true comic.
The man was truly depraved, but in a very good sort of way,routines like " if you aint John, I'm Gone" and "Chuck and Miss Baby" would bring tears to my eyes, he is no longer with us, but his comedy lives on , it can still be found if you look for it, and it still holds up today,I thought alot about it , as i rode thru the not so dark skies and highways on my way to Fort Worth Friday evening.
A normal spring ride,lightning, high winds in places, heavy to light rain, poor visibility, and from what i understand, the panhandle again, got nothing to very light activity,Gonna have to have a talk to brother allen when i get back home.
I know we got some , at least the amarillo area did, i encounted high wind and heavy rain on the way to amarillo for my massage,and by the way, if you want to add some years to your life, find some one that is very good at massage, you cant believe , how the body and soul responds to that , it took me a very long time to move off dead center, and make the appointment, have never regretted it for a second

I finally got out of the panhandle on my trip to see the boys and spend a weekend riding with them,naturally, i had to go back to the house to check weather and pickup some things i left the first time, got in the first really bad rain and weather just south of childress, glad i got thru that, was one of those you can see all the way to the ground, and i way very appreciative that i was on the south side of that storm, i stopped and checked weather at one of the new reststops, the state has updated them with radar and wweather information and internet hot spots , very nice that is available, had laptop with me, but buried, so just used theirs lol.
The trip was long, and mostly uneventful,My youngest son decided to ride out to meet me, but was turned back by very enclement weather near jacksboro, and i could see the aftermath from that when i came thru.
Talked to daughter yesterday, as they were leaving Dallas, she told me that gainsville ,had taken quiet a hit,damage every where, that can be fixed, just hope no fatilities were from that storm.

After several phone calls and some watiing at convenience stores during my ride, once in wichita falls and then again in Jacksboro, i made it to my Son's home, in one piece , wet,scrubby,huge smile on face, and would and will do it again in a heart beat, i just plain love riding.
Can i explain it , where you really understand it, probably not,do i need to, not once you have ridden with me, you will either love it or hate it.
We got up yesterday(Saturday 29th) and headed out to my oldest son's house, for breakfast and to get them ready to ride, son number one was gone , had a life long friend with him,and they had made a store fun for his wife, we made our selves at home, ate his food, and could have drank his wine, had i remembered that i had it with me.It made the trip in very fine shape, will be good to see what kind of shape it is in, when we open it, is it high priced vinegar or really good red grape, like it s tarted out in lubbock several months ago. Time will t ell

I guess we will do some work on the bikes, today, will h ave to pry smidley whiplash from his bed probably when i get there, as i understand he played play station all night or close to it, wonder where he got that from , surely not me.
We started riding about 11 yesterday morning, and almost go to lampasas, filled up several times, and hamiltion was the last stop for fuel and to turn around and make the trip back, it is a beautiful ride , cant wait to go more here,don't tell any one, but i am looking for a place to be, I think i have been about as usefull as i know how at work, thinking it might be a good time to be some where else, and I am looking down in this area for something or someplace that i want to be.
Close to the boys where we can ride a lot, close to the area, where lots of things go on, Ranger baseball, auto shows, Nascar, the state fair, concerts that people can see and afford.
some really beautiful area lakes, to spend a quiet lazy afternoon on or around.And from what i saw yesterday, some really pretty places to ride,
I do know i wll have to find a sign for the rear of my bike, that says"Don't follow me, I am lost too"
Had a group of fellow riders fall in behind us, with some very shiney machinery, big bikes,harley's big yamaha's , and little did they know, we were lost too, not sure where they were headed, but we looked like a huge group for a while,and they just followed right along , hope they had as much fun as i did lol.
We made hamilton about 3 or so, fueled up and did our obligatory pit stop, for some of us that are older , then started back, dropped Son #1 off near his house and started looking for bike dealerships and new helmets, Son #2 needs a new helmet as old one which is about three weeks old, hurts his head,not a pleaasant situation,i have been there.
Had some really good barbeque and live music for supper, friendly people and good food, and music rounded off a really good day of riding.
We then decided maybe to ride west , stopped at weatherford for fuel and lo and behold, guess what, an Dairy Queen sign . So we had to have a blizzard, decided then to ride home ,and start out again today, being sunday, will go to Son #1 house and help with some maintenance on his bike, while Son # 2 does church , then comes to join us, we are gonna try to ride again today and I cant wait, sun is shining, birds are singing, and my 1800 wants to be going some place, and tomorrow will be no exception, Dallas bound on monday.

I really dont have a title for this blog this evening, maybe one suitable will pop up as we go along,
I got a couple of s urprises and a huge blessing this week , My oldest son called me last week and told me he had taken and passed a motorcycle saftey course, which in it self is a fete of monumental proportions to me, my children continue to amaze me, for it wastn't but a few days later, son # 2 called, and started a converstation like, do you still have your aspencade dad, I said i did, and he begins to tell me he might be interested in buying it, and I figured to my self, ok, Lets see how you get this one past your wife, i can remember the opposition i once had when i purchased my first touring bike, or was it my it my second, any way, i can remember , first my dad, bless his pointed head, telling me, "Boy,you ain't buying no dam bike , those things are dangerous and will kill ya", I was 35 at the time, had a house full of kids, and he is pulling rank on me.
You have to under stand the man flew airplanes, and had motorcycles, and fast cars for those days, we are talking babbit bearing six cylinder engines he had spung silver dollars where the babbit had been, a tech trick for those days, and a hand full of old timers would understand what i mean.That was in the days before the 302 gmc six's showed up, we are talking about the days when mechanics really did mechanic, they had too, no parts distribution or computer prompted inventories, you did with what you had, bailing wire, pair of pliers, chevy six cylinder , with ported and polished head, split manifold, with glass packs, over boreing engines,and if you were really l ucky , you might just find a dual carburated manifold for the stromberg 97's that were used in the day and time . The v-8's the were available then were mostly ford and mercury flatheads the ninety horse versions were commom, and plentiful, remind me some time to tell you what happens when you put a huge olds engine in a 33 ford pickup frame, you cant believe the destruction of pieces and parts , but that is another story in it's own right.
My dad lived for his family, he did give up flying and fast cars, kept a old harley cop trike at the s hop for a service vechicle in the spring summer and fall, and kept his hand in riding too,

The thing i had a hard time understanding was the fact that both my brothers allready had touring bikes, i have no idea if he harrassed them about getting them or not, we never had that conversation, my y oungest brother was allowed to have a bridgestone 90, and my oldest brother has owned enough bikes to fill a quanset shed, a big one, and still has more sitting in his garage in rowlette that most people own in a life time, but he can afford it, he earned and p aid for every thing he ever had, and i am not jealous, just nice to see how the other half lives from time to time, he got a good education worked hard, it paid off.

Seems like to me, both brothers got the smarts and money, and that is fine, i am better looking then both of them, and my mom always loved me the most any way, a fact they both still this to this day dispute .
My dad was also a techno geek for his day and time, he had the first poloroid camera, and one of the first color tv's on our block, and as broke as we were , that was saying a lot, then the accutron watches, he coudn't set, a vcr would have drove him crazy, he loved the gadgets , we all suffer from that malady, and i am sure we all inherited it from him, as we did the love and respect for law enforcement, handguns, airplanes, motorcycles, fast cars, the list goes on and on.



The boys are continueing their education , both are attorney's never did figure out how that happened,first firearms, then computers, now motorcycles, and I cant wait , i have dreamed for years to be able to go with the boys on a ride some place, even with my brother's and friends and family, my son in law rides, and we ride together some.This could get really interesting, and more fun that you can ever imagine. I plan to retire in the distant future, and this just keeps getting better, i may even wind up down in that area, and that would be benificial for a lot of reasons, some which i cannot divulge at this time, but would put a huge smile on my face when and if it happens.
Life sometimes can be very trying, that motorcycle in my shed , may not keep me normal, but it keeps me sane, there is nothing like getting the bike out and just going, i have always loved that.
There is no way to accuately describe how good it makes me feel, You are looking at God's creation at it's finest, you and the wind, and elements, It is all part of the experience, if you dont like helmet hair, you are in the wrong place, or if you need a shower every couple of hours, you wont like riding,but if y ou dont mind being on back and soaking up the sunshine and all the riding you can stand, chances are, i will see a huge smile , a willingness to be on the back of that bike nearly every time it leaves, and a true desire just to be where you are ,then riding should and will be very rewarding for both.Now if i can just get them interested in the pgr, but we have time, i wont rush anything , this is like a very fine wine , it needs to be savored and enjoyed

Several days have passed since i last worked on this, should be in bed getting rest for work tonight, but this seems more important to me , thought i would have it finished by now, but as you see , it isnt, so i am here
As i sit here sneezing my head off in the texas panhandle, lots of real estate changed hands today, and wildfires all around us, wind may be down to 20 now, just a light breeze for here, more fires, more losses and no rain.Here i am again, on midnights, gonna leave for work in a half hour, for more fun and games, last night being sunday , was no exception, i made a huge mess, which took the three of us over two hours a piece to clean up, seems some one from another shift decided to start cleaning the agitator tank, back in march, leaving the agitator doors open, but forgetting to say any thing or posting a note on the board, well me being the brainy guy, especially on midnights that i am, decided, well this is the same grade we last maade, all things being equal, lets put some black in the tank and go for it, , well all i secedded in doing was to turn the night, which was allready black , even blacker, we turned every thing off , and for the next two hours got to reflect on why you are supposed to check every thing , before you do something, else you get bit, just like i did and have before in the past.You would think sometime, that i would finally learn, but NOOOOOOOOOOOOO, not me, oh well,tonight is a new day, something good from this will come i am positive.
Since i started this, the boys have become riders, acquiring machine, and we have a plan to ride this weekend, in fort worth, I can't wait, and this weekend may also hold some other delights, which may or may not unfold, but i am praying that they will.
Son #1 called early in the weekend, with some troubleshooting questions, and after some very pretty fireworks , from what he described , we have realized that sometimes things are installed with a real reason in mind, so i am taking so pieces that i had removed when i charged the battery, and forgot to put back on, oh i found the pieces, i knew right where they were, and are in my tour pack now, will fix the battery shorting problem, with a screwdriver and parts i have in my possession. and also a cut little rubber thingy, that slides on a stud, on a brake link, wonder what it does.
I am loading the bike for friday morning, makeing some p hone calls, and accepting others, While i know i should be sleeping, i cannot, I look forward to the ride, the adventure, going to ride with my sons and enjoying that time, makeing those memories, hopefullly ones they can reflect back on years later, and bring a smile to their faces, because they enjoyed the adventure again in their memory.With any luck, the whole weekend, will be a very memorable one, from start to finish.
It really doesnt matter what you ride, as long as you love to ride and enjoy the adventure, it does matter who you are with and why

Country Music is alive and Well, or is it

I have been stuck on midnights this week and next, so for the next two weeks , i will just choose what four hour period ,I want to sleep and do that, because that is the normal average sleep for midnights.Since I posted last, I attended another funeral,this time was in Guymon Oklahoma, that place has special significance for me,One , my number two son was brought into this world there,another I became acquainted with Duane Boren ,the then chief of police ,one of the true wonders of the law enforcement world,If you missed knowing and spending any time with Duane,you missed a real adventure.
I talked to one of the police supervisors at the funeral in Guymon, for about an hour, a detective,in uniform,very nice guy,we knew some folks in common, and were half expecting the cretins from kansas to show, Oklahoma knows how to show respect to our fallen,not that others dont, but these folks werent messing around,when it comes to some one trying to disrespect one of our fallen hero's, and being a Guymon native, they pulled out the stops,OHP had responded their East and West emergency response teams,which were in riot gear when we rode in.
It wasnt long after we showed that the riot gear came off,the temperments of the officers softened ,the pace changed,and we went about our mission of respecting this fallen hero and providing support for his family and friends in any way possible.
As the detective and I stood and talked I noticed an OHP Plane in the air , had half expected to see a helicopter but was told the plane would appear less obtrusive,which i agreed with, cause it is not at all uncommom to see ag planes loaded to the gills with spray chemicals, or sport pilots out soaking up some of the beautiful afternoon's rays , we encountered some wind, but felt right at home,When I had lived in Guymon, it could be and was a very similar day to what we would encountered during my stay when I worked at the Chevy dealership.
Some one had been thoughtful enough to provide flags on ten foot poles, that we held on both sides of the entrance street to the church,a truly beautiful sight.
We lined up along the barditch sides close to the asphalt and watched it all unfold infront of us.I was truly overwhelmed at the funeral of Lt Britt in Wheeler, my first mission with the Pgr,think you are tough, come join us , spend a day at a funeral , seeing friends and loved ones comeing and going, You wont leave the same as you came, or at least i havent.While we stood lined up , the guymon radio station was located right behind us to the west, made several trips up and down our ranks where we were holding the flags,and gave us cold bottled water , and even picked up the empties,I know of at least three times they went up and down our line providing cold water for us.
It always amazes me , the extent of kindness that is always given at these funerals.
I am as tough inwardly as any one i know, have always been a loner, and things like funerals never did much to me.
Well Let me tell yall,that has since changed ,when I started going to the hero's funerals, I have found these to be emotinally draining,in a very good sense of the word.I was raised in the "men dont cry age",This man cries, I had tears in my eyes more than once during my time holding that flag,cant tell you why,i didnt know the soldier,had never seen this young man we were honoring and that is ok,but if you can go and stand there and not feel anything,then chances are , you are in the wrong place.
As friends and family left the funeral, they came thru our flag honor guard,i saw smiles with tears,waves,women and men alike, choseing their own way to say, thanks for being here.I saw Troopers, police officers, and civilans ,stand at attention and salute as the hearse came in,andwhen it went out.
I can see how much God hates america, in the faces and eyes and salutes, and kindness of the folks i encounter every time i become involved in a mission.What the cretins never realized , that in spreading their vile contempt and hatred, this group of partiot guard riders have risen,with purpose and clarity,knowing in our hearts,that God is there Smiling on the fallen soldiers and their families,as he holds them to his chest,in his infinite tenderness and mercy.
This morning as we sit here at work,one of my cohorts made mention that the tickets for the Brooks and Dunn concert are 120.00 a pop.We used to go see the likes of Charlie Pride , Merle Haggard, Willie nelson , AreoSmith
Roy Clark, to name a few , in the civic center auditoruim,not sure what the seating was, but i am guesssing around
5500 people,but in the greater wisdom of some one, Brooks and Dunn will have their concert in the newer entertainment portion of a new performing arts center, with much less seating, so up the prices go,dealing out a huge number of folks that would normaly go to see them,and almost like a special showing for the upper crust , if you have the bucks,you get to go,now i have always been a fan of theirs, but 120.00 to see them, i think not.Got a lot better place for that money,let the blue collar crowd go,that will buy a lot of fuel for trips to Dallas,and i can see them cheaper there anyway.

I still believe in miracles

Last monday,I had the day off,we celebrated President's day , it was cold and miserable,but we decided early afternoon to try and salvage the day, I called my daughter in Pampa and inquired if they wanted to go to eat some place that evening in Pampa, We normally let the grandson chose , and with a little autosuggesting he picked the right place, unfortunately Pampa doesnt have a huge selection of eating establishments, if some one opens one , they have tons of business for the first thirty days,then most gravitate back to their normal eating haunts, I have watched this process over the years and it tends to always work this way.
Most of the places in town are family owned, one family has several,and while not being a monopoly,they have plenty of business,the balance of remaining places are tex mex,which is good as far as I am concerned,and I understand that we may get another one ,which if it is as good as the original in Borger,It will be very good and most likely be here to stay, Pampa is a tough town on eating establishments, always has been, I have been in this area since 1965 and I have seen a lot of good places come and go.
I decided to shower and clean up before going to pickup my daughter and grandson, which i did,took my regular shower , shaved with my new cordless electric razor, and splashed some smell good on,and was out the door, this later proved to be my undoing,for when we returned several hours later,I realize too late i did not turn the faucet back on in my bathtub,and that by the next morning and several inches of deep water wound up costing 150.00 to restore the water service to normal again which was done two days after the break occured.

I was happy when the plumbing company came, it was nice outside helped my attitude alot and i know the men doing the repair were elated that it had decided to turn off nice and be warm,made the whole thing a much more pleasant experience.
I showed them where the water had come from and they set immediately to repairing it, as an afterthought i did tell him about my water heater not producing much warm water and ask if he had any heating elements for a hot water heater in his truck, he replied that they did and repaired the line that was broke and then started on the water heater repair, I had comtemplated doing that my self,but in the long run the money i spent was well spent,as my self cleaning water heater (apparently I hadnt found the place to turn on the self cleaner as it was full of mineral deposits , and that was cleaned out and everything looked spic and span in about an hours time.Water service was restored and I was smileing like a cheshire cat, got out cheap,no extra broken lines from being frozen after i had to shut off water,some times things do work out.
Some of the advertisement about products you buy make me think of election year promises,They look good,sounds wonderful, but if it just a sticker on a product, that infers or implies somewonderful achievement or promise , generally they mean nothing ,and I knew when I purchased that water heater with the sticker on it that says self cleaning, doesn't that make you winch just a little, knowing the ability for mineral deposits to collect in our water, but being an eternal optimist, you always hope that some of what is there, is true technology and maybe some engineer did design something in it, that did actually clean it as you went along, but after the service man opened up the heater, i wont repeat what he told me when i ask him if there was any meaning to the still new looking sticker on the front of the water heater.
That was today, the point is this is that back in the summer, before I had my prostate surgery, i put up a knife my youngest son had given me ,for father's day , in a safe place where i could go back later and find it. Well apparently that in fact did happen, for last week when i was on the front porch, talking to some friends in Dallas,I looked down on a what not chair next to where I was sitting, and low and behold, there was my knife, apparently right where I had used it, only thing is, I dont remember what month that was or what I used it on. Then in the next day or two, i happened to go looking in our utilityroom for something in the stored treasure (junk Pile) area. I actually had to move some stuff, that is when the shirt jacket showed up,I was convinced where ever the shirt jacket ,was , the rest of the items i had put away ,the foldback knife and bluetooth head set disappeared,these too were items I put up for safekeeping, then they disappeared, as most things do that i put up, normally gone for ever. I found my headset in my meds bag, when I cleaned it out a couple of weeks ago, so I do believe in miracles, there actually is a higher power looking outfor me,as it is quiet obvious , I need all the help i can get .

I have been there, i have done that , and i do Have that T shirt

Last thursday, i left here on my motorcycle around 12:30 am, on my way to Bastrop Tx.
i noticed sprinkles on the ground but it had quit before i loaded the bike, and didnt give it much thought.By the time i was ten miles south of town, it became more of a consideration, then a problem,I stopped in Clarendon to put on my top part of my rain suit, as the botton was covered with leather and in good shape, it rained on me all night long,
Every one i talked to said that no moisture was expected out of this cell of storms, it may not have been expected, but was solidifying on my windshield for the next 11 hours, it only became a hazard when i found my self in the opposite vehicles lane twice, i honestly do not understand what kept me from hitting the second car that happened to, i was allready waiting for the crash, and when it didnt come, me and God had some serious words together, I have always heard he protects fools and goldwing riders and not necessiarly in that order.
So looks like time for new tires, I can't really complain, as 8-9000 miles are average on that type and brand tire, i have going on 17,000, i am not an aggressive rider, and run the tires as full of air as the manual will dictate.
I finally got to Gatesville about ten the following friday morning, knowing i would be later arriving to the funeral, i contacted ER (Wingman) Stroud, a friend of my older brother's to let him know i would be late.and late i was
I finally found Bastrop about two o'clock in the afternoon, well after all the procession and grave side services were over, so ER told me to find the what a burger and we would break bread there.Now at this point ER usually l ikes to take over , i ran my battery down sitting in the parking lot next to what a burger in bastrop, talking on the phone and looking at my gps, which was very dark now.
I pushed my bike,not a pretty sight, into the what a burger lot, and parked it, hopeing for a miracle as i a hadnt taken my jumper cables with me, nor did any one else have any, pushing an 800 lb. bike very far is not condusive to longevity for a fat man,that has been on light duty since august.
We went in and ate lunch, and had some good conversation about the ride and past rides and also going back to dallas, i begged off, as i was beat and decided to stay in austin. ER said the bike would start, which it did after he related a battery test my oldest brother had been conducting on his bike , which ER ruined when he turned off the key and took it to my brother .Seems this must be a family trait, usually the nuts wont fall far from the tree.
ER and Bill showed me how to find 290 to find my way to austin, and i found the cross street i needed and found my lodging in short order , and crashed, I slept the sleep of the dead for a couple of hours,then got up so i would sleep during the night which i did.
I got up on saturday morning, and by noon was having a great degree of difficulty breathing, i have been to austin three time here recently and all three times i came away with respitory distress. I finally l oaded the bike and headed out, only to be held up in traffic by a huge wreck , was nearly the h ood ornament for a hi cube ambulance twice, after the third one showed i had learned to watch both ways, they can sneak up on you too easy. Troopers and police officers and first responders from all over started showing, and things began to start moving, i talked on the cell phone for nearly an hour as they cleaned up the highway , flew in a flight for life chopper, and got roll backs in to pickup the carnage, all the time sucking on my albuterol, glad to have what i had just to be able to breathe.And i am sure living three miles east of a new cotton gin probably doenst help my asthma much, but what ever there is in austin, can nearly take me out, i left before it got that bad
I am guessing it must be the cedar trees , pollen counts had been over 1500 for a few days when i got there, i feel sorry for the people there that are really sensitive to cedar pollen, that can be miserable
You haven't lived till you sneeze in your helmet, and it is closed as your eyes swell shut while you are riding, you are taking motorcycleing to a higher planewhen you sneeze and have snot running in your l eft ear cause you can't see or stop, or blow your nose.

I have been there, i have done that and i do have that T shirt.

This was my first major riding effort since the second hernia surgery, and the second since I had the prostate surgery, and it was fun.Even in the rain all night long and in austin and i coudnt breath, it was fun,
oh y eah, the bike did start like ER said it would after we let it build back in about ten minutes, I have rescue insurance , but being in a zombie like state friday afternoon, it was a wonder i found my lodging as tired as i was, no more all nighters , getting to old for that, my kids been trying to tell me that for a long time, i think we may well be there
By the time i got to Waco after the interstate clean up , i was allready breathing a lot better, and by the time i got to dallas, i was in really good shape.
I had some pizza and a hot shower after i got to my brother's, and business was looking up

politicians, preachers and sinners

For some time now, my morning usually starts with a trip to our local resturuant for breakfast, it normally consists of a breakfast burrito with egg and ham, and coffee, we normally have a round table forum, and it consists of a lot of diverse and good people, that make the start of the day very unique and interesting, i alway look forward to going.You never know who will show up or what will be discussed, but one thing for sure, you know it was always be interesting.
On any given day we might have a couple of city commisonners or like this morning when the preacher and the country commisioner showed up, hence the title of the blog for today.
Both are very good folks and both very unique in their own right.We might have a land baron,a school board rep, some local folks like me, just adds flavor to the mix.Each with their own opinions and thoughts, our land baron is usually the catalyst for most of the discussions, is his mission in life and he is good at what he does, and just a good person to be around.

I didnt stay this morning, had to be back , was expecting phone calls, and had some things to get done, this being one of them.So i missed the roundtable discussions and i would bet any thing they were lively.
I got up yesterday morning at 4:30 for a trip to see my urologist in Lubbock, about 180 miles south of here, appointment was for 9:45, got there at nine,checked in and paid my money, made the obligatory trip to the restroom for their samples , and back to waiting room before going in to see the dr and his aides.
I met a couple from a town close to lubbock that rode motorcycles like i do, they visited among the many cell calls his wife recieved, he said he was in for a check up, but i was assuming it wasnt for post cancer operation check up, he was in his early to mid 40's and really didnt have a lot to say, and knowing what i know about the checkup's that i no longer have to endure, he probably wasnt looking forward to what laid ahead, most men dont, I never liked the exam, but it can only save your life .She was the sparkplug for the two of them, i can only bet she keeps things interesting when they ride or attend their association meetings, and every group needs one.
I got called in to be poked and prodded and looked at about nine fifteen, nurse was friendly and courteous, took my vital signs and ask lots of questions, which is good, dr then came in and looked me over , He was pleased , said i looked like i was a pin cushion, maybe next time they would put zippers in , so when they needed to work on me, would be lots easier for both of us.

Another aide came in after dr left and brought a hand full of pills with him, said here try these and i was out of there, i paid my bill and mounted up for the trip home.
I get to go back to full duty monday, and i am ready, have been restricted since august, and i am getting fat and lazy, have a tentative trip to dallas sunday, and want to take the bike, would be a very nice road trip, even with a little rain, i wouldn t mind
Will be nice to get out of the control room and pack and do all of the things i could not before, been a while since i have done them, i am ready to get back to work .
The trip comeing home was like the trip going down, just no rain and lots of wind, standard for the texas panhandle, i stopped to eat at amarillo, love my tex mex went to rosa's for lunch,


The first place i went in was full of highschool students, i know they have to eat, but this was disaster, i am fairly tolerent, but after about 30 seconds i decided a retreat was in order, fortunately, the other Rosa's cafe isnt that far, so i made my exit , no one the wiser and went to the other establishment, low and behold, more highschool students, but these folks acted like the young men and ladies they were, got their lunchs ordered and were eating, not in the way or pushing any one around or making a spectacle of them selves and others, was a delight to see.

I got back home about 1:30, hopeing to see we had recieved an abundant amount of rain, but we did get maybe twenty hundreths, i wont say any thing bad about that , i have lived in the texas and oklahoma panhandles long enough to know you start cussing the moisture and you may never get any, not sure how that works, you can call it what you want, mother nature, mojo or just what ever, people used to get shot at around the panhandle for seeding clouds and making the clouds go away, they learned a huge lesson from that too i think, but got kinda hairy for the pilots, dont know if they had kevlar shorts on or not, and i dont know any well enough any more to ask, some things are probably better not being known lol.

Before i digress to far, in accordance to the subheading here, you know i am not in politics nor a preacher, so you know where that leaves me, right square in the amen corner,if you have any spare prayers , send them my way, God will smile on you, and it will amuse him , that you wanted to help me , dont hurt to keep your name in the pot, this is like studying for a huge test , of a life time, one i really don't want to fail.

My oldest brother and I belong to the Patriot Guard Riders Association, you have heard me mention this group and you will, many times more, a fine group of people and these folks have a lot of heart and soul, many vets here, want to honor the fallen and help relieve as much anguish for the families as possible, there are some that want to extend that, but thanks to the PGR, this is held to a minumim,
His Group from Dallas with the Ride Captain for this area left this morning for Fort Hood, to participate in honoring a fallen soldier.They go because they want to, not because they have too, Thanks for all you do PGR.I am very proud of you all, and very proud to be associated with you.
You can find information of the PGR at www.patriotguard.org if you have time and are willing, please take the time to see what it is about, it renews my faith in mankind, the site explains the mission statement explicitly, even i got it.Look at the picture gallery and mission reports, filled with good information and you will see the caliber of men and women that gave there all, so we could be here and be free.You wont be sorry u looked, , it impressed me and that takes a lot.

Time is my enemy today, even though i started this several hours ago, my thought process wont stay in one place, i had some ideas when i started this earlier this morning, but it has slipped into this afternoon and my salt mine hour looms.
Met our new ops guy yesterday, this appears that it can be a new oppurtunity for our place, i am sure the company has a specific direction they want to go, will be hard to see self directed work groups go by the way side, but climates have changed, people have changed, things that worked for a very long time and well, arent accepted any longer, so new ideas, not necessiarly better, but new for them, like booger said, been there done that, time will tell

Lubbock In My Rear View Mirror

It is ten twenty tuesday morning, 26 degrees out this morning, breakfast is consumed, google searches made, pogo played,XM blasting on the internet, country classics playing soothing sounds of my promised land. Some phone calls made.
National Weather promised rain, it came in the form of snow, started yesterday morning, got hard for a while, but still just a trace, more cold than wet.I am recovering from hernia surgery from last thursday, called Dr.yesterday, wanted to know if he had any objection to me driving to Denver , sounded like a motorboat on the other end,they still havent called back, makes me wonder , maybe he and my urologist should talk, or maybe they have, I can get more out of him in person, My Urologist thinks i am scarey, or maybe just crazy, either will work.I rode to new mexico in a month from radical prostate surgery, you would think that in 5 days i could drive to denver from a little hernia surgery.The gas they fill you up with for laproscopic surgery is the worst part of it, it has a lasting effect, usually for 5 days or so, very uncomfortable, once past that you are home free or at least i have been the last two times i had it.
I was told i had prostate cancer early last summer,with a friend's help and support, i found a very competent urologist in Lubbock, that performed the laproscopic robotic procedure, you will find that knowlege is the best weapon combating this disease, knowlege and a very positive attitude.
Every one is different, but few men will escape the tribulations of having to be checked for this problem, dont put it off, we never had a family history of prostate cancer in our family, so when the time comes, make sure you take care of you. Get the yearly DRE and PSA, it can only save your life, I was very lucky , You see God still looks out for fools and goldwingriders, and maybe not in that order.A very personal friend contracted it the year before, i wasnt far behind, but if you are faced with it, meet it head on, on your terms, Learn all you can,find a procedure that fits the way you feel, and the way you feel about your self, Your partner and mate will want to be a part of those decision making processes, it affects them as well if you have an ameciable relationship.If not you may find your self riding in Montana and Wyoming for a couple of weeks.
Fortunately, my bike is my therapy, when i got back to Denver, i was pretty sure what I needed to do, but at that point hadn't found the machine or Dr. I needed, but that information was forthcomeing too, just wasnt aware of it at the time.
I get really impatient some times, things don't go my way or the pace isnt fast enough , sometimes for good reasons,God is better than the A team, some times the players dont get the drift and he has to nudge them in the right direction, in my case, He may use a sledge hammer from time to time, but in time i usually get the drift.
I never realized how much water my cell phone could tolerate, on the way to colorado from Dallas i got caught in a terrible rainstorm in western kansas, Stood in the rain under a underpass for over an hour, when i finally reached civilazation again stopped in a burger joint first town i came too, may have been an A&W took phone apart, and dried every thingout, used part of a packet of napkins out of the holder to accomplish my mission , didn't realize they could hold that much water, after an hour the keyboard came back to life, but i didnt think the LCD would make it, sighed and close it all up , back in holster and back on bike, to finish my trip to denver.
when i go to aurora, in the garage and off bike, i offloaded every thing i needed and went to bed,
got a pleasant surprise the next morning, lcd was back and operational, figured it would be doa, and would probably have to exchange it some time that morning , if i could find a cingular dealer that would honor my warranty plan.
At my age, i realize that i can no longer put things up in a safe place, they will be gone forever, since the surgery's have started, i have to date put up a very good knife, and my blue tooth head piece neither have been seen again, also if you fine my green and white shirt jacket, i would be eternally grateful to get it back, but will still purchase another one today or tomorrow, as that is not likely, may be in the same place all my socks go,I can keep hanes in production at the pace i lose socks, i get a personal christmas card from them now, and expect to be on a first name basis by this time next year.
One more thing on the prostate cancer, keep checking on it, do the yearly exams, and psa with out fail, they are finding new things out daily and any one of them can save you life, even if you have to have the surgery, you will find, the people closest to you will want you there breathing, living , regardless of what you lost or percieved you have lost , there are certain things that change for ever, just figure out in your heart and mind, how you need to proceed, and dont forget to ask for help, your loved ones will do any thing they can, if given a chance, to help, friends are especially important here, you will need lots of support before, during and after.
Don't be afraid to sign up for a support group, they are there and available, you have to find and join them, lots of very good resources here, if not more than reading what is said, you have to find what works for you.but remember, smile, makes them wonder what you are up to.

On a clear day you can see amarillo

I am 61 and i am not sure how i got to this place i reside in now, and i dont mean the geological location either.Yesterday i was 25, no wrinkes or crowsfeet around the eyes, a life time ahead of me,drag racing on weekends, running the drag at night, terrorizing the girls, and having a blast, gas for my new elcamino was .44 cents a gallon, didnt know if i could afford to run it or not, would have to make some adjust ments to budget, truck payment was 85.00 a month rent was 120.00, eating was no problem, you ate when you thought of it, you could judge the strength of a muscle car when he pulled under the drive-inns awing, if he rattled the awning, he may be a contender, if not, usually a wanna be,when we get to bench racing, and start talking about the good old days, i lived them, life was good, fast cars, all the gas you could burn , because you could afford it,We used to punch off the traffic lights with the police cars, they not old did it, they demanded it, and i was always eager to oblige
The Elcamino had posi-trac and would run straight in first , second and third, as long as you were willing to stand on it, and i did my share of standing on it.I kinda cheated right after i bought that car, took it back to Dad, he slipped a 390 horse cam with isky anti pump up lifters in it, and that engine would run over the redline any time you wanted.
Only two other friends knew why it ran so hard, we had lots of fun with that car,ran a local boy with a hurst 442 blue printed and balanced right out of the shop, for pinks, I can still hear him hollering shift, shift, thru his open window, I knew his dad, he worked with us, and i knew what was being done to the car and by whom, i didn't take his car after we ran, cause his dad would have took both of us out, but he never wanted any more SS396 Elcamino's any more.
and it wasnt that i didnt get beat, a local boy was quietly working on his 50's model 4 door ford, going about his business building a giant killer, I ran him twice, he broke me from sucking eggs,He beat me the first time, shamed me the second but it was great, and i wouldn't have missed a second of it.I would go thru the list of classics i owned, but it causes my oldest son so much trama, i tend to shy away from doing that, lets say, i would be more than independently wealthy had i kept what i had over the years.
But as always , all good things come to an end, i met my other half, we started a family and the rest is pretty much history, just a few memories from 25 to 61.
I am a button pusher in a plant, you want some black soot made in your plant, i am your guy, have worked shift work for going on a life time, 25 years this summer. They called it R&D , I called it a very long party.It was a family owned concern, and as such it was very informal and very personal.
That changed over time as the powers that be changed, i had a good time,fun place to work for a very long time, till the bean counters got to comeing around, It is still fun, the people there make it that way, not like it was, but you can still see it, if you look hard enough
I was lucky growing up,My heroes were Gary Cooper, Roy Rogers, Lash Larue, Hoot Gibson, Gabby Hayes, Gene Autry and Audy Murphy John Wayne to name a few, and as i got smarter and older not necessarily more mature, My Dad and My Brother's were added to that list as well
My Dad was one of three men that i personally know that could diagnose a car problem over the phone.But that was the day when we still had mechanics, oh the guys that work on them now are technecians, and very smart, i wont take any thing away from them, they work hard at what they do, the ones that really work at it.
That was the time before onboard any thing let alone computers were installed in cars, My new pickup is smarter than me, and I won't let it imtimidate me, and my new motorcycle is also, no telling how many computers it has on it.I kept my old one too, and 85 1200 , paid for, no need to give it away so it is i n the shed too, insured and paid for, covered up in the corner, we will ride again,
I am home convelesing from surgery, two hernia and one for prostate cancer, if my dr knew i was riding in wheeler tx last monday, he would have strung me up, had threatned me before the surgery anway, that i could not throw a leg over it, till he said so, i do how ever start it to keep the battery up
The days have been so pretty here, and when my brother called saturday, and said he would be in Wheeler Tx on monday, i got a little curious, This is a good place , nice community and nice folks, but not a place he would frequent, i just sat back and decided to wait for things to unfold.
I later recieved an email from him advising me of what the trip was about, and i am profoundly glad he let me in on it.
Seems that a young soldier had been killed in action in iraq, and his funeral was last Monday morning.The young man was a brilliant student and just a very good man at heart, Was an Eagle Scout, and I have a special place in my heart for those young men that will work that hard to accomplish an honor of that magnitude, Being an Eagle stays with you for Life, and this young man lived what he believed, He gave his life for what he believed in.

There is a group and i dont intend to give them much space, but a bunch of crazies that want to disrespect the sacrifice of our fallen, makes no difference to them if it is Law enforcement or Military or Fire Fighters.Not only will the descerate the memory of these people, they go out of their way to extend the anguish of the family involved with that sacrifice.
I was a reserve office for 5 years, I know what these men and women go thru every day, was never in the military, but only an idiot would not understand they are in harm's way every second they are in a hostile war zone in any country.Did they ask to go there,NO i can assure you they did not, they went willingly, so that what had to be done is getting done, and not on our shores, Ol Osama has allready shone us he will reach out and touch us and he wants to bring that business here, has several times allready and will continue to try with his cohorts as long as any of them breath.
Out of this , i joined a group called Patriot Guard and believe me I am not much of a joiner, i have been in the radio clubs and car clubs, and what ever, which most failed, because their cause was never clear, and most had way to many chiefs and not enough indians.
I will tell you , i came away from Wheeler with joy in my heart, Yes they lost a very bright , wonderul young man, that had a bright future ahead of him.I have never been any where and been treated any better with a group than the kindness and courtesy that was shown our group in Wheeler Tx.
The Patriot Guard will not go to a service unless they are specifically requested to attend by the family Period
I am not a spokesman for our group, they have really intelligent folks that do that
All i can tell you about is what i experienced, and what i felt and what i saw, and to say the least, i was very impressed.
Police officers and troopers came from allover the Panhandle, they were kind and courteous to all that i saw them deal with, they stood and visited with our group, and we had a very diverse looking group on monday, I rode in next to a new truimph, with a group from oklahoma, the chaplin from a cma group stood next to me at the cemetery, emotions ran high for all of us, the officers treated every one fairly and evenly, we staged at ten behind the court house and recieved our instructions . The Ride Captain was working very closely with the Sheriff's department, they made a place for our bikes and watched them for us through out the time we were in Wheeler, after we rode in formation to the funeral, we did what we could to keep the demonstrators from imposing there vile contempt and hatred on the solider's family, The sheriff's department gave the protestors a permit which expired at 11:00 am.
DPS officers and sheriff's officers and police officers moved in at 10:55 had them put up their signs , they loaded and left
We did run some bikes to keep them from getting their message out, i liked it, there was some noise, and it was loud, but it was never meant to disrupt the services which it did not. The funeral started at 11:00 as planned, we moved our bikes from the second staging area near the Highschool back to the original staging area to form a honor guard for the family and fallen soldier.
I h ave never been afforded the respect and kindness i saw exhbited by the citizens of Wheeler,
as we staged for the honor guard, on both sides of the street behind the court house,I saw citizens that had attended the funeral, walk in the street in front of us, the women waved and talked to us, the men took off their cowboy hats , some even saluted as they went by, and the car prosession was the same, never have i seen any thing like it.
Every intersection had one or more law enforcement officers blocking the streets, standing at attention or parade rest, as we went by all the way to the cemetery , we were at the end of the procession, so they could could have easily gotten into their cars and move out, before we got there, they chose not to and remained as they were,
We pulled into the cemetary, and walked to the graveside services, all attended, as the friends and family left the grave site, quiet a number came thru our ranks women and men a like, spoke to a lot of us, thanking us for comeing and participating in their grief and loss, i have never seen this kind of kindness any where, we were also ask to return to the school cafeteria to eat lunch before we left, that was fixed for us by citizens of Wheeler, officers and firemen and the bikers ate, signed the books the family and Patriot Guard had available , then we departed for our respective homes.I will never forget what i witnessed,you havent lived till you had a whole city hug you.