We left bright and early on Saturday morning. We spent Friday night with our friends who we were traveling with. We met the others at the Laurel Town Pump at 6:00 am. If we had left Hardin, we would have had to leave by 5:00 am, so our friends invited us to stay at their house. We had to bring the beer and they served us pizza. Had a great evening eating and visiting.
Saturday morning arrived and we met our other traveling companions at the Laurel Town Pump, we had 5 bikes and 9 people in all. Our goal was to make it to Bozeman by 8:30 am for breakfast at the Gran Tree Inn. We arrived in plenty of time. Got into a bit of rain from Columbus to Big Timber. Nothing major, just a few sprinkles but enough to say we rode in rain. By the time we arrived in Bozeman it was nice and sunny. Ate a huge breakfast at the Gran Tree Inn, very delicious.
After breakfast we visited and met new people, then we got ready for a short ride to Hyalite Resevoir. There was another ride to the headwaters of the Missouri River. We took the ride to Hyalite Reservoir as we haven't been there before. It was a nice short ride through the canyon and up to the reservoir, very pretty scenery. We stayed here for a while then made our way back to town in time for the meeting.
During the meeting they had door prize drawings, raffles and a silent auction. I won an American flag as a door prize. Nothing on the raffles and I didn't participate in the silent auction. The auction were leather coats and vests and some tools. The coats and vest didn't fit us and Gary didn't want any of the tools. This is the meeting where the board of directors are elected. The state is divided into three sections and the general membership elects two representatives from each section. Gary was nominated and elected to be one of the eastern representatives. He is not too sure if this is a good thing or not. He has to go to the board meetings and they meet 4 times a year. Not too sure how long he will serve. He figures he has either a year or it can be up to three years.
After the general meeting, the board met for a short meeting to elect a chairman and such. I had to hang around, fortunately our friends stayed with us.
At the same time as our gathering, a group of Viet Nam helicopter pilots were having their annual convention at the Gran Tree Inn. As a surprise arrangements were made for the Patriot Guard to form a flag line at the Viet Nam Wall Memorial at the Bozeman Cemetary. We got in our formation and paraded through downtown Bozeman. Waved at alot of kids. In all there were 50 bikes and about 70 people. We were at the wall for about an hour, until the pilots came through. They sure enjoyed and were very proud of us for doing this for them.
While we were waiting at the wall for the pilots, there was time to visit the memorial. Gary was trying to find a friend who is on the wall, but he couldn't remember what panel. We looked it up once we got home and he had transposed the numbers. Bozeman is not too far away and will get him up there again. After seeing this wall, we want to make the trip to Washington DC to see the original wall. This is just a replica, so can't imagine the size of the original wall. After the flag line, we met up with our friends and ate dinner. Called it a night as we all had a early and busy day. None of us stayed at the same place. Gary and I stayed at the KOA as the motels were full.
Came home on Sunday. Met up with our friends at the Harley dealership in Belgrade. Rode through Bridger Canyon before hitting the interstate for home. Ate lunch in Big Timber, said our goodbyes. Once we got to Billings our friends left for their homes.
Had a very enjoyable weekend. I have posted my photos on picasa. Here is a photo of Gary at the Viet Nam Wall Memorial.
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