St. Patrick's Day Parade

Saturday we rode in the St. Patrick's Day Parade in Billings. Had a great time. It was too cold to ride the bike in the morning, so we loaded it on the trailer. Besides from past experience we knew that it would be late getting home and we didn't want to be riding in the dark.

It has been nice since Wednesday with very warm temperatures that melted all the snow and ice in our back yard. We got the bike loaded onto the trailer early Saturday morning. By now we know how to do this so had plenty of time for a quick cup of coffee before heading to Billings.

We had a dilemma this year. The Patriot Guard Riders and our HOG Chapter were both in the parade this year, who do we ride with. I'm an officer with the chapter and Gary is on the state board of directors for Patriot Guard.

We called some friends, who are on vacation, to see if we could park our truck and trailer at their house. There is an empty lot next to their house that we can park. No problem. We got to their house and apparently they will be getting new neighbors. Wonder if they know. There were pipe laying across the empty lot. We just parked in front of their house, careful not to block their mailbox.

We met our friends at the restaurant for breakfast. We decided to ride with the Patriot Guard mainly because we felt being a state director trumped being a secretary. We did have a mission after the parade and Gary had to sign some papers for the Patriot Guard. Many of our friends were riding with the Patriot Guard.

After the parade we had a quick snack with the group at Burger King before going to our mission. Our mission was at St. Patrick's Co-Cathedral downtown in Billings. Fortunately it was a nice day for the mission, not too hot and not too cold.

When the mission was over, we met with our friends at a bar for a drink afterwards. We all went our separate ways to regroup. We loaded the bike back up on the trailer. Gary got in trouble by the letter carrier for blocking the mailbox. We didn't actually block the mailbox, the letter carrier just couldn't park up to the mailbox and deliver the mail. Would have had to get out of the truck.

Went to the bar and met our friends, had a couple of drinks and ate some Italian nachos. It was dark by the time we left Billings.

We got pulled over by the deputy just a block away from our house. Turns out we lost the lights on our trailer. We gave the little deputy our information, good thing we didn't get pulled over in Billings, would have been in trouble. At first we thought that the lights just got loose from traveling down the road. The cord was broken in half, looks like the cord got loose and was dragging on the ground.

Gary got a warning out of it mainly because we were only a block way from home and the cop said that he doesn't write up veterans.

After that episode, we have decided that we will never drive home again after having drinks. We have said this before.