2013 Nation of Patriots

 

This was the 4th year that we rode on this ride.  It is a national event that starts and ends in Wisconsin, the American flag is escorted through the 50 states.  Our friend Dale Butterfield is the leader for our two legs, Billings to Cody to Jackson.

We didn't plan on going on this ride this year as we were planning a 4 day trip to Canada over Labor Day but that trip didn't pan out.  We decided to go on this ride this year.  I enjoy the ride but it is an expensive one.  We stay the night at the Rawhide Motel in Jackson at $150 per night (a discount) not to mention meals and gas.

Friday we went to Billings and we stay the night at the Butterfields house since we have to be at the dealership by 8:00 am and on the road.  Dale & Kitty just have us spend the night.  Secretly they have adopted us.

We met at the dealership in Billings at 7:30 am.  The dealership opened early for us so that we were able to get coffee and they had donuts out.  Normally the dealership doesn't open un 9:00 am.  We took a group picture in Billings and another one in Cody.

There were 11 people who left Billings for the Cody leg, we got into Cody around 10:00.  We made our way to the dealership, usually this time of year the shops in Cody will have their sidewalk sales but not this year.  After we did our little ceremony three people left to head back to Billings, while eight of us made our way to Jackson.

This leg had us, Dale & Kitty Butterfield, Marty & Vickie Davis, Wes & Denise Lambert.  We ate lunch at Pahaska Teepee, which is always a nice stop.  We arrived in Jackson around 4:00 pm, got checked in to the motel. The Butterfields, Davis's and us are the originals for this event.  We are the only ones who have done this all four years.

This year the man who we pass the flag to wanted to do the exchange on Saturday night, which was perfect for us.  We met him at 6:00 at the dealership in Jackson and did the exchange.  This gave us an earlier time to get on the road home.  In the past we did the exchange on Sunday morning at 9:00.

Kitty had received some very sad news about her dad on this trip.  Her dad had been admitted to the hospital in Arizona and was not expected to make it through the night. 

Sunday we ate breakfast at Bubba's and then made our way home.  Dale & Kitty needed to get home as soon as possible so that Kitty could make arrangements to get to Arizona, so it was a quick trip home.  We went our usual route, over Teton Pass into Driggs Idaho, made our way to West Yellowstone then Bozeman then home.

The weather was beautiful this year, we didn't get rained on. This might be the last year for this event, we heard that the flag is being retired this year.  Besides, Dale is looking for someone to take over the reins on these two legs.