Patriot Guard Mission

Last Saturday we participated in the Patriot Guard Riders mission in Billings for a young soldier killed in the line of duty.

We had to go to Billings anyway to take the bike for it's annual service. We were hoping that it would be done before we had to do the mission.

Last December, we bought a flat bed trailer for the bike, just for occasions like this, when it's too cold to ride.

Saturday morning arrived and we hooked the trailer up to the pickup without any problems. Gary got ready to ride the bike onto the trailer and he got stuck. Here he was stuck on the ramp. We didn't figure on the pipes hitting the ground. He couldn't go forward or backward. I had to jump into the pickup and drive forward to get him lowered. Once we got on the grass, it was easy to load the bike on the trailer. Not so much on the cement. Now it was time to use our ratchet straps that he bought. Why would we get these out earlier to figure out how they work, no those straps are so easy. Right. The kind we bought come in two sections. All the instructions said was to hook one to the trailer and one to the object then thread through. No problem, only no instructions how we are supposed to thread them. Well we managed to get the bike strapped down.

On the road we went, we made it to Billings in plenty of time to get to the dealership and unload. Again, while unloading the bike got stuck and I had to drive forward. We were so lucky that no employees were watching this fiasco. Got the bike checked in. Some of the guys were giving Gary a bad time about not riding the bike and having me follow. They forget we have to come from Hardin and it was too cold in the morning. It was going to take at least 6 hours for the service to get done.

We were able to drop the trailer at the dealership, they have no problem with that. We went and ate breakfast. Our next stop was going to get the truck washed, but the car washes were so busy that we didn't have time.

We did have time to wander through the home improvement show at the Metra. Got some ideas for the bath and kitchen when we do makeovers in a couple years. Entered a raffle to win a bathroom makeover up to $11,000. Didn't win.

Back to the dealership we went to check on things. They were ahead of schedule and would be done around 2:00. Great, we had a meeting with Parks for tae kwon do at 1:00 and didn't have to be at staging for the Patriot Guard until 3:00.

Went to the meeting with Parks, told them we had to leave by 2:30 for a funeral. We got out of there around 2:15, got to the dealership picked up the bike. They were so nice and washed it for us that it was nice and shiny for the mission.

Got all of our stuff on and made our way to the Wal-Mart in the Heights. There were about 50 of us there for the mission. Saw all of our friends. I took a bunch of photos. The normal photographer forgot her camera at home, so she asked me to fill in for her. I sent my photos to the state person and they are supposed to post them on the website. Anyway I did my part.

This was just a memorial service for this young soldier. His funeral was actually in South Carolina where he was stationed at and where his wife is from. He grew up in Billings. Apparently there were some hard feelings between his parents and his wife on where he was going to be buried.

After the mission was over, back to the dealership to load up and head for home. It was 6:00 by the time we left Billings, so was a good thing we trailered the bike, got too dark to ride home. Got home and unloaded the bike off the trailer. Gary had some 2X4's at the house and we used those. Gave just enough clearance for the pipes.