Montana Wolfpak: Nation of Patriots

Last weekend, Gary and I participated in the Nation of Patriots. This is a group that raises money for wounded soldiers. They are based in Wisconsin and they start a tour of the American Flag being escorted through the lower 48 states in a month. With such a huge undertaking, the group asked the Harley Owners Group if they would escort the flag from one leg to another. The flag has to be back in Wisconsin where it started by Sept. 4th.

Our friend Dale Butterfield headed the Billings group to escort the flag from Billings to Jackson with a stop in Cody. He picked up the flag in a ceremony in Billings on the 13th. We couldn't be at the dealership to watch this as we were working.

We told Dale that we would ride with him to Jackson. We made our reservations for Jackson. There were two other couples who went with us all the way to Jackson.

We spent the night at Dale & Kitty's. She had dinner for us along with our friends Marty & Vicky. She made homemade tacos, they were very good. All we had to bring was the beer. I took an hour off from work and we made our way to Billings. It was raining in Hardin when we left, so we had to put on our rain gear before heading out. We got out of the rain at Fly Creek. Got to Billings, picked up our beer and headed to the Butterfields.

On Saturday morning it was raining so had to put on the rain gear again. The weather didn't look promising. We met the others at the dealership and picked up two more bikes in Laurel. In all there were 8 bikes and 13 people for the ride to Cody. While we were waiting at the dealership I called up Mmom to see what the weather was like in Wyoming. It was reported that it was nicy and sunny, but had rained earlier during the night. That was great news. I told Mmom what we were doing and didn't know if they wanted to take a ride to Cody to meet us or not.

We arrived in Cody around 9:30 am. We stopped at the gas station at the edge of town to take off our rain gear and to get the flag ready for the short ride to the Cody dealership. Mmom had left me a message that they were parked in front. We all posed for a photo op as the local paper reporter was there to write a small story. After we signed the book for this leg, we all went across the street to the Irma for a coffee break. Got a good visit in with the Gma's before we had to get ready and head to Jackson.

Two bikers turned around and headed back to Billings, while the rest of us continued on through Yellowstone Park. We stopped at Fishing Bridge for a short break where one rider headed back home. When we got to the West Thumb Junction we lost another rider. Now we have four bikes and 8 people.

It was free admittance into the National Parks that weekend, but we have our annual pass anyway. Had nice weather. Once we got into Teton Park we pulled over at Colter Bay for a break and took off some more layers.

We pulled into Jackson around 4:00 pm and again we stopped to get ready for a short parade through town to the dealership. Once we got to the dealership they called the guy who was taking the flag on the next leg. We only had to wait about 15 minutes. Not too long. Went through the ceremony of passing the flag from one leg to the next. Not only was there the flag, but the banner that the dealerships sign. There was a book that went along with it that all the riders sign plus a couple plaques. One was a proclamation signed by a California congressman and the other was a certificate that the Blue Angels verified that the flag was flown over Pensacola Florida.

We all then checked into our hotel, which was across the street from the dealership. Got checked in and cleaned up then headed to the Cowboy Bar. We all had burgers here as we didn't stop to eat lunch. After the bar we walked through Jackson, stopped in the Silver Dollar Bar. This is the one that has silver dollars inlaid in the bar. Then back to the hotel. There is a liquor store right next to our hotel, so we stopped to get some beer to drink at the hotel. We all sat around and visited and started planning for next years trip. Gary was told that it was his turn to plan the trip and our friend Marty & Vicky want to go. It was the general consensus to go through the Redwoods.

On Sunday morning we had to get back home to work. Dale & Kitty then went on to Salmon Idaho for a small trip. The rest of us went on back home. Instead of going through the park, we went through Idaho to West Yellowstone to home. It was a nice ride. It added about 80 miles for us, but time wise it was a wash. It would have taken us just as long if we went through the park.

In front of the Cody Harley Dealership.